Tv's, groceries and luggage, oh my!

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Apologies, apologies, all, I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for me to update! In fact, I got an irate text in the middle of the night last night reminding of my duty to all of you stuck at home in that crappy weather. Things have been rolling along since I last chatted. As I said in my last blog, I got a flat, it's out near Racecourse road, you know the place both myself and Ann thought was quite nice. We probably should have explored a bit more, and checked out the trains too - they only go til about 10 at night, which makes going to anything a bit pricey in terms of taxis if you don't plan carefully. But it is a nice spot, and the flat is pretty cool. The woman who owns it is moving to England so she left behind some of the furniture rather than try to sell it all. So we have beds, a couch and armchairs and a fridge. No tv, which she had promised to leave, and that one hurt, I tells ya! By the way, big raspberries to all those who thought I was crazy to bring my lap-top, and even crazier to download my fav tv series onto an external harddrive! I was by myself in the flat for two weeks with no internet connection and no tv, and had to be home by 10 every evening, the only thing that helped me retain the small bit of sanity I still have was my downloaded tv series, so there! And it was all that stopped Ann from going over the edge when she came back from NZ.
I have pointed it out to a couple of people who've been in contact that this is the third place that I've moved into with someone, but ended up moving in on my own for the first couple of weeks. It's a bit strange, and you kind of have to be careful that you don't take the place over before the other person has a chance to establish themselves. Of course, that wasn't so hard this time, seeing as neither of us has much apart from the clothes on our back(packs)! This time it was more about trying to get basics in for as cheap as possible. I survived with one plate, one cup, one bowl and one saucepan for the first two weeks, I had more luxury in the hostel!
But we've just gotten a tv, two in fact cause Ann got tired of waiting for the tv rental application to go through. I swear, it took more to rent a stupid tv than it did to get into the bloody country in the first place, we thought it would never go through. But now we've got a nice big tv, although only 5 channels. Any of you who know my tv addiction know how tough that is for me! Believe me, by the time I get home, I'll have a list of tv series to buy on DVD - I'll be in severe debt just from the travelling no doubt, I'll have to declare bankruptcy at that stage! And just as I was converting another person to my current favourite show, Supernatural. They should really pay me promotional money for all the people I brought over to the dark side - although I would just settle for meeting one of the stars, yum!
Anyway, enough fantasising, back to making you all insanely jealous, as ordered! Although I don't know if you'd be surprised to hear me say that there's plenty I miss about home. I think if you're looking for a bit more of a simpler life, this would be the place to come. It reminds me of Ireland 15 to 20 years ago sometimes. They've only just come around to the idea of sunday trading, so a lot of places still don't do it, and a lot of the places that do are only open from 10 til 2. Pretty much everything closes by 5.30pm, if it's open til 6 it's a bit of a miracle, even on Fridays. There is definitely no such thing as 24 hour shopping here, not even late-opening garages, so no running out at 8.30 to pick up some bits you've forgotten! The suburbs are definitely not Irish in any way, the lack of pubs shows that straight away. We have scoped out the two 'locals' on Racecourse Roads, one is pretty pretentious and pricey, the other is full of 'scrubbers' as Ann calls them. We'll give them another go, see if they are any better when people aren't distracted by the EKKA public holiday. And now that I've dangled that tid-bit in front of you, I'm going to pull a Scheherazade and leave you hanging til tomorrow! Peace, out!
P.S. To those of you who love me, care packages would be hugely appreciated, you know chocolate, apple sourz (they don't have it at all in Oz, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope), all the essentials can be sent to 6/49 College Street, Hamilton, Brisbane, QLD 4007, Australia!!

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Comments

[Edel]

follow the yellow brick road
Hi Hun Just back from the very sunny Algarve and depressed as expected. No news with me as yet but once my life (or should I say if my life) gets exciting I'll let you know. I love the take on the chant from the Wizard of Oz. Talk soon E