Luna Park and Long Bay Prison Visit

Once again, it has been longer than I anticipated or intended since my last blog post and I'm really, seriously hoping that they will start to come more regularly again soon.

Anyway, I left off from Thursday, 27th March after my Apple interview and the following day I heard back that the interview had been successful. I was to return for a second interview on Wednesday, 2nd April at the Apple store in the shopping centre at Broadway. Since it is the closest Apple store to my flat, less than ten minutes walk away, I was particularly pleased and hoped that I was on my way to securing a job there. After a chilled morning, I played football on Friday afternoon before returning home, making dinner and spending the remainder of the evening playing FIFA. Beating Jack never gets boring, especially when he flips out and goes on a rampage - excellent entertainment.

On Saturday, I had another quiet morning after a long lie, with no plans until later in the day. Jessica and I had planned to go for dinner before heading across the Harbour Bridge to finally visit the Luna Park fairground. It was the last weekend of off-peak prices, so we took advantage of a buy one get one free offer on tickets and caught the train over the bridge around 6pm, after dinner at Coco Cubano at Central. Whilst it is safe to say that we were certainly amongst the older visitors, Luna Park was really excellent fun and it was a lot better than I had imagined. The tower drop in particular was the cause of a few swear words as we plummeted towards the concrete at a blistering pace.

The entrance to Luna Park, which does look somewhat creepy in this photo!

It happened to be the night of Earth Hour when we were at Luna Park, which meant that the majority of the lights were turned off for an hour. We had the good fortune of being on the ferris wheel when the lights on the Harbour Bridge were turned back on, which was amazing!

The standard fairground candy floss was a personal highlight.

We headed home via the brilliant ice cream shop at the back of Central, where the shop assistants insist on having you try several flavours before committing to choosing one. Can't complain. Later on, I watched the United game which we won in some style, beating Aston Villa by four goals to one, including Juan Mata's first for the club. I was shattered by the end of the game and was glad to finally get off to sleep. On Sunday it was Mother's Day and Mum was very pleased to have received a lovely bunch of flowers, a card and a book which she wanted, from Kerry and myself. Meanwhile, I had to crack on with a presentation paper which was due for my Criminology class on Tuesday, so the majority of my day was spent writing it.

It was back to class on Monday morning, starting with Intellectual Property in the morning and then Private International Law in the afternoon. After class, I headed straight home to continue working on my Criminology essay, which had already taken up more time than I intended, even though it was only 1200 words long. It's funny how it is sometimes more difficult to write short essays rather than longer ones, since you need to be so much more concise in the points which you make. I did manage to get it finished however and on Tuesday morning it was handed in during class; the day dragged by as I was so excited for the football later that night. It was the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals and United were entertaining Bayern Munich - widely considered the best team in the world at the moment - at Old Trafford. After dinner, I got an early night and before I knew it, my alarm was going off, I was up and wide awake and ready for kick off. We actually managed to take the lead early in the second half, before Bayern equalised and the game ended in a 1-1 draw, which was a reasonable result, I thought.

The next morning, I had my IP class in the morning before heading home to get changed for my second Apple interview in the afternoon. After a quick lunch and a short walk back to Broadway, I found myself in a small group interview; there were four of us and the person responsible for all of the staff in the Broadway store. It went quite well I felt and we were informed that we would be hearing back sometime soon. Afterwards, I caught up with Jessica and we headed out for some food before going to see the new 'Need for Speed' film starring Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. It was essentially just a Fast and the Furious film under a different name but it was entertaining and there were some really great cars in it, which is the main thing! Thursday meant another day of classes, though it also meant the start of the weekend for me, which was very welcome. I began my weekend with some chores which needed to be completed: I emailed a couple of my lecturers regarding my research essay proposals, checked the arrangements for the Private International Law exam the following week and secured my transport to and from Long Bay prison for our visit. Later in the afternoon, I played football in Victoria Park - there was a familiar feeling of home since the game endured a handful of rain showers, beneath grey skies.

I also heard on Friday that I had been invited to another Apple interview. I considered that as a cause for some celebration, considering the third stage of this process to surely mean I was close to securing a job, so I was easily convinced into joining a group from Iglu who were heading out into the city for the night. We began with a few drinks in our building, before heading to Freda's for a beer, followed by the Palace Hotel and finally ending up in Star Bar. We caught a taxi home around 2am, which was rather interesting as the the driver stuck U2 on the radio and cranked up the volume. We caught a hilarious video of us all singing along to 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' in which the taxi driver took lead vocals. That footage shall remain private, though Jack is very keen for it to go on Instagram! We stopped by McDonalds and headed home.

The typical result of a night out: heaps of selfies.

Group photo in Freda's. They only have one beer on tap, which just happens to be the most fantastic ale, though I have no idea what it's called or where it's from.

Alex and Jack enjoying a Guinness in the Palace Hotel.

Needless to say, I was suffering somewhat when I woke up on Saturday morning. It seemed that the McDonalds before bed had done little to scare off the hangover and most of the early part of the day was spent in bed, only surfacing for some food before scurrying back to the comfort of my duvet. Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed and headed into uni in order to scan in the hand signed documents which were required for my Apple background check, including Right to Work forms and Australian Police Check documents. It all seemed a bit serious and over the top for a simple part-time retail job, but I didn't complain and made sure everything was completed exactly as required. Jessica was in the library completing some essays which she had for her own classes, so we headed back to mines together and ordered a couple of pizzas from Dominos. Later on, I tried my best to stay awake for the United game away to Newcastle, though I kept drifting off to sleep and only caught two of the four goals which we scored. The next morning it was rainy, grey and miserable, so Jessica and I went bowling; I'm not overly enthused by bowling at the best of times, but losing to Jessica really did compound my views. It's unlikely I'll be back in a hurry, though she seems to have found a new favourite hobby. Unimpressed.

The scene of my humiliation at the bowling alley.

After bowling, we went to Hurricane's grill for dinner, where I had a half rack of ribs - yes, that's only a half rack! It completely made up for the disaster which was bowling and I was completely stuffed, unable to finish the mountain of meat and chips which were piled on my plate.

On Monday, it was back to uni for the final week of classes before mid-semester break. After class, I rushed home and got some studying done for my Private International Law exam, so that I could watch the first episode of the new season of Game of Thrones later that night. As expected, the new season started with a brilliant episode and it totally whetted my appetite for the next one; this is the first time I've been up to speed with Game of Thrones, so I'm really struggling with the anticipation of waiting on a new episode each week! It was a similar routine on Tuesday, after a day of classes I returned home to study for the night in preparation for the exam on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning before class, I had my next interview in the Apple store at Broadway, which went very well and I was informed that I would definitely be endorsed for the next stage. I was seriously beginning to question just how long the process was considering that I was only seeking a part-time position in a retail store. Regardless, I was happy that it had went well once again and I would be hearing back soon once more. Afterwards, I returned to uni for my IP class before having lunch and then heading off for my PIL exam. The exam itself went quite well, I think; the question was favourable and reasonably straightforward, so we shall see how it goes.

Once again, I got an early night after dinner since I was getting up particularly early for the return leg of the Champions League quarter final in Munich. After a tense first half ended with the scores even at 0-0 still, our prospects of going through took a huge boost when Patrice Evra banged in a career goal to give United an away goal, as well as the lead on the night and on aggregate. My joy was short-lived though, when Bayern equalised almost immediately and then scored a second goal not long after. When they scored a third goal with around 20 minutes remaining, the match and the tie was all but finished and the game died out without further incident. We were out and our season was effectively over in April. What a difference one year can make.

I caught another hour of sleep and then it was time to surface again, since I needed to be in uni early to catch a lift to the prison visit. It is a compulsory part of the Criminology course which I am studying this semester that each student attends one of the local prison visits; on Thursday morning a group of around 7 of us were going to visit Long Bay prison, in the Eastern Suburbs. The prison is a large complex, containing several different individual prisons, ranging from minimum security to maximum security, as well as a women's prison, a witness protection centre which also houses high profile convicts and a high security hospital for mental patients. After having our identification checked and signing in, we were escorted by a prison warden to a classroom, where she detailed the procedures and itinerary of our visit. I felt that she was somewhat sensational in the things which she told us and whilst I was aware of the potential for danger in such a place, I wasn't convinced that her dramatising of the place was helpful or particualrly accurate. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed any phones or cameras inside the prison, so I don't have any photographs to show off, but I'll do my best to describe the experience.

We began by walking around a block of the prison which is minimal security and houses a voluntary rehabilitation program for sex offenders. I found it rather uncomfortable to walk around and was slightly concerned to hear the process which these offenders go through: essentially they volunteer themselves into this program, without which they cannot be released. At the end of the process, their case is returned to the court, where it is reviewed and the subject of their release is decided - if they are considered not to be ready for release, then they are returned to the prison for a period of up to five years. This cycle can be repeated indefinitely. I understand that where sexual offences are concerned, there is a highly emotive thirst for strong justice, but where do we draw the line and say that you've done the time for the crime? It's a really difficult issue and clearly raises a plethora of different arguments and conflicting ideas. Afterwards, we were shown around the industries section of the prison, where minimal security convicts work on various manufacturing process, as well as an in-house bakery which bakes all of the bread, pastries, cakes and any other food which is consumed by the prisoners. We were also given the opportunity to sample some chocolate cookies which were magic! The prisoners earn only a few dollars for their work, which includes 5am starts and 6-day weeks and allows them to learn new skills and potentially even a trade - certainly one of the more positive aspects of the prison, I thought.

The latter half of our visit was spent in the maximum security section of the prison, which was much more like the conventional sense of a prison which I had gathered from films and TV shows. There was a large yard where the prisoners were sat around on park benches, whilst some lifted weights on the gym equipment. Our presence outside the yard caused quite a stir, completely different to the rather relaxed environment we had experienced earlier in the day, in the minimal security section. We were shown where prisoners are now able to conduct video calls for court, rather than having the added cost and risk of physically transporting them in vans or trucks. That brought an end to our prison visit, with much to think about and consider and plenty of issues to discuss and debate when we return to class after the mid-semester break.

On Friday, I had a long lie in the morning and a chilled day, spending the night playing FIFA with the lads. At home, Mum and Dad were off to Oban for the weekend in the motorhome, whilst Kerry was up in Aviemore with Blair. Some people were heading out for the night but I stayed in and had a quiet night for the first weekend in a while. The next morning I had another long lie before catching up with Jessica in the afternoon; we were going out for dinner that night with some of her family, which had been arranged by her auntie. In the evening, we caught a taxi to the Norfolk Hotel to meet up with everyone, before crossing the street to Porteno, the restaurant in Surry Hills. We enjoyed a banquet-style meal, where we tried a range of tapas style starters and main dishes, as well as some excellent wine. The whole meal was really great, everyone was stuffed and there was considerable food left over, which some people took home! Jessica opened some of her presents and received some beautiful gifts and cards.

Sunday was spent relaxing, before watching the Liverpool v Man City game at night, which Liverpool won to take them a step closer to the title. I seriously hope they don't win it; I couldn't handle Steven Gerrard lifting the trophy. Monday was the first day of the mid-semester break, which meant a long lie in the morning before having breakfast and getting shower, then I played football in the afternoon. It rained again and we were cut short by fading light since it's now approaching winter here once again. Once I returned home, I got showered, had dinner and watched the second episode of the new season of Game of Thrones and spent the rest of the night playing FIFA.

Today, I had my final Apple interview, where I was informed that they would be happy to offer me a position and that they were really pleased with my interviews and CV, except I just wasn't going to be in Australia long enough for it to be worthwhile. I understood that, though questioned why they had invited me along to multiple interviews when my visa expiry date was on the CV which I submitted some months ago. I met Jessica for lunch before heading home and I'm now sitting wrapped up in my bed duvet writing the remainder of this blog post, listening to Dexters - well worth checking them out, if you appreciate guitar music along the lines of Arctic Monkeys or the Strokes. It's raining here again today and it's currently a chilly 17 degrees celsius; you could say it's baltic. I have no idea how I shall cope upon returning to Scotland.

I'm going to cook dinner now and see what the plans are for the rest of the evening. My next post will be soon I hope!

Until next time,
Jamie

It's beginning to feel a lot like...summer!

There is a bit of an overlap from the last post which I need to catch up on...

On Sunday night, after returning from Stereosonic and stopping by McDonalds for some food, I battled to stay awake through the Man Utd game as we drew away 2-2 away to Spurs. I was so tired from the weekend and it was bedtime for me as soon as the final whistle blew; my head had barely hit the pillow before I was asleep. Monday morning brought a well needed long lie, after which I got up and did absolutely nothing all day except watch Netflix and eat. The most productive part of my day was sorting out the various photos and videos from the weekend and compiling some of the better clips together to make a YouTube video. Here is the link to it, if anyone would like to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5W26lISxs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUYFev9KKJGt7jKnRlQlJEuQ

On Tuesday, I started picking my classes for next semester. Although we won't have them confirmed for quite some time yet, we are still required to submit the list of classes we want to take just now - in fact, it was supposed to be done before the end of the semester, mines was late. After strategically picking through the timetable and reading some of the class descriptions, a final selection was settled and I headed into uni to hand the form into the International Office on campus. In the afternoon, I decided to update and add to my list of things which I want to see and do in Sydney whilst I'm here - given that it is summer and I'm not at uni at the moment, now seems the best time to see some of the sights. After drawing up my list of sights and places to visit, I finally got my last blog post finished off and posted online.

Inevitably, when you first finish a semester at uni after an exam period, or back in the school days as well, you seem to spend a lot of time doing nothing at all with your time. It is sort of enjoyable at first to just be free from any obligation to study although it does get boring quite quickly. On Wednesday however, I was still happily procrastinating my days away and spent most of the morning after breakfast watching the Sound City documentary, on the recommendation of Andy. It turned out to be a very strong choice and I really enjoyed it - well worth watching if you're into music at all. Later in the day, the first headliner for the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2014 had been announced as Blink-182 and it looks as though there may be a few of us going to it next summer after I arrive back home. After cooking dinner and catching up with home on FaceTime, I got an early night since the football was on early on Thursday morning again. It was another poor result as United lost 1-0 at home to Everton, so I was happy to go back to bed and get some more sleep when the match finished.

The sport continued after I got up again the next morning, as the second Ashes test began on Thursday morning in Adelaide. I'm starting to quite enjoy cricket, even though I've always taken a slight interest in the Ashes when they've been contested over the past few years and I found myself watching most of the play up until lunchtime. Since food supplies were running a little low in the flat, I headed out to the supermarket in the afternoon before returning to watch some more of the cricket. One of the best things about watching cricket is that you can do other things whilst it is on, unlike most other sports - I guess that is why many people find it so boring really. Whilst the match was going on, I sat and downloaded some new music, particularly the back catalogues of Paramore, You Me At Six and Nine Inch Nails in anticipation of seeing them next year. In the evening, Claire, Jess, Khurram and I went to Pancakes on the Rocks, the 24-hour restaurant near Circular Quay, famous for their awesome pancakes. I had chilli beef nachos and a chocolate pancake which was to die for, but so incredibly heavy that none of us managed to clear our plates. Later that night I watched 'The Usual Suspects' on Netflix; I had never seen it before but it was really excellent and I'll probably watch it again sometime soon, which is unusual for me. The big news event of Thursday, 5th December however was the passing of Nelson Mandela, the influential and brilliant former President of South Africa. Tributes poured in from across the world and the television was dedicated to stories of his life and achievements. What an incredible individual.

We saw this tall ship sailing into Circular Quay when we were trying to find Pancakes on the Rocks. I still haven't got tired of going down there and seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

On Friday night, we were planning to have an early Christmas dinner of sorts, before Lian left to travel around New Zealand, after which she was heading home to Singapore where she would be getting married. We had divided up various parts which we would be responsible for, so on Friday morning I headed down to Woolworths to get potatoes and some wine from the liquor store nearby. I was also tasked with picking up a bottle of champagne to go with the Vera Weng glasses which the girls had already got as part of a wedding present. I ended up buying two bottles of Promised Land Moscato - which turned out to be lovely and we've since bought more - as well as a nice Australian champagne on the advice of the shop assistant. I returned to the flat to peel and prepare the potatoes since I had a shift at work from 4 until 7 in the evening. After getting my part of the dinner ready, I had some lunch, got ready for work and headed to Broadway for my shift. Work went by fairly quickly and when I returned home the dinner was almost ready to go - always welcome immediately after work! When I checked my phone though, I discovered that our exam results were out and the inevitable nerves sunk in; it doesn't matter how good or badly you think you may have done, the moment of actually getting the results is always pretty horrible. Gladly, the three results which were available were all decent enough and I was relieved to have safely negotiated another semester of exams. One more result to come still, but it was good to have the majority out of the way and I was looking forward to our evening of food and wine as a small celebration. We enjoyed some roast chicken, potatoes, carrots, baked fish and a takeaway pizza followed by a brilliant chocolate cake. Lian really appreciated her gifts and card too, which was great! We ended up staying up until around 2am before calling it quits; I was totally stuffed and ready for bed, especially with work again the next day.

I was starting work at 12, so at least I had time for a decent sleep before needing to get up, having some breakfast and a shower and getting ready to leave. Once again, my 6 hour shift went by fairly quickly and it even included a break long enough to go and get a sandwich from Subway. I had found out the previous day that Alex was back in Sydney for a few days after his trip to New Zealand, so we planned on having a night out on Saturday before he flew back to the USA on Monday. After work, I headed home and made myself some dinner and chilled out for a while before we were due to head out. Jessica came over to mines for a drink and we were then going to head out to Kings Cross. Although, Alex didn't get into the club where we were meant to be going, so Jessica and I ended up finishing our drinks and not going out. I ended up going to McDonalds around midnight and watching the football on my laptop; unfortunately United lost at home for the second time in a week.

On Sunday morning, I had a long lie and woke up to check the rest of the football scores from through the night. Rather fortunately, both Chelsea and Man City had dropped points too which meant the United result wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. I had been planning on going to the pool at the Prince Alfred Park to spend the day relaxing in the sunshine, but shortly before I was going to leave I received a Facebook message from Robert, a guy I met through the Soccer Society, asking if I wanted to play that afternoon. I decided to play football rather than go to the pool although in hindsight, the pool would have been a far more relaxing day, as the afternoon heat beat down on us as we played. I even managed to get a little sunburnt from the few hours which we played. It was good to meet yet another decent group of guys who enjoyed a game of football though and it was also the first time I had been down to Wentworth Park, where they play. The park is near the Anzac Bridge and not far from another amazing marina on the waterfront - it's a very picturesque place for a kick around. On a related note, unfortunately, there was an email sent out to those players who hadn't been picked for the Hakoah squad and I was one of the people who hadn't made the team. Gutted. I'm still hoping to find another team though.

I was working once more on Monday - a fairly long shift too - which is great for making money but also dreadful knowing you have to get up and go to work all day. The shop wasn't too busy, which was unusual considering how close we are getting to Christmas, even though it was a Monday. I had a bit of a headache in the afternoon and I was glad to be finished work and get home. After dinner, I spent some more time hunting for Christmas presents online to send home, but I was still struggling to come up with an idea for Kerry. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, it was alright bright and sunny and the weather forecast was for a really warm afternoon, so I decided to get up and go to the pool at Prince Alfred Park. Disappointingly, the free swimming there has finished now, but it's only around $3 for a student entry - can't complain at that! Just as I was heading down past the reception in the common area, one of the staff came running after me - I didn't hear him shout on me since I had my headphones plugged in - and told me that I had a parcel waiting for me. He said I could pick it up later in the day, so I headed off to the pool wondering what could have been sent for me. Surely it couldn't be my Christmas package from home, I considered, since that had only been posted around a week earlier and previously my birthday presents had taken almost four weeks to arrive here. I enjoyed my afternoon relaxing in the sunshine at the poolside, topping up my tan which is actually reasonable now, although I'm still far from bronzed. There's still time! When I returned, I discovered that the package was in fact my Christmas gifts from home - I have no idea how they arrived here so quickly, but I'm not complaining. I opened my cards from Dad, Mum and Kerry as well as one present which was labeled "OPEN NOW!" The present turned out to be a Christmas decoration with the dog on it, which I pinned up on the wall for the time being.

My presents and cards from home - including a card from the dog! Haha!

The other brilliant thing which happened on Tuesday was that Jess's boyfriend had visited and she had convinced him to leave his Playstation 3 in the flat for a while. Needless to say, I was delighted when I discovered that there was a copy of Pro Evo Soccer on it and took great pleasure in virtually beating Barcelona a couple of times with Man Utd. As sad as it is, I do miss playing FIFA! Haha! I also received my first wages from work on Tuesday - I have definitely missed pay-days! I got a fairly early night after dinner since United were playing early on Wednesday morning once again; I got up at the usual ridiculous time and watched us beat Shakhtar 1-0 to seal first place in our Champions League group. Happy days.

Playstation 3 and Pro Evo hooked up to the TV in the living room!

Since Jessica and I both had a day off work on Wednesday, we decided to go to Bondi as it was supposed to be another scorching day. We were not disappointed and managed to catch the train then the bus out the Eastern Suburbs shortly before 11am. The beach was remarkably quiet and free of people, since it was before noon on a weekday - I had never been to the beach so early before but it was well worth it. The peace and quiet was promptly interrupted by some European guys blaring dance music from their portable speakers though. It was fairly annoying at first, but then they began playing some decent tunes and it was fairly enjoyable to just relax on the sand with some background music. After a few hours of sun-worshipping, we headed to the restaurant at the pavilion for some lunch and a beer. It was great to sit and look out at the sea as we ate and it was definitely one of those moments where you had to pinch yourself to remember that it was actually real. A Wednesday afternoon in December and here we find ourselves on Bondi Beach. Living the dream. On our way back to the city, we stopped by a shop called Hot Dollar, at Bondi Junction, so that we could both buy some cheap Christmas decorations. We ended up buying quite a lot of stuff and my room in the flat is looking suitably festive now!

This giant turtle, made from recycled car tyres, was in the restaurant where we had lunch at Bondi.

On Thursday back home, my Christmas cards which I had posted finally arrived. Rather unfortunately, only the cards for Dad and Kerry had arrived by Thursday, which was funny since it was Mum who most wanted a Christmas card! Her own one did arrive on Friday morning though, luckily enough. My plan for the day was to finish my Christmas shopping - finally! Just after lunchtime, Claire, Jess and I headed to Paddy's Market to get some fruit and veg which we were all needing in the flat; we headed home and dropped off our shopping and then I headed back out to the city to take a wander around the shops. My shopping trip took me to a few places I hadn't really been in the city before, for example the Queen Victoria Buildings which I had only really passed through once before, as well as the Westfield Shopping Centre near the Town Hall. I also found an amazing bookshop called Kinokuniya, which was comfortably one of the most impressive book shops I have ever seen in my life. The majority of the presents I needed to buy were all done in a few hours, so I spent some time looking for some things for myself as well, although I ended up not buying anything. I always find it easier to spend money on other people, which is unfortunate when you could really be doing with some new shoes!

Friday meant that I could look forward to another game of football in the afternoon. I didn't really do much all day, apart from watching the recently aired ITV documentary, 'Keane v Vieira: Best of Enemies' which was brilliant! Roy Keane is such a legend at United for what he achieved as a player, it's just a shame he feels the need to constantly bad mouth Sir Alex Ferguson and just generally act so bitterly towards the club. In the early afternoon, Jessica dropped by with some more Christmas decorations for me as well as some surprise presents. I had no idea what she was on about, but soon discovered that there had been some behind the scenes chat between her and Kerry on Facebook which had led to Jessica buying some things for me which were from Mum, Dad and Kerry back home. Very sneaky! Jessica was keen to point out just how well wrapped her ones were and I believe she may even have suggested they were better wrapped than the ones I had received from home! Serious fighting talk when it comes to present wrapping! Haha!

After playing football and arriving home, I got showered and changed and ready to head out with Claire and Jess from the flat, to go to the night market down at the Rocks. We walked some way down George Street before catching the free shuttle bus the rest of the way to Circular Quay. The markets were extremely hipster, but also quite cool - there was an old fashioned barber, ghost-walk tours, fortune tellers, a silent disco, stalls selling all kinds of jewellery, masks and other small gifts and even a karaoke machine which had gathered quite a crowd as enthusiastic tourists murdered some well known hits! There was also numerous amazing food stalls and we each regretted having already had dinner before we left the flat.

Here's a photo of the three of us wearing our headphones at the silent disco - we didn't stay long, although some people were really getting into it. Always a laugh!

Even though we had already eaten earlier we decided to buy some cannoli from one of the market stalls. It was a sort of crispy biscuit tube, with a filling almost like ice cream. Again, it was something which I hadn't tried before I don't think, but it was excellent! We walked around the rest of the markets and then began walking home, back up George Street. We also stopped by Chinatown where I bought a few cream puffs again - they're just too good and too cheap to say no - and Claire went to a place which sells Taiwanese desserts and that was also fantastic!

Here is Jess and I posing with the cannoli - superb!

On the walk back, we also stopped by the Town Hall to see the lights, which never seem to get boring either - they're fantastic! There was also a music performance happening on one side of the building, in time to the illuminations, which was really cool and I managed to catch a short video of it.

This is the side of the Town Hall, all lit up.

Finally, I also noticed that the monkey statues on top of the Three Wise Monkeys pub had been dressed up in Christmas gear, which was funny!

Yesterday, I was working from 12 until 6 again, so I got up in the morning, had a shower and some breakfast and headed off for my shift. The day went past fairly quickly and I also had a break to go and get some food, which was very welcome since I was starving. Jessica and I were planning to go out for a few drinks that night, but eventually we decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe at Darling Harbour. I'm fairly sure the only time that I have been to a Hard Rock Cafe before was when we were in Disneyland Paris years ago and I've never been to the one in Edinburgh, so I was really looking forward to it! We ended up getting a really good table with a view of the harbour, which was great for the usual Saturday night fireworks. I had brisket with coleslaw and chips, whilst Jessica had fajitas and we drank a really nice bottle of Marlborough Upside Down Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I'll be like a Scottish Oz Clarke by the time I come home.

Hard Rock Cafe Sydney!

The Christmas tree at Darling Harbour.

Inflatable floating Santas on the water.

Afterwards we went to another bar on the harbour-side where we had an awkward conversation with a random Scottish woman, before we moved on to Cargo Bar. I'd never been to Cargo before, but it was really excellent; the DJ was like an old man - he looked like Judge Jules - but he played some great tunes. There was also an awesome guy with dreadlocks and a beard who had some brilliant dance moves - Jessica thought he was the coolest guy in the world and then we discovered he actually worked in the bar! Haha! We headed home around 2am, shattered. What a good night - I'll definitely go back to Cargo!

I woke up fairly early this morning - I can never seem to have a decent sleep after a night out - but since it was around 8am, I decided to use the time to catch up with home. I chatted to Jonny in Valencia on Skype for a while and also spoke to Mum and Kerry for a bit. Afterwards, I went out and finished off the last little bits of my Christmas shopping before getting everything wrapped. Wrapping is such a chore, even more so because I appreciate presents really should be properly and nicely wrapped, but I'm not very good at it. An infuriating task, really. I spent this evening finishing off this post and cleaning the flat since we have an inspection tomorrow; gladly the place is looking like a show-home. We've done a really good job of getting the kitchen and living room looking spotless. Only a few hours until the United game now - big game away to Aston Villa, we could really be doing with a win!

Here's a picture of my decorated Christmas tree - thanks to Jessica - with presents underneath!

Only 10 more sleeps now!

Until next time,

Jamie

Summer holidays and Stereosonic!

There has been a lot happening since I last wrote on here, which is why I haven't managed to find some time to do an update before now, however it should mean that this will be a nice, long update including plenty of photos!

My last post left off before I sat my final two exams of the semester, though I was finding it difficult to concentrate on studying for my last exam after I bought tickets for another two upcoming concerts! I've wanted to see Queens of the Stone Age for ages now but an opportunity to see them has never presented itself to me before now - made even worse by the fact that I came to Australia and the band announced a UK tour with a date in Glasgow. So when I found out that they were coming to play in Sydney in March it seemed like a no-brainer! The only problem proved to be finding someone to go along with me, since they aren't exactly a mainstream, popular band which is strange given how fantastic they are. Eventually, Jessica and I decided to help each other out and she agreed to come and see Queens of the Stone Age with me as long as I would accompany her to go and see Paramore, which sounded like a fair deal to me; tickets were bought for both gigs and another two dates were added to the diary!

As far as the exams themselves went, gladly both Anti-Discrimination and Intellectual Property produced no major issues and I was quite happy with my submitted papers in each. Again, the invigilators were a bit intense in the Anti-Discrimination exam, although there was almost an element of "good cop/bad cop" going on, which was quite amusing. Whilst on the one hand, one of the invigilators told us that even though the exam was open book, she would still need us to avoid communication with other students. I thought that silence was an obvious requirement, but she seemed very relaxed about the whole thing. In stark contrast however, her colleague was like a Gestappo Officer and insisted upon silence even before the papers had been handed out and was enforcing a rule where no water bottles were allowed on desks. You can't help but feel that some greater common sense could be applied in these situations.

Friday, 22nd November was the date of my final exam and whilst it started at 9am, that turned out to be the only occasion where I was in uni before 10am during the entire semester. Rather good when compared to Glasgow where you might have two or three 9am lectures or tutorials every week. Since I had opted to complete the optional assignment some weeks earlier, my final exam was only one hour long and the time raced by as my wrist ached from the relentless scribbling. Sometimes law exams can feel more like a test of writing endurance rather than actual legal knowledge. Afterwards, I left campus, enjoying the warmth of a quintessential Sydney afternoon, looking forward to the prospect of a whole summer to simply immerse myself in the surroundings of my current home, free from lectures, exams, essays and deadlines.

On my way home, I stopped by Woolworths and bought a couple of cans of Irn Bru as a post-exam treat - a true taste of home!

After returning to the flat, having some lunch and getting changed, I headed to the Broadway Shopping Centre in order to hand my signed contract into Jeanswest. I was looking forward to having a job again and the money was very welcome too. I'm certainly earning far more here than I would have done working the same hours back home which is great! Once my paperwork had been sorted out and a few of my questions answered, I headed home excitedly looking forward to playing football later. Relentless studying and exams meant that there hadn't been too many opportunities to play in the past few weeks and even though the weather forecast wasn't too great, I certainly wasn't going to be deterred by the prospect of getting wet. Earlier in the week, the Ashes series had began up the coast in Brisbane, as Australia took on England at the Gabba, so I spent the early afternoon on Friday relaxing in the living room, watching Australia take charge of the first test. After lunch, I got changed and ready to leave for the football; the weather had largely held off during the afternoon, but it didn't take long before the clouds moved over and the rain started; a light shower as we began playing got gradually heavier and heavier until large, black storm clouds dominated the sky above us and the sound of roaring thunder filled the air. We were already soaked through to the skin and as such the decision was made to continue playing for a while longer. However it was becoming increasingly difficult to play properly, as the ground became water-logged and the ball was slippery and difficult to control - we called it quits shortly afterwards. Luckily, I had brought along a change of clothes and a waterproof jacket, so I was able to get changed into some dry gear, stick my jacket on and began running home. The plan for the evening was to meet up with Alex and Jessica to go out for a drink and celebrate the end of semester and completion of our exams. As I was running home, I bumped into Alex, who had also been drenched by the rain storm overhead on his way home from the gym. The pounding rain wasn't stopping anytime soon, so we didn't stick around to chat for very long; we agreed to meet up later at Bar Broadway once we had been home, dried off and changed.

This photo was taken from the little pavilion next to the cricket pitch where we play football. It provided some welcome shelter to get dried off and changed after the game!

After arriving home and turning my bathroom into something of a wet-room by hanging up my dripping clothes and shoes, I had some food and headed down to Bar Broadway to meet Alex and Jessica. We enjoyed a few drinks and Alex and I spent some time essentially presenting Jessica with a sales-pitch for a MacBook, since her laptop had recently stopped working. My inability to get a job in the Apple store here is genuinely a mystery to me! Haha! We had been intending to check out the Agincourt Hotel for quite some time and finally decided to go and see what it was like; it often looks very busy and they advertise fairly cheap drink prices outside, so it seemed like a winner. When I approached the bar, the guy informed me that they did not sell their $10 jugs of beer after 10pm due to licensing laws, which meant drinks weren't really very cheap after all and furthermore, the place was full of Hells Angels-type biker dudes. Very strange crowd. I don't think we'll be back in a hurry. There was also a seriously heavy metal band playing in the basement downstairs; such was the volume and ferocity of their sound system, the chairs shook in the bar above. We only stayed for one drink before moving on to the Palace Hotel on George Street where we had another drink, walked home via KFC - which was awful, it has to be said - and got home to bed. I was shattered and in need of a long lie on Saturday morning.

We saw this painting in a pub on Friday night, which I thought was really cool. It's strange that it does not feel like Christmas yet. Though given that the weather is getting warmer, I'm not really sure it will feel like Christmas at all this year over here. Give me the beach over rain, sleet and sub-zero temperatures, every single time though.

The first weekend of my summer holidays ended up being quite low-key really, as I spent most of Saturday watching the cricket and trawling the internet in search of a local football team who might be looking for players. It's been quite a while since I played competitive 11-a-side back home (around 3 or 4 seasons, I'm sure) and I was very keen to get back into it. After asking some people on RedCafe - a Manchester United forum which I use - I came across the New South Wales state football website, which had a list of teams who were advertising trials for new players. Whilst many of the trials had already been held, there were one or two teams who still had upcoming opportunities for players to go along and try out for their squads; eventually I read an advert posted by Hakoah Sydney City East FC who had squad places for the under 20s and men's teams. The trial was the next day, on the Sunday, at Centennial Park, so I decided that I would go along. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching some more of the cricket, which Australia totally dominated - quite a change in fortunes since the last Ashes series over in England a few months back! At night, I watched a film called "Flight" starring Denzel Washington; he's one of my favourite actors and whilst it was a decent film, it wasn't one of his better efforts. Still worth watching, I would say.

I had another long lie on Sunday morning, then got up had breakfast and chilled out watching the early part of the cricket. Australia ended up dominating England so much that they won the Test after only four days, with an entire day of play to spare - crazy stuff! I cooked myself some pasta for lunch, in anticipation of the football trial later in the day, cleaned my boots and set off to catch the bus to Centennial Park. It was actually the first time I had been to the large parkland in the middle of the city, but it is quite an amazing place and I'm sure I'll visit more regularly in the next few months. The sheer size is possibly the most spectacular thing as footpaths, cycling tracks and horse trails wind between playing fields and around numerous ponds and streams. Since it was a Sunday, the car parks were all completely full as people enjoyed the weekend sunshine and high 20s temperatures with barbecues, beers and ball games - Glasgow Green, it is not. The trial itself involved the squad of guys who had turned up being divided into teams of 7 players and competing against each other in small sided matches and games of possession. In a strange coincidence, there turned out to be several Scottish lads in the team and three of the coaches were also from Scotland, which was very strange but also quite welcome as it was a great way to get chatting to people. I played alright I think, even though the afternoon heat made it a sore shift at times and at the end I was one of the players chosen to come back and train with the men's team. Happy days. I got home, made dinner and collapsed into bed.

This is a photo in Centennial Park. It's also where Avicii is coming to play in January, which could be tempting - we'll see!

After my early night, I was back up around 3am to watch United playing Cardiff. The game was crap and I dozed off again for about 25 minutes during the second half. We were leading 2-1 until the last minute when Cardiff scored an equaliser to snatch a draw; I was not best pleased and went back to bed in a terrible mood. I spent much of Monday doing nothing in particular, although I did watch the Broncos and Patriots NFL game on TV. It's pretty cool that Sunday and Monday Night Football coverage from the States is shown here and it starts in the middle of the morning. It's actually quite practical to watch the matches.

On Tuesday I had my first shift at Jeanswest, which meant all the usual training and getting to know the job stuff had to be done. The shift went by fairly quickly though and it was a fairly relaxed, casual shop to work in compared to what I was used to previously in Currys, so that was a pleasant change - although I'm not convinced that it might not become boring after a while. I also spotted a t-shirt which I decided would be bought on my next shift - I hadn't even finished my first shift and had already began mentally spending my wages! Typical! The first hour or so of my shift was also spent trying on various sizes, fits and shapes of jeans so that I had an understanding of the differences and would be better placed to advise customers. Apparently because I am tall, pretty much all of the different styles suit me, which was great news! Haha!

The first beach-day of the summer was instigated on Wednesday when I woke up to a super-early text from Jordan suggesting that we should go to Bondi. I didn't have to be asked twice and shortly after breakfast and a shower I found myself on the bus heading to the beach to chill out for the day. Scarily enough, Jordan only had a few days left of his time in Sydney and we had a laugh talking about how quickly it had gone by and all the things which we had done. The months have raced past, but at the same time we really have packed in so many things in that time. After a few hours lying on the beach, we headed to get some lunch at a fishmongers which sells fish and chips, except they also sell grilled barramundi or grilled tuna steak and chips - and it's quite cheap too! After battling seagulls in an effort to guard our chips, we headed back to the beach and discussed our plans for the rest of the week. We decided to suggest going to see the new Hunger Games film to Alex and Jess and maybe going for a drink or something afterwards that night. Since Jessica was at work at Bondi Junction, we stopped by on our way back to Sydney to discuss the plans.

Bondi Beach on Wednesday afternoon.

The four of us met up later at the Three Wise Monkeys pub on George Street, where we had a drink before taking the short walk down the street to the cinema. The Event cinema on George Street has a VMax screen, which means you can see some films on an even bigger screen and we were glad to hear that our film would be included. We weren't so delighted to hear that a student ticket for a VMax showing was $20, which seemed expensive even by cinema standards. The film itself was absolutely fantastic and I would recommend it to pretty much anyone; even Jordan enjoyed it after earlier suggesting it would just be, "Fantasy bullshit." Hahaha! It was almost midnight when the film finished and we all headed straight home - I got straight to sleep since I was getting up early once more to watch United. Even though we had plans to go to Manly beach the next morning, it was well worth the lack of sleep as my team won 5-0 away to Bayer Leverkusen - our biggest ever away win in the Champions League! Get in there!

We had planned and agreed to meet at Circular Quay to catch the 10.30am ferry across to Manly, however I ended up being late and we had to catch the later one at 11am. The journey was typically enjoyable as we sailed by the multi-million dollar houses and chatted about which one we might buy following a Euro-Millions win - it's funny how you can start to pick faults in some of the worlds nicest houses given an imaginary super-fund! Another great day was spent practically asleep on the beach, enjoying the sunshine and heat; I have to constantly remind myself that it is almost Christmas, since the weather just does not match up! We went for a swim as well, although Jordan had become a bit paranoid about jellyfish since his last trip to Manly when the lifeguards had told everyone to get out the water after a large group of a particularly dangerous species had been spotted in the water. Every single time something moved under the surface, he would be on edge. I swear he cracks me up sometimes! Hahaha!

After drying off and having some sandwiches for lunch - except Jordan, who outdid us all when he went and ordered kangaroo steak and sweet potato chips - it was time for me to leave. Since I had a football training session back at Centennial Park, I left the others to enjoy the rest of their afternoon as I headed off to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay. The football went quite well again, although unfortunately the final trial session would be on the following Sunday, which I couldn't attend due to Stereosonic. I hoped that I had shown enough to be picked for the squad in the first sessions which I had taken part in - fingers crossed!

After training, I caught the bus back to Central and quickly got showered and changed since we had planned to go out to Ivy that night. After a lightning fast dinner, I left the flat and caught the bus outside up the street to Jordan's flat where Alex and Jess were already enjoying pre-drinks - a very lazy move from me but I was in a hurry. We enjoyed some wine, played 'Ring of Fire' and blasted Avicii's set from the iTunes Festival - if you haven't heard it already, find it on YouTube because it is phenomenal! We caught the bus down George Street towards Ivy, walking the last few hundred yards and stopping off to have our photo taken with the big Christmas tree.

It was actually the first time I had been to Ivy, after a couple of previous failed efforts, however I honestly didn't enjoy it that much. The music was pretty good, as you would expect, but the crowd was a bit off-putting and there were so many posers that it was difficult to really have a good night. I did enjoy myself, but I've had better nights out for sure. We headed home around 3am with the intention of going to get some pizza, however we couldn't find somewhere which was open so it was straight home to sleep. The next morning I had one of those horrible experiences when you wake up and feel great after a night out and then slowly, but surely a hangover takes over - awful. Jordan suggested we go out to breakfast at a place called Toby's Estate, which is a nice little coffee shop and cafe near where he lived in Sydney but I couldn't eat anything. I'm also convinced we looked like the roughest three people on the planet and I will not be going back there in a hurry! After the failed attempt at breakfast, I walked home to get showered and get some more sleep before I started work at 4pm. Meanwhile, Jess and Jordan went off to do some shopping; Jessica eventually bought a MacBook - I guess the sales pitch by Alex and I worked quite well! The time before work raced by and I was still feeling tired when I arrived - although I was 10 minutes early for my shift, which was popular with the manager. Kudos to me.

After work I walked home, suddenly energised and excited by the prospect of Stereosonic the following day! Since Jordan was heading to the airport to catch his flight home early the next morning, it was straight to sleep for me after dinner. My alarm erupted in the darkness before 7am and I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. The plan was to be at Jordan's flat for around 8.15am to catch a cab to the airport, so I was careful to ensure that I wouldn't be late, arriving with plenty of time to spare before 8am. The "cab" which Jordan had booked turned up to be a black Mercedes town-car, complete with driver dressed in a formal suit and a hat. Not what I had been expecting whatsoever! We met with Jessica in the airport and found the desk for Jordan to drop his luggage off. Alex and I could barely contain our laughter after we had helped carry the bags to the airport and found out that they were supposed to be under 24kg! Just as predicted, Jordan ended up paying an additional $100 for the privilege of checking-in his collection of baggage. Once that was all sorted, we found a seat in one of the airport cafes and ordered a coffee, as we chatted about our time in Australia so far. I still don't think it has really sunk in that half of the time is nearly gone already. We said our goodbyes at the security gate and made our way to catch a train back into the city. 

Once we had returned to Central, I headed to the supermarket to get some food and a few beers to have before leaving for Stereosonic. Jessica came over around lunchtime and we had a few glasses of the infamous Goon along with a bag of Grainwaves - the first crisps I had eaten since the carb-binge weekend in Cairns, but they are just fantastic. After a few drinks we took the short walk over to Central Station, which was packed with people who were clearly all heading to the same place as we were; the queues for tickets were huge and trains were departing the station every few minutes. We jumped on a carriage which turned out to be full of incredibly drunk Irish lads who didn't take long to start sing-a-longs to Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger. The journey out to the Olympic Park where the festival was being held didn't take long and it wasn't long before we had passed the ticket and security checks and made our way inside the main arena.

After queuing up to buy a drink at the bar - which had to be purchased through the use of $30 vouchers - we went inside the stadium to find the main stage. As we walked in Nicky Romero was midway through his set and the place was bouncing. Awesome!

After watching the rest of Nicky Romero's set and all of Sebastian Ingrosso, we headed back out to get another drink before the main headliners for the night. I took this photo just outside the stadium as the sun was setting in the background. Empire of the Sun were playing at the time but we only caught the end of their set after heading back to the main stage.

After Empire of the Sun had finished and left the stage, we waited eagerly for Calvin Harris to arrive. He was really the main attraction of the entire weekend and even though he had played T in the Park when I had been before, I had never actually managed to see him before now. He turned out to be absolutely brilliant and he totally smashed the entire set - he really was excellent! I've got a few great videos of Calvin, one of which I've already uploaded to Facebook but I am planning to create a compilation video of the weekend and I'll upload it on YouTube.

Immediately after Calvin finished his set, we were treated to David Guetta. Rather fantastically, there was merely a few minutes between one act finishing and the next one beginning, which is radically different to the way things work at other gigs usually. Again, Guetta was really good, but I think it would have been difficult for any act to follow up on Calvin, so it was a little bit disappointing. It started to rain towards the end of his set too, so we left a little before the end and headed for the train station. After having no food since the crisps at lunch time, a well needed McDonalds was enjoyed before getting to bed for some sleep. I spent the entire night struggling to get any decent sleep and must have only had around an hour or two at any one time. I spent most of the morning relaxing and having some food before it was time to get showered and ready to do it all over again.

Neither Jessica nor I had really taken too many photographs on the first day and agreed to try and take some more on the second day. We also got quite a bit more drunk on the second day and ended up snapping selfies on our phones at every possible opportunity, which made for some hilarious viewing the next day! Feeling a little worse for wear, it was decided to head to the Olympic Park at around 4pm with the intention of seeing Bingo Players, then Afrojack, followed by Above & Beyond, Axwell and finally Armin van Buuren headlining. We stayed at the main stage for most of the day, before leaving to go to the bar and get some food, though we were distracted and ended up going to one of the smaller stages where a guy called Andy C was MC-ing with a DJ behind him. It looked like everyone was having such a good time and even though I had never heard of him or his music before, it ended up being one of my most enjoyable sets of the entire weekend. Again, much of it was captured on video, which should be uploaded at some point. Afterwards, in desperate need of some food, we found a Nandos takeaway which was incredibly well appreciated. The food was genuinely excellent too and it was pretty cheap!

After having some food, we headed back into the stadium to see Armin van Buuren playing a headline set to close the festival and finish off the weekend in style. He also played a phenomenal set of tunes and there was a huge firework display around the roof of the stadium at the end. In summary, Stereosonic was insanely good and I would love to be able to do it all over again.

I'm going to finish this post with some of the better photos from the weekend at Stereosonic - enjoy!

One of the drink vouchers which you had to buy in order to get drinks from the bars.

Someone playing the main stage, I'm not actually sure who it is though. I think it must be Axwell though, given how light it still is.

I'm quite positive that this photo was during Calvin Harris' set on the Saturday night.

Again, no idea who is playing in this photo. Decent blue sky going on though!

Sober faces, outside the stadium between acts.

Jessica with one of the numerous topless, Zyzz-lookalikes who we spotted over the weekend. This particular bloke must have though the monkey costume was a winner! Haha!

Outside the stadium just as it was getting dark.

Looking over to one of the smaller stages, where we watched Andy C smashing it!

Armin van Buuren as he finished his set on the main stage. Superb!

STEREO, STEREO, STEREO-SONIC!

What a weekend!

Spring break!

This week I have enjoyed my spring break from uni - although unfortunately Chad Hogan was busy so he didn't manage to throw a party. The weather has been pretty good all week and I've tried to make the most of it and continue to attempt to catch a tan.

After the football last Tuesday night, I enjoyed a quiet morning on Wednesday before quickly becoming bored of having nothing to do. It's always really strange that when you are incredibly busy and have lots of deadlines to meet, or tasks which need completed, you can't wait for some time off to simply do nothing and when that time eventually comes, you inevitably get bored after only a few hours. By the early afternoon I had decided to go for a swim at the free swimming pool nearby which one of my flatmates had been telling me about a few days previously. A quick bit of research on Google told me that the Prince Alfred Park, and swimming pool, was literally just at the other side of Central Station and only around 5 minutes walk away - and it was totally free! Superb! I headed over and enjoyed a few lengths of the large, outdoor pool before finding a place on the grassy hill to lie and chill out with my iPod plugged in for an hour or two. Excellent afternoon spent in the sunshine.

On Wednesday night in my pursuit of a new TV show to watch after Breaking Bad (which mum and dad have just started watching on my insistence) I began to watch the Walking Dead. It had been recommended to me quite a while ago by Cary and Fraser; the first four episodes were watched consecutively before I had to give in and go to bed since I was getting up around 4.30am to watch the football. It always amazes me that when my alarm goes off in the middle of the night, there is no hesitation in jumping up out of bed and getting my laptop powered up, excited by the prospect of the football - if someone woke me at that time for practically any other reason I would be beyond crabbit. Just remembered that 'crabbit' is one of the words on my Scottish dialect dish towel which Kerry, mum and dad gave me before I came to Australia and I've been using it to teach my flat mates some words! So far we've nailed "eejit" as well as "braw" and "wheesht" - all the key stuff really. The word "yes" has almost entirely been replaced with "aye" too, which really helps the place feel like home I think!

Speaking of home, I also found out on Wednesday that whilst Auntie Jean has booked her flight to come out and visit me as planned in January, my mum is also coming with her! Brilliant news, very much surprising to hear and it'll be great to see them both before Kerry is here next July. Wonder if dad will manage to land himself a Fitzcharles trip to Australia at some point...? Haha! Anyway, the football was a moderate success as United drew 1-1 away in the Ukraine to Shakhtar Donetsk and played fairly well. I went back to sleep for a couple of hours satisfied with both result and performance. On Thursday it was raining and pretty windy, which wasn't much fun so I spent the morning watching some TV, then made lunch and headed out to hand out some more CVs to some shops on Broadway as well as some coffee shops and cafes near Central Station. I also took a walk up to Coles to pick up some groceries which I needed; it's funny that as soon as there is a little rain here I seem to go into complete shut-down and hardly get anything done. I'm already completely used to the sunshine and have no idea how I will handle going home to the harsh Scottish winter next year!

On Friday I had another relatively quiet day; watched some more Walking Dead after having a shower and breakfast in the morning, caught up on some of the latest football news from back home and then had lunch and headed out to play football. I'm currently playing with a pretty large hole in the front of my right boot and I've emailed Sports Direct to try and get them to send me a new pair - I only bought the boots back in July before I left the UK and I've been using my law skills in order to try and force the issue a bit! Hopefully I'll have some new boots soon enough. After the football, a few of the guys were chatting about the plans for that night and suggested we meet up, go for some food and head out for a few drinks in Newtown. I hadn't been out in Newtown at all yet so I was definitely up for it and headed home to have a shower and get changed.

We decided to head to a Thai restaurant on the main street, but went to the liquor store along the street first and bought a bottle of wine. In Australia, restaurants either sell alcohol or allow you to simply bring your own and don't serve any alcohol themselves, which is quite cool and certainly helps keep the cost down when dining in restaurants. I enjoyed a dish which I seem to remember was called chicken pad kapao - sort of spicy chicken and veg stir fry with chilli and basil - it was excellent even if I can't remember the proper name. Afterwards, we headed to a bar above the Marlborough Hotel called Miss Peaches, which was a really cool place, although the music was very hipster and retro and there were quite a few middle aged women who were pretty drunk, which was strange. We then headed to another bar which I can't remember the name of at the moment, but the bar tender was a nice guy. Finally, we ended up in an Irish bar called Kelly's which was great, as are most Irish bars - they had pretty decent Guinness and the first song which was playing as we walked in was "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" by the Smiths. I knew I was going to like it from that moment. I headed home not long after 3am, quickly stopping into the local shop to get some milk for breakfast the next morning.

On Saturday morning, I hauled myself out of bed with a little bit of a headache, had some breakfast and a shower and soon felt spot on once again. Since it was such a nice day, I decided to head back to the pool at the Prince Alfred Park and enjoyed an afternoon in the sun with my iPod and my car magazine which I brought with me from home. The plan for that evening was to have a barbecue with my flatmates, which had been organised by Claire since her sister was visiting from Melbourne with her boyfriend. She had booked the communal cooking area downstairs for us and we were all chipping in with some contribution to the night. After returning from the pool, I got showered and headed to the Broadway Shopping Centre in order to pick up some food and wine - I also went to K-Mark to buy some more boxers, since I seem to have plenty of clothes, except underwear which is a bit annoying. I picked up some food in Coles and was pleased to see that my receipt had another 'Buy One Get One Free' deal for some particular bottle of wine in Liquorland, so headed off to find it; I'm still not really used to the supermarkets not serving alcohol. Anyway, I got two bottles of Counting Sheep Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand for $14 and headed home. It turned out to be really nice, especially once it had been chilled in the fridge for a while.

The communal area where the barbecue is here also has a ping-pong table which we made great use of throughout the night. The food was excellent and it was good to meet a few new people once more - I've found out through meeting such a number of new people since I've been here that I am very good at remembering people's faces but horrible at keeping track of all the names. I'll need to work on that. My personal highlights from the night were the baked potatoes, complete with sour cream, chives and bacon pieces, as well as one of Claire's friends arriving with two big bars of Toblerone - fantastic!

Before heading back upstairs, two other lads arrived in the living room and put the football on the TV, so I sat and watched the second half of Man City v Everton with them. I had never met them before, even though they live here too and it was good to once more meet some decent guys who enjoyed football. I went off to bed just before midnight since United were playing at 5.30pm at home, which meant a 2.30am kick off here! However, the clocks moved on Sunday night, which meant that at 2.30am it would actually be 3.30am and I had completely forgotten! Luckily, my iPhone is an incredibly useful piece of technology and not only corrected the time, but adjusted my alarm to the appropriate time too. I was very impressed when I woke up thinking that I had missed the first half of the game, but had simply been tricked by the clocks moving. At home, dad was driving a local youth football team down from Falkirk to go and watch the game, however he didn't manage to get himself a ticket unfortunately. It was a great game, even though United went 1-0 down, as Adnan Januzaj marked his first Premier League start with two stunning goals to win us the match! What an impact from a guy who is only 18 years old! Incredible!

On Sunday I had another quiet morning before heading to the pool for another day of swimming and sunbathing, since it was a scorching day. Afterwards I headed home, made dinner and watched some more Walking Dead - finished season 2 already! After showing mum this picture of my dinner from Sunday, she said that I'll be cooking more when I come home. So I reckon I'm going to stop showing her my excellent meals. Later on, I was on FaceTime chatting to Kerry as she baked at home but I was almost asleep whilst talking to her since I was totally knackered from my weekend, so headed to bed.

I must have been even more tired than I thought from my busy week, since my alarm went off at 9am on Monday morning and unfortunately, after turning it off, I closed my eyes just for a minute and next thing I knew I woke up again and it was almost 12 noon. I hate when that happens. I checked my phone and had a text from Jessica to see if I wanted to join her and Jordan for some lunch - I hadn't had breakfast yet. I jumped in the shower and after drying off, found another text to say that the plan was to meet at Town Hall station at 1pm which was only 20 minutes from then. I got dressed in super-fast time, made my way to Central and jumped on a train to Town Hall; we decided that I would just meet them wherever they decided to pick for lunch at Darling Harbour, so I arrived at a place called Margaritaville where the pair of them had already found us a table. There are still several tall ships and navy boats in the waters around Sydney Harbour at the moment after the International Fleet Review on Saturday, where Prince Harry was attendance marking 100 years since the naval fleet arrived in Sydney. I managed to snap a picture of one of the tall ships, which you were able to go on board and explore, except the queue was massive and the boat was so busy it looked like you could barely move, so it seemed totally pointless.

We ended up waiting quite some time on our food and after questioning how long it was taking to our waiter, another guy - who I assume was a manager - came out and suggested that he would sort us out with another round of drinks, which we were quite happy with. We weren't in any rush to go anywhere and the food barely took another 5 minutes after that. Lunch was really good; I had grilled barramundi fish with rice and salad and enjoyed a nice cold beer sat looking over the harbour. We headed home afterwards and the girls in the flat fancied another game of table tennis, so we played until late in the evening before moving back upstairs and making dinner. I watched some more Walking Dead and retired to my bed. Shattered once again.

Today it was supposed to be raining so it was pleasantly surprising to wake up and find that not only was it dry, but it was quite sunny outside. However, since there had been an expectation of rain, my motivation to do what I had planned to do quickly drained. It ended up taking me until shortly after lunchtime to get showered, have breakfast, put some washing in the laundry downstairs, tidy up my room and watch a couple of episodes of the Walking Dead. Around 1pm there was a post on the Soccer Society Facebook page asking if anyone fancied a game this afternoon, so I decided to head up to Victoria Park shortly after 3pm to see how many people would turn up. There ended up being 6 of us there so we played three-on-three with a short pitch and small goals; it was surprisingly good fun and a really good workout in the heat.

Until next time!