For those of you that missed me and wondered if I was still alive, I am. For those of you that never even noticed there had been a slight hiatus between blog posts, I’m upset and a little bit offended 🙂
Life has been rolling along nicely since we last spoke. A cheeky weekend in Singapore lifted the spirits at the end of August where I took souvenir shopping to new heights and brought home something to spruce up the apartment. And who can resist a visit to the beautiful Raffles hotel, to the Long Bar for a famous (at least amongst tourists) Singapore Sling cocktail!
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| View from dinner in Singapore |
September brought in Spring, and how I was needing it. Maybe my blood is thinning with living in Australia, or perhaps I’m just becoming soft, but this year I even had to resort to buying a heater for home. I was in grave danger of dying from hypothermia so the extra dollars added to my electricity bill was a small price to pay to live to see another summer.
As the heater got put away, out came the thongs. Yes English readers, I mean flip flops. Or jandals if anybody from across the Tasman is reading.
And the first thing you do when bringing out your feet from hibernation? Why, you have a pedicure of course! Don’t you? To protect my very macho image, I must add a disclaimer to this, saying that it wasn’t actually my idea. I think it was suggested more in jest, but in the spirit of trying everything once, there I was, one Saturday afternoon, sat in my chair getting pampered. And I must confess, it was a very pleasant experience. At least once I had convinced them that no, actually my toe nails do NOT need painting. I am now wondering whether I need a manicure, for my over worked hands. Thoughts anybody?
The start of October allowed my to show off my newly pedicured toes, as we bade farewell to a couple of friends who are leaving Australia for a while to travel the world (lucky buggers). We descended into Longueville, for my second shot at barefoot bowling. For the uninitiated, this is crown green bowls. MInus your shoes. Plus lots of alcohol.
When the idea is first pitched to you it is not something you immediately think you would enjoy. However, I think everybody was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was (which could have been the amount of beer they drank). What is interesting to see is how competitive people get. We ended up having inter-european challenges, where we smashed the Germans :-), and poms v the rest of world, where results were a little more mixed.
I had thought I may have found my sport for when I retire. However, if you had seen me trying to roll out of bed the following morning, and subsequently rolling on to the floor, you may disagree. I think I need to find a less strenuous sport for these ageing bones.
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| Just look at that technique |
All in, a fantastic day, that somehow finished in the Crows Nest Hotel. Those of you that know, or who have frequented the Crows Nest Hotel, will have an idea of how the night went. But as they saying goes, “what happens in the Crowle, stays in the Crowie”.
What else has been happening since my last post? We have had a long bank holiday weekend. But whereas in the UK everybody runs to spend the day in the pub, here they run to spend the day by the water. Me? I like to combine the two, and with a night staying over in the city, a leisurely Monday was spent walking around Sydney, with stops by the water for cold refreshments (for this, read beer).
Over the same weekend, the South Sydney Rabbitohs broke a 40+ year drought by winning the rugby league grand final. Powered on by our very own Burgess brothers from Yorkshire. I’m sure the South’s co-owner, Russell Crowe is a very happy man.
Also, the real sport has started again, football, and finally Utd now have some points on the board and the jokes on social media seemed to have died down, or at least are now being redirected to the hapless Brendan Rodgers. Talking of hapless, a visit was paid to watch Sydney FC this weekend. Or in reality, to see David Villa make his A-League debut on his 10 game stint down under before heading to play for New York City. And he made an immediate impact. Scoring with a touch of class not seen since Alesandro del Piero sadly left these shores.
Since we last spoke I have also obtained my full riders licence, which means, rather scarily, I could now go and purchase a large, fast, and powerful motorbike and be let loose on the streets. Thankfully, I am still in love with my scooter, and that will remain my mode of transport for the time being. But now having a full licence, I am able to give “backers”. Funnily enough, nobody seems very keen to jump on the back! Once I buy that second helmet, there will be no excuses J
That about wraps up the last month and bit of my life. Summer, and the holiday season is just around the corner, so keep reading to find out what the Yorkshire Expat gets up to next.
Until the next time
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