365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 210 : Anatomy of a Move 6 - Here There Be Boxes, Here There Be None

What a night Mr Hart!

Tonight was the first real part of the move itself, and while it all went really smoothly with my housemate, his boyfriend, my gorgeous guy and I moving ALL the boxes in the loungeroom, my small bookcase, and the cane chairs quickly and easily, we were exhausted afterwards.

Before After

But we got lots done - see the before and after shots of my gorgeous guy in our old apartment (above) - we had some fun on the way (Chinese takeaway and my guy resting on one of the chairs in the lift during the whole 10 seconds it took to descend!), and the best part of all?

We got to stand in the new apartment, soak it all in, and re-discover how cool and big it is! Funny how your mind plays tricks on you - we only had the one brief look at the inspection, and in my mind's eye, it had shrunk down to almost nothing! Fortunately reality for once was much kinder, and we got to spend some time, however sweaty and brief (not good sweaty; moving sweaty! Ugh!) in our new home.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 209 : Anatomy of a Move 5 - And the Rain Came Pouring Down

In the immortal words of Supertramp - Its Raining Again.

I am fairly certain they weren't referring to moving when they pinned their melancholic ode, but its fits today's situation perfectly as rain poured down on the day set aside to start the Move. Fear not, though, for unlike Supertramp who seemed resigned to their fate, my house mate and I quickly changed tack, and spent the night doing the Inspection Report (and taking lots of photos to back it up!) at the new apartment - we carried two symbolic boxes apiece to signify the move was underway, if only in spirit at this point - and cleaning and packing last minute boxes.

After my housemate had finished scrubbing his bathroom, and I had finished emptying kitchen draws and cupboards (and Jif'ing till the cows came home, clean and sparkling), we wound down by drinking lots of red wine, eating Pepper Steak soup on broccoli and watching a season 1 episode of Big Bang Theory.....

............. and then I slept......LOTS....

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 208 : Happy Birthday to My Gorgeous Guy!

It was my gorgeous guy's actual birthday today and we celebrated with a delicious dinner at Ripples at Milson's Point (after a lovely walk around the foreshore) - the tempura prawns, beef tenderloins, mushroom tart and trout were sublime.... hell every last morsel of every course was!... and the service was warm and attentive - looking out over the Harbour to the City, Harbour Bridge and Opera House. A romantic intimate meal topped off with a Tulloch Verdelho and the wonderful companionship of the man I love.

Then we walked 200m down to the Big Top at Luna Park for a decidedly raucous, fun and glitzy concert by the Scissor Sisters who were at their sassy, energetic, very naughty best, showcasing all their hits and the newer tracks off Nightworks, their latest CD. We bumped into our close friend Peter there but spent the bulk of the concert dancing close to each other, and soaking in all the energy, colour and movement. A brilliant concert!

Yes we got home late, just before midnight but we had such a wonderful night celebrating my darling man's birthday that a little sleep deprivation is totally worth it!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 207 (Monday 26 July 2010) : More Bodhi...and a Crap Shoulder

I was off work today thanks to my left shoulder flaring up in pain after one too many boxes were lifted into place ready for the move to begin this week to my new apartment. Thankfully I got in to see my doctor and my physio on what turned out to be a very busy day....

But the highlight was being sent some lovely shots of my gorgeous new nephew Bodhi with my Dad, my Mum, his dad and mum (my lovely sister Rachel), including one where he has his hands over his ears like he's trying to screen the noise of the world out! He is just adorable and I can't wait to see him soon.

Sound asleep

With his dad Michael

With my Mum, his Ana-Nanna

With my Dad

With his mum (my sister) and his dad

Trying to shut out the world! Too cute!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 206 (Sunday 25 July 2010) : Par-Tay for My Guy!

Lots of people (19 adults + 2 kids).

Lots of balloons.

Great service, food, and fun.

That's my gorgeous guy's birthday dinner in a nutshell.

I booked us into Delhi o Delhi at Erskineville, who were wonderfully friendly and supportive all the way through especially during the dinner when the service was absolutely legendary, Fahmi grabbed yummy cheesecakes from Buzzzbar, I got balloons from a place on Mitchell Road, and with 19 close special friends we had a wonderful night celebrating my beautiful man's birthday.

Add into that lovely mix, drinks at Zanzibar's roof top bar beforehand, and not even torrential rain could take away from the fun of a lot of friends together.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 205 (Saturday 24 July 2010) : No Barnacles on Bill!

As part of my gorgeous guy's birthday gift, I bought him and I tickets to see Bill Bailey at the State Theatre.

We both love him, primarily from his role in Black Books, but went to see his musically-based stand up routine - he is a very talented singer and musician - on the recommendation of a good friend at work.

He was HILARIOUS!

We didn't stop laughing from start to finish, after Bill went from one piece of inspired lunacy to another, interspersed with great audience participation and wonderful visuals, that neatly summed up everything he had referred to during his routine. It is impossible to do any of the routines justice - one exchange about an Iranian instrument called an Ood with an audience member featured riffs on infinity loops of conversation, winged crabs in a post apocalyptic world, and the rise and fall of empires just to give you some idea of the lunacy at work - but suffice to say we just laughed and laughed and laughed at his witty observations, clever music and even poetry (he finished with a poem about being dumped that finished with "I can't wait till I have you back / Till then I'm like Whitney without crack"!) and even got a bonus 20 minutes of performance when we came back out after the house lights had gone up, and caught most of unawares. Thankfully Steve & I were still in the theatre and were able to catch him for his impromptu extra bits.

Most importantly Steve loved his present and that alone made the tickets worth the price of admission!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 204 : Unto Us is Born - BODHI!!!

I am an uncle again!

First photo of him sent to me by my brother Steve

(since I am the only far flung family member, everyone had orders me photos and quickly!)

Little (or not so little, at 8 lbs 1 ounce!) adorable, Bodhi Andryc entered the world today at 1.30 pm via caesarean and mum, baby, and dad are all doing well.

2nd photo of him sent by my sister Helen (mother of my niece Zara)

He looks the spitting image of his lovely mother, my sister Rachel, and I am so looking forward to seeing him in 3 weeks time when I fly home!


Pop the champagne tonight - it's time to celebrate!!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 203 : Anatomy of a Move 4 : Great Walls of Boxes Can Be Seen From Space!

I was beyond exhausted tonight......

........and yet the Master of Moving Deadlines shows no mercy, and so my house mate and I packed up 7 boxes full to the pussy's bow of kitchen goodies. What fun! What thrills. What.... a load of crap.....

Yes there was a dearth of thrills and spills but the result? 2/3 of the kitchen packed and an even greater WALL......OF BOXES!


Ta Da!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 202 : Andrew for P.M.!

It seems my darling man thinks I could be Prime Minister! (see the URL).

http://www.australia2010.com.au/index.php?rfname=Andrew&rlname=Gillman&remail=andrew.gillman@optus.com.au&sfname=Stephen&slname=Montague&semail=montech.consulting@gmail.com

That's all very flattering and I am impressed I have my very own saturation coverage news report but frankly I couldn't think of anything worse. It must be the most thankless job in the world, and you never know when it will cease to be yours. Right Kevin?

Still if I get into The Lodge, I pledge to introduce endless stimulus packages so shopping is guilt free all year around, bring in an end to pointless politicking (ban all parties I say!), and make same sex marriage law. Since my guy has indicated he is happy to serve as my deputy, I could be the first P.M. in history to get married to my male deputy!

Well a boy can dream can't he?

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 201 : Takin' the Twilight Zone Train Home

What an odd night.

It started off OK when I reached the platform just as my train was pulling in....YAY!

Got to Circular Way in fine time. Happy!

Then we ground to a dead halt in the dark tunnel between Circular Quay and St James station. Why?

Seems there was a signalling failure at St James station and so we crept along a few metres at a time for 25 minutes, far longer than the normal travelling time. Unhappy.

While we moved at a snail pace to St James, a man argued very loudly with his girlfriend over the phone. Less happy still.

Finally left St James, picked up speed and got to St Peters station (home) quickly. Cheers all around!
(with a very sympathetic text form my lovely guy who is always endlessly supportive)

Hmm not those kind of cheers....try this one....

Walked out from the station to find pouring rain for the walk home. Yikes!

Found my umbrella. Yay again!

Got home, got changed, and got warm.

Bliss.....

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 200 : More Sunrise Shots from the Balcony

Granted these aren't as spectacular as the shots I took a month back, but these are still beautiful, and a rich, colourful welcome to the day......

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 199 (Sunday 18 July 2010) : Kulcha mate!

Enough with Coldplay and Madonna! Well for one afternoon at least....

For today, I got KULCHA. Yes I went with my darling man, and his friends, Alan & Pieta to the Australian Chamber Orchestra to hear some Vivaldi, Haydn, and some modern pieces, all guest conducted by a Russian woman who styles herself as the Barefoot Fiddler. Granted she had her fun moments, but after the delightful fun of the Schutz piece at the top of the bill, we were 'treated' to two very dismal, dirge-like pieces, one apparently by Armenia's greatest living composer.

Interval gave Pieta and I a chance to be a tad subversive and trash the modernist stuff - I usually like anything new but the funereal qualities of the pieces left both of us cold and sleepy - and to debrief with my gorgeous guy and Pieta's partner, Alan, who are the true classical music buffs (the ACO is usually their gig alone). Thankfully act 2 was far more engaging and fun and a piece called Zoom Zip really lived up to its name, and of course, good old Vivaldi (with a weird little bit in the middle courtesy of the 'impish' Barefoot Fiddler) who I love and adore and is the reason I went in the first place. While it wasn't all my cup of tea, it was lovely to share somewhat that my lovely man is passionate about, and spend some time getting to know his wonderful friends a little better.

Topping and tailing all this classical Kulcha was a yummy lunch at Alan and Pieta's place in Potts Point - Alan cooked the yummiest salmon scrambled eggs and put them on perfectly toasted bread pieces which we ate on their delightfully sunlit balcony, washed down with champagne and Semillon Sauvignon Blanc - and drinks at the Opera Bar afterwards, which is where the photos were taken.

It was a busy day and my guy and I were absolutely exhausted by the end of it, but we had the loveliest time, and got Kulcha into the bargain.