Book Twenty Four

Does anyone know what the hell this book is all about, cos I certainly don't!

And if you're wondering, no I didn't buy this. I only read it because H had finished reading it.

As for personal records, I have now read twenty four books since I arrived here in May last year! Averaging two books a month, I have to say that that is bloody good going. Well done me!

Oh, and my parents are here now so I may not be online for a while.

Greedy's 30th Birthday Pirate Booze Cruise

Rich Greenfield turns 30 this week so to celebrate he decided to charter a boat around the harbour on Saturday and invite his friends to come along dressed as pirates. Yep - it was to be a fancy dress booze cruise. As is always the way with these things, the costume is genrally left until the last minute. I'd heard rumours about a quality fancy dress shop near my place of work and finally got round to checking it out last week. It did the job.

Claire picked H and I up from Manly and took us back to her place where we got changed. This meant walking through Neutral Bay in full costume as we looked for a taxi. We boarded the boat at Kirribilli, directly opposite Oprah’s House and just down the road from Big John's.

We met the rest of the Manly crew on the boat, as well as the birthday boy himself, and set sail for picks up at Balmain and Darling Harbour. The Japanese tourists loved it when we rocked up to pick up more pirates from the Aquarium jetty. We ooooo'd and aaaar’d our way up and down the river, getting pretty decent reactions from everyone we past. Having a pirate ship interrupt your wedding is surely one of the risks you take if you choose to get married next to the river.

The captain took us quite a way inland before returning to the Harbour where we cruised around, under the bridge and past Oprah. Everyone had a blast and it was a quality day out. The Coopers was flowing and the hosts managed to knock together a fine feed for everyone. I'm not quite sure how a pirate dance-off came about but it was funny to see.

The cruise finished up at 6ish where we all piled into Pier 26, a nice bar on the waterfront in Darling Harbour. Quite how we were all allowed in, in full kit and fully beered up, was beyond any of us and it wasn't long before we were ALL barred from drinking. The party then moved to The Forbes Hotel in the city before H, Will and I had to leave and head off to The Metro to see Gomez with Simo. I was going to go as a pirate but by the evening I was sick of the wig (and everyone else was sick of the chest wig) so I got changed and got into gig mode. It was a top way to finish a brilliant day. Gomez rocked and the venue is probably the best one I have been to. Really small and very loud. Will got so trashed he bought tickets for the gig on the Sunday night as well. So that's three Gomez gigs in 7 days for him. Good work. Oooooo arrrrrrrr.

Book Twenty Three

One of my mates at work recommended this one to me so I thought I'd give it a go. It also interested me because I have a couple of things in common with it.

It's an interesting story but I thought it was an average read. After 300 pages or so of prison life there was only so much of the story I could take. And when it ended I really wanted to know what the guy was up to now – especially as he was released in 2000, the book was first published in 2003 and reprinted this year. Unfortunately you don't find out. It was a bit like reading Tony Adams’ autobiography – I got drunk and did this, I got drunk and did that, I got drunk whilst playing football.....blah, blah, blah, except with cocaine.

The Easter Weekender Part 2 - The Great Escape

The Great Escape is a three day festival out by the Olympic Park. They sold day tickets for those of us who didn't fancy going for all three days so H, Will and Katie and I went on Sunday. It was completely different from the other festivals I have been too in Australia. This one reminded me of the Ashton Court festival back in Brizzle, except it was much smaller. It had a ferris wheel and dodgems!

It was also the first time that I've turned up to a festival for the last day. The only other three day event I have been to was Glastonbury back in 2003 and I was there for the entirety.

I wasn't particularly fussed by any of the music on offer. I'd seen Gomez before, and I've never been into The Lemonheads, but they were the biggest bands of the day (as well as The Roots). Will and H were very excited about seeing The Lemonheads and as they came on stage we made our way to the front of the rather peculiar Riverside Stage setting (lots of people sat round at tables watching the band – very chilled!). Now, the girls seem to love Evan Dando – hence the reason I took a few decent shots of him. I can't see what all the fuss is about – but H is a big, big fan. I asked Katie what she thought. She said "He’d be good for a Featherlite". Brilliant, and the quote of the day.

The gig was cool. I got into it the more it went on even though I only recognised one of their tunes. H and Will really enjoyed it. Here's a few videos;

Great Big No
Into Your Arms
Rudderless

From there it was off to The Village Green to catch the end of Fat Freddy’s Drop, a Kiwi dub band which Andy Simpson would love. They were perfect for the setting as the sun began to go down.

Next up.....Gomez! As I mentioned above, I saw them last year, at a tiny venue in the city. I didn't know much about them then but liked what I saw, although I wasn't blown away. H and Will were always banging on about them and Chris Cook, and old flatmate is a big fan. Anyway, the gig on Sunday was brilliant. The stage was at the bottom of a hill so everyone could get a great view and the organisers had put down loads of hay to soak up the rain that had fallen over the weekend - this ended up being thrown around by the crowd, closely followed by thongs and a pair of sunglasses. It was funny to watch and the atmosphere was quality. Gomez seemed to really enjoy the occasion as well and they played a great set. The lead singer has the most incredible voice.

Check out the vids;

Here Comes the Breeze (here and here) and Whippin’ Picadilly

H, Will, Simo and I are going to see them again on Saturday, at a venue in the city, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them again. I'm now a fan.

Once the gig had finished it was time to hit the fairground rides, in particular the dodgems. Great fun. H and Katie went on this ride which was comedy to watch (especially the end). Apparently Katie's got bruises! The evening finished with a go on the Ferris wheel. It’s nice being able to see the festival from up high – even though it didn’t feel very safe.

We left the venue at about 8pm, so we missed The Roots – but we had a two hour mission ahead of us getting home. And H and Katie were in a bit of a mess!