People in Glass Houses.....

Since last time out I have been quite busy. First of all I passed the quite rubbish age of 31. However, the weekend of my birthday was quite impressive. The Friday before I went to see the Killers. Well almost see as we were quite possible about as far away as you can get. Brandon Flowers is teeny at the best of times. Nonetheless, they rocked and I enjoyed. The following day it was too the 'Gabba to see Australia take on Sri Lanka in the Warne/ Muralitharan cup. My first test, my first trip to the 'Gabba, my first meat pie at an Australian sporting event and - typically - an strong Aussie performance. I enjoyed, I will be back. Saturday night. The plan was to actually go home and rest/ have some tea. Never happened. Out it was, taking in some dinner at least at the Himalayan cafe in the Valley. The evening finished up in the P&W with the Brisbane Hammers, watching the mighty Irons take on Derby, result: 5-0 to the bastards in claret and blue. Thank you gents, 3 points for my birthday. So to Sunday. That day appeared to pass me by somehow. Nothing to do with the all day drink-a-thon. Excellent way to pass 31. Then this weekend just gone. I flew down to Melbourne on Thursday (15th November) for a training course. My previous visit to Melbourne left me feeling none too excited about going back. However this time I was with a colleague who had lived their for eight years previously and showed some of the more pleasant sides. It seemed that previously I was staying in a part of Melbourne the equivalent of Lambeth. I am sure those Londoners amongst you can understand why it wasn't too enamored. This time out we took in some nice restaurants, including Il Solito a lovely little Italian restaurant that actually had some Italian people in it! It was right opposite Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, it seems Mr O is looking to take on the world! After dinner my colleague took me to the Melbourne Supper Club, a venue that is quite possibly one of my world faves (and I don't do faves really). It oozes genteel charm with lovely old leather sofas, wood panelling, dim lights and a 100 page wine list. Heaven. Well potentially the road to ruin given my proclivity for the vinous liquid. And that was just Thursday night. Unusually for me I actually really enjoyed the training course. It was on facilitation techniques and itself was facilitated by an organisation called Maura Fay. It really was good, a balance between taught and participative styles kept me engaged. Hats off to you. Friday nights dinner saw me take my first sojourn to St Kilda. A place I had heard much about from friends who had either visited or indeed lived there. Thus I took the opportunity to send some text messages to invoke envy amongst those friends! An interesting place, effectively in two halves with a strip of 'nice' places to eat and drink and then further on a 'strip' of places more akin to what you'd see in any trashy beachside 18-30 destination. Dinner this night was at a delightful Malaysian influenced hawker bar called Chinta Blues, where I had a delightful Beef Rendang....yum yummmm washed down with a lovely little Tassy sparkling rose. Can it get any better? Well the only downside was the flies, however as the sun started setting they popped off leaving me to dine in relative peace. That's another thing I did like, and experiencing this has made me change my opinion on this subject, and that is daylight saving. Queensland doesn't observe daylight saving so you get the situation where NSW immediately south, and really only about 3 hours away max does observe daylight saving. So you could live somewhere like the south end of the Gold Coast and be able to gain and lose an hour just by hopping over the state border. The reason I have changed my mind on this subject is that it was so nice to be able to eat out and it still be light at approaching 8pm. In Queensland it's dark approaching 7, not really conducive for an outdoor lifestyle. The funny thing is, the reason oft stated that DST is not observed in Queensland is that it would upset the cows. Go figure!