Friday, February 4 2005, 15:40

Pete's decadent soireé

Although still a couple of weeks until Pete's birthday, we had his party last Saturday, and the theme was "overdressed". Lots of us opted for the easy and safe option of incredibly formal, and in mid-flow, our humble flat looked like a penguin breeding ground. With no breeding going on, I should point out ;) Not everyone chose the formal option - Peter turned up with some brilliant silver wings and a halo...

Perhaps fondue wasn't the cleverest of our nibbles; the molten cheese was probably just the right temperature to incubate the bacteria some of us brought to the party. Sure enough, at least six of us have been off work this week with a combination of chest infection/flu. Doh! Lucky we've still got some of the pile of chocolate-drizzled profiteroles that made a more interesting birthday cake than M&S' usual offerings.

To match our smartly dressed guests, we made this party a cocktail party - and we had some pretty good concoctions: paradise punch was my favourite, but then you could drip amaretto on anything (or anyone) and you'd probably find my tongue slavering nearby. Pete and I were expecting people to be vomiting out of the window from alcohol poisoning by about 11.30, but surprisingly noone got excessively pissed. If you want to see what a civilised soirée it was, you can have a look at Warren's fabulous pics (the one above is from there too!):

Warren's photo gallery.

Matt also took lots of pics.

Thursday, February 10 2005, 14:50

I'm on FIRE, I tell you

It's been a long five months since I started on this project, but on Tuesday this week, Teachers' TV launched on Sky, digital terrestrial TV, and cable. There have been a fair number of frustrations, reluctant late nights, and even a petulant weekend to get the channel's accompanying website, www.teachers.tv, live; and I've certainly not put the hours in that most of the crew here have...

So it was with some trepidation that we watched the launch programme on Sky on Tuesday, and there was probably shock (and even a little horror) on my face when they cut to a view of the site itself. But it all works (mostly), and it survived the 300,000 odd hits on its first day!

Uniquely among the projects I've worked on, this has been publicised in papers, on TV, on the BBC website, and it's even been slagged off on Popbitch:

"is this the worst nightmare tv channel? 24 hours of crap all aimed at people who will hate the damn thing anyway and won't watch it. I know we have sports channels, music channels, film channels and wank channels but this has to be as bad as it gets? Isn't it stuck between two gay date channels too?"

Buoyed by success at work, I went on to make some stunning pancakes!! I know it doesn't seem much, but I usually screw up the first two à la Yvette Fielding of Blue Peter fame, but this time I even tossed one expertly...

My other news, if you didn't already know, is that the day before I jet off to Sydney for two or three weeks is my last day here at Victoria Real, and when I return, I shall be unemployed! How exciting! But seriously, my work here is done, and I'll be looking for something new when I get back. Slight anxiety about cash has been dispelled by my lovely tax re-assessment from the Australian Tax Office, which I will no doubt be spending on clothes, alcohol, and fast boys in Sydney :p

Not that you care... I'm sure all your chat at the water cooler today is about Prince Charles' upcoming marriage to Camilla PB. Hmph.

Friday, February 25 2005, 11:23

Twenty hours to go.

There's only one good thing about waking up drunk, and that's not waking up with a hangover. The hangover might not even happen. I do really want a kebab though, so it's not without its disadvantages. I have Andy Smith, my manager at Victoria Real, to thank for this lengthy inebriation. Thank you, Andy, for those black russians. Really. from the bottom of my heart. From the moment I realised I had a pint of Strongbow in one hand and a glass of Bollinger in the other, I should have known that things would be going downhill from here. I'm not usually one to forget things from the night before, but today memories have been surfacing like bubbles slowly rising through honey, and now I can recall staggering, with Jeff's aid, onto and off a bus to Piccadilly Circus. I have no recollection of making it to Embankment and I have this very moment just remembered catching a cab from there... Perversely, a very clear detail is forcing myself to throw up (repeatedly) near a bus stop. You can't buy style, eh?

So thank you, Andy. I now have 20 hours to go before boarding my plane and I just want to hug my pillow until then. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

Saturday, February 26 2005, 10:16

Greetings from Tokyo

What a fab journey so far! Petey and I managed to get the seats at the back of the plane, so lots of legroom, lots of space to store our stuff, and noone reclining in front of us. Even better than that, I managed to sleep like a baby for most of it, without the aid of any sleeping pills - I'm saving mine for the next leg.

A bit disappointed with the film selection. I didn't really want to watch Legally Blonde again, so I opted for The Exorcist - the beginning. Poor choice really; I was only fifteen minutes in before some leaping wild beast made me jump in my seat and out of my skin. Noone was awake to see my indignity, thank goodness.

The best thing about flying with JAL is the headrest on every seat - it has little wings that you can adjust to rest your head on! Fabulous... no sore neck after my slumber.

Other than that, food's ok, Tokyo's Narita airport seemed a bit dull until we found this free Yahoo! internet cafe, although until I worked out how to switch off the predictive Japanese text, I was about ready to send this laptop out to join the planes on the runway.

Two hours to kill before our next flight. Yawn. Hope you're all well. I think I may have given Petey a cold. Oops!

Arigato gozaimashita :)

Monday, February 28 2005, 22:30

Jetlagged but very happy

It is so good to be here.

I don't know what I thought it would be like to get back here, but in actuality, it's like I never left - it's like slipping on some comfy old shoes. All of the things that seemed wonderful and different when I first came here now seem just familiar and unremarkable, even commonplace - in a reassuring kind of way. Even my abysmal sense of direction can't override the fairly ingrained map of Sydney in my head.

So, what have I been up to?
We landed at 8.30am on Sunday, and Tim, Scott, and Brendan were there to meet us and whisk us back to Maddison Street (my home of nine months) to say hi to Bryan, Brian, and Darren. It was a bit of a whirlwind of a first day, and by the end of it, I'd also seen a fair chunk of the rest of my friends here.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of going to the Harbour Party on my first day, and staying up until midnight when I was clearly knackered, but partying with so many good friends with what might just be the best view in the world in constant view was amazing. Possibly it was foolish to venture on to the Midnight Shift for the after party, and downright stupid to go on to ARQ from there, but I suppose I was having such a great time, I didn't want the night to end.

Unfortunately, all this means I've been hit for six by a combination of jetlag, lack of sleep, and the delightful chesty cough I've been nurturing for some time.

But who cares? I'll get better eventually.

It's all good :)