"As the sun beads down through the window pane, I could waltz like a bear who chewed through his chain, for its a new day now, the scene has changed, I'm gonna paint this picture in a brand new frame"
Barely 6 months has passed since myself and Sonn were
sitting in the 6 Bells at Beenham, talking about our future. Sonn’s job was at
risk and I hadn’t been happy at work since I was walking screaming children on
camel’s back and cleaning up Emu shit at Nebraska State fair. The opportunity
was there, we had often talked about moving abroad and particularly our love
for Australia, but talk is cheap, how many people actually follow through with
a dream or idea of a different life? Not simple Thatcham folk, like myself. A
job had been offered to Sonn in Sydney and we had a decision to make! It
probably doesn’t sound like much of a decision when you compare good old
Thatcham to the beauty and mystery of Australia, but when you throw in family,
including young fast growing nieces and nephews, an amazing bunch of friends,
and a Dylan dog, who we love so much, this was the toughest decision of our
lives. As tough as the decision was, we both knew we couldn’t turn down such an
amazing opportunity, and we couldn’t live our lives with ‘what if’ in the back
of our minds. The following months have flown by, the stresses of immigration
and visa application seem a distant memory now.
The last two weekends at home were a blur really, partly
down to the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, a 24 hour bug, in which
I actually thought I was dying for at least 7 of them. And, frantically trying
to pack two lives into 5 suitcases. The Swiatek wedding was a timely reminder of
what we are going to miss! No one parties like us, and our leaving do further
cemented this. Apparently I did a speech… I hope I didn’t offend anyone! We had
such a good night and wish we had longer to sit and speak to you all, I think I
got sandwiched somewhere between the bar and my brother-in-law trying to drown
me in jaeger bombs and Sambuca.. but I’m sure I sweated on all of you at least
once during the night. It was slightly weird being at a party where there are
photos of you everywhere and people are laughing, drinking and crying. It was
like an out of body experience at my own funeral. I had to keep checking I
wasn’t dead by headbutting the wall in the bar and poking people.
Saying goodbye is never easy but I was proud to not shed a
single tear… that was until the dog broke me. I survived tearful goodbyes with
Ria and Imogen, Kate and Chloe, Vicky, and Rhiannon. But then a little furry
thing, barely a foot tall, broke me (my dog by the way, not an ewok.) I cried
like a baby. The last time I cried like that was when Simba’s dad Mufasa was cruelly
tricked into saving his son by his evil brother Scar, only to die in a
stampede! When I watched the lion king on DVD the previous week.
The flight over was as tedious as you can imagine. Sitting
in a seat with barely enough room to itch your arse is never going to be
comfortable.. it is made enjoyable though when you have an old man behind you
banging on the back of your chair. I imagine he was trying to get to the
magazines in the rack on the back of my chair, but it felt like he was trying
to examine my freshly eaten microwave chicken pie and mushy peas by entering my
lower back. How many times can you read those damn magazines? We flew Qantas
from London to Singapore, which actually, aside from the old man you get exploring
your stomach cavity, was quite nice. Would definitely recommend to anyone
planning to visit. We boarded a BA plane
at Singapore and were on the plane an hour before the pilot explained we had
engine problems and it was probably best we got back off the plane and waited
in the airport whilst they attempted a quick fix on the engine… you know an
aeroplane? One of those things that flies 30,000 feet in the air? Well they
just had to do a quick fix on the main implement that keeps it in the air
before we got back on it. No one battered an eye lid, probably because just
after he announced the small matter of the FUCKING ENGINE BEING BROKE, he
announced that BA would pay for our dinner back in the airport in selected
restaurants and all we had to do was show our boarding pass. So we joined a
very long queue at Burger King and no one spoke about our impending death.
Unless the party was actually our funeral and purgatory is a
damn site nicer than my sins would let me believe, the plane did get us to
Sydney OK and the quick fix on the engine worked a treat.
We have been in Sydney a week now. I know this because the
cleaning lady just came into our apartment whilst I was in my pants. Informing
me that she ‘cleans once a week, one week from our arrival.’ Contrary to the
belief, they don’t live upside down over here, not everybody is called Sheila
and Bruce, and there is no such thing as ‘sharks’ so it is perfectly safe to go
in the water. We are living in an area called Milsons Point, which is just over
the harbour bridge, about a 10 minute walk to the city. We’ve been fairly busy
doing lots of walking whilst everyone else seems to be running or driving... I better buy a car. We decided to be tourist for our first week, so we’ve had lunch
down at the darling harbour a couple of times, been to the opera house, been to a rugby league
game, had a lovely coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi, and bought a Nokia phone
from 1985. Spending money seems fairly easy in Sydney. The food shopping has
got expensive since my dad stopped buying it.
Anyway, I better go do something, it was Sonn’s first day at
work today, if she comes home and realises all I’ve done is write to you lot
she’ll beat me up. Although the sooner she gets used to the idea, the better I
guess... I might not mention the cleaner has been, Sonn is never going to meet
her… hmmm this could be good brownie points….
Anyway, I better go. I’ve got a film to watch.
"The ocean calls like a fragrant wine that I sip with my friends for perpetual time, its a new day now, the scene has changed, gonna paint this picture in a brand new frame"
