Gav’s Blog – Gavin Hudson’s Blog

Hey hey there blog reader!

Well, a bit of an update from me – nothing awfully exciting I don’t think in the last few weeks, erm, that sounds a lot worse than it is, but all good!  I did two weeks of the (f)Atkins diet – I quite enjoyed bits of it, it was a bit frustrating at times, but it kick-started a bit of a health kick and made me lose a good few kg’s.  I’m not sure how much as I never weighed myself though, d’oh!  I’d probably do it again, and I will at somepoint.  I have fallen off the wagon a bit, but not too much.  Been watching quite a lot of Entourage (what a good programme, I only discovered it a couple of weeks ago!) on the nice projector that I need to give back to work – I promise I will!  I’ve passed my probation period at work, so I’m here for good now, eeek.  Obviously they loved me.  It was nice to see Sarah back in the country again, we went for a few drinks on Tuesday, and my mate Colin’s birthday.  It was a really good day actually, a few drinks in pubs in town and watched a bit of the cricket.  Then we bought a few bottles of wine from a bottle shop in Darlinghurst, and on to the really rather good Bill and Toni’s restaurant in East Sydney.  It’s a proper old school Italian restaurant, you have to sneak up some hidden stairs through a cafe with a clientele list that somewhat resembles the bar out of Star Wars.  I thought I heard the theme music from The Godfather playing when we got upstairs, and everyone was Italian.

For veal schnitzel (they love schnitzel here – everything is schnitzellized!) and spaghetti bolognese, with salad, coffee and quite a bit of wine that we bought ourselves, the bill came to about £14 each.  Bargain!

Then just yesterday we decided to go to Cronulla for the day.  It’s all too easy to spend all your time in Sydney – there’s so much to see, but you forget that for just £3 ($6) you can get a train to a nice place like Cronulla (it’s a riot!) and get away from teh big smoke.  So the five of us trekked down there, (Me, Annika, Gertrud, Nik and Alison) and we took the girls to their first ever game of rugby league.  Cronulla was a nice enough sea-side surf town, a decent size, a great beach with a train station right next by, and an admirable selection of sruf shops.  It reminded me of Manly but with a bit more going on, and I really liked it – I could live there I think.  After visiting the RSL club (Where the bar was full of men gambling – the Aussies love betting on the horses like you wouldn’t believe!) and the three girls being the only females in a packed bar we went up to the Toyota Stadium, where the Cronulla Sharks play.

It cost us $20 to get in on the door with free transport to and from the stadium.  We managed to blag a spot right against the advertising hoarding and luckily we were at the end that my team, The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles were attacking.  The game had really been hyped up and the small stadium was jammed to the rafters with just under 20,000 people in there, including a healthy Manly contingent.  The hype was because the two teams were top of the NRL ladder at the start of the game.  Well, the Sea Eagles answered any questions – the Sharks lived up to their big-game bottler tag, and Manly absolutely monstered them with a flawless first half performance to leave the Sharks trailing 22-6 at half time – rather pleasingly all the action seemed to take place within about 10 meters of where we were stood, so that was a real bonus.  The second half wasn’t much different, although I didn’t see too much of it as it was a) up the other end b) we were having too much of a good time to worry about the game and c) I was a bit pissed by this stage.

The atmosphere at Shark Park was really good, we met some great people (Nik thinks I always do!) and we had a really good day out.  The girls even went from never having been to a game of Rugby before (I know, I know this was Rugby League) to really enjoying it and wanting to go again, so I’m happy with that.  The night was polished off by a few drinks in a tacky bar, some kebabs (not for me! A bottle of Coke Zero!) and the late train back.  Rather nicely I got to see a really good fight outside a bar near me, so that topped the night off a treat.

Today, I’ve purchased both a bike and a multigym.  Well, I bought a bike off a dude on Gumtree and I’ve also bought the heaviest chain known to man to tie it up with.  Conservative estimates suggest the chain weighs about 15 kilos.  I’m going to be using it build the guns up, and maybe to shorten my 3 and a half minute commute to work!

OK, that’s all for now – I promise to be back with more random stuff and e few more opinion things rather than just my diary.  TTFN!

Oh, and the Pope arrives in Sydney this week – any ideas of how to piss off the estimated 250,000 god-botherers is much appreciated.  One idea was to try and shag a nice Catholic girl – for starters she’s clearly pre-selected herself as the gullible and easily influenced type, and she’s used to hanging round pervy priests, so all good.  We were hypothisising about this (beer’s great eh?) and we came up with the potential morning after scenario…

[BEDROOM - EARLY HOURS OF MORNING. COUPLE LYING IN BED]

GIRL: OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE, I’VE SHAGGED A RANDOM!

GUY: EY UP LOVE!

GIRL: OH GOD, WE DIDN’T DID WE?

GUY: ER…

GIRL: THIS IS TERRIBLE, PLEASE TELL ME ONE THING?

GUY: SURE

GIRL: WELL, I CAN GO TO HELL IF I GOT THIS WRONG – PLEASE TELL ME WE DIDN’T USE A CONDOM!

OK bye kids!:)

Hey All,

My last post seemed to be very popular with the ladies on Facebook – lots of comments!  Thanks for that – if you’d like to actually comment on my real blog – then even better.  It even puts a little flag next to the country where you’re posting from, I haven’t seen a Dutch one yet… *cough*

It’s fair to say reactions to me doing this diet have been mixed, 99% are negative and telling me it’s the worst thing I could do.  But the support from others is much appreciated.  Basically I know there must be more ideal and less faddy diets to do, but I think that what I’m doing is better than the alternative, it’s got a set of clear rules and it’s easy to follow, and keeps me focused.  There are no looking at labels, weighing stuff or complicated rules to follow.  There’s no temptation to fall off the wagon – I can’t even have one beer, and I’m liking it.  Here’s an example for the last couple of days, with what I would’ve had to eat/drink and what I actually did….

Friday – Old Reigime

Bacon Butty morning – so bacon and egg sarnie.  Cups of tea, quite possibly a mocha from Massimo’s. Probably a bit of fruit mid-morning, then over to the pub for lunch – probably 2 beers and as we went to the Harlequin in Pyrmont which serves wicked Thai food, so probably a Thai red curry.  In the afternoon there are always sweets and biscuits coming round the office, then we have the TGIF meeting, which would have been accompanied by 2 beers.  Then, back to mine, more beers, probably about another 4, and as Linnea came round for tea, maybe some pasta concoction before going out and drinking more beer with Ruth and Ashley and a 2am McDonalds.

Friday – What actually happened

2 Eggs for breakfast, a few herbal teas throughout the day.  Lunch – grilled chicken and green salad, no sauces but a bit of mayo.  No snacking, no beer.  Tea – Steak with loads of tenderstem broccoli and mushrooms.  Had a couple of gin and slimline tonics to get me in the mood, then out where all I drank was a couple of vodka and soda’s with a slice of fresh lime (naughty!).  Then sat down and watched everyone else eat a Maccy D’s at 2am and tell me my diet was a bad idea and wasn’t good for me.

So which of the above seems like a healthier alternative?

Today I had a jog around the park, then read my book and did a bit of sunbathing on the balcony.  It’s fair to say that mid-winters day here was better than midsummer’s back home by all accounts!  Not a cloud in the sky, and a lovely temperature.  Tuna salad for brunch, with, yes – a bit of cheese, and balsamic vinegar, then lunch I went to the fantastic Sydney Fishmarket (pictured) where I got some fresh sashimi sushi made for me – sliced off the freshest salmon and tuna fillets.  I got more than enough for lunch for just $10, and I must say it was great – just don’t let the seagulls steal it when you sit outside!  Just a shame I couldn’t have a glass of wine to go with it.  I bought loads of nice fish and meat – I’ve promised to cook steamed mussels for Annika tomorrow – I’m even becoming a decent cook!  I went out to meet a couple of mates and watch England get thrashed by the All Blacks at rugby, but no beer, I did have a vodka and tonic, but mostly water.  Then tea was a BBQ’d pork chop, with some veggies.

The main issue I’m finding is with breakfast, and the fact I can’t have any desserts!  Also you can’t have any snacks (unless you’re some sort of wierdo that eats ham for a snack – I know only one person that does this! ) but I guess that could kind of be the point!  You have to stick to meals, your mind is concentrated on what you need to do, and you invariably end up eating healthily.

Anyway, I am sort of enjoying it – the Atkins diet is making me plan my meals, eat more healthily and while you spend more on food, at least I’m cooking it myself rather than eating out.  I haven’t weighed myself yet, I’m not sure whether I should or not?  I know roughly what I was at the start, so I might just do it after a couple of weeks or a month – we’ll see.  What do you think?  Oh, and if anyone has any ideas for carb-free breakfasts or snacks – let me know!

OK, i’ve finally got round to starting a diet.

I’m doing the Atkins diet, or at least having a guess as to what it’s all about.  Basically going to eat no carbs for the next couple of weeks – I’ll try and get some stats and measurements so I can really publicly humiliate myself!  I need to get weighed actually – about 105kg I think.

Any hints or tips anyone?

OK, no beer for at least 2 weeks – wish me luck!  I’m not going to post the before photo just yet…  I’ll wait ’til the end.

Well, I’ve got 13 days before I clear off now, and plenty of stuff to do!

A big thanks to Mum and Tony for taking us out last night. We went to Chaophraya Thai restaurant and very nice it was too. I’ve got to say my Massamam curry was simply amazing. It’s always a great choice, no matter where you have it, but last night it was fab. Speaking to a Geordie lad in there (in the toilets, as you do) he said the last time he was there Thaksin Sinawatra and Sven-Goran Ericsson were there!

We had a right laugh, loads to drink (see photo!) and a generally a really nice night – all topped off by the most extravagant liqueur coffee making you’ll ever see. (With Amaretto, naturally).

I’ve still got to sort my house out, get a tenant, get the wall plastered, get the electrical safety and gas checks done and register as a landlord with the council – I’m starting to wish I’d have just sold the bloody thing!

Unfortunately me going for a Thai didn’t help Hyde overcome the Thai national football side (currently ranked 107th in the World above such footballing giants as Estonia and Kazakhstan who have caused England problems in the past)- in what seems like a very good game, they lost 4-2 at home.