Gav’s Blog - Gavin Hudson’s Blog

My lovely Mum (isn’t she cute!) sent me this email, she’s a bit bored at home as she’s just had her wisdom teeth out.  Why not send her an email?

Well, I thought as well put all this typing to good use!  If anyone else has any questions - stick ‘em in the comments section below - you don’t need to register or anything!

Take it away… Mum!

2008/5/15 Val Hudson <mum@mum’saddress.com>:

Hello – here is an email for you.

I’ll probably ask lots of questions – stuff I would like to know.

• What time do you start and finish work?

It’s flexitime - 8.30 til five or 9.30 to 6 or any time inbetween.  I tend to stay late, like 6.30 or even seven because I enjoy it and we have a good laugh and chat about stuff in the office later on.  Not because I need to!   I have brekkie at work at my desk - we have a really nice coffee machine that grinds the beans etc, and I have located some Yorkshire tea from the Harrogate Tea shop at the end of the street.  There are always some good tunes playing on the old iPod.
At lunch we usually organise something together, 5 of us might go to a cafe or often someone will go to a supermarket and whip something up in the kitchen - some panini’s or something like that.

We have beers and a meeting at 4pm on Fridays (TGIF!) on the veranda.  I have a breakfast meeting at a local italian cafe every Tuesday morning.

• How long does it take to walk to work?

It’s 250 Yards, like you working in the chippie I suppose!  Barely enough time to get my iPod in! I’m on the 7th floor so lift and then waiting to cross the road takes more time. I live in Pyrmont which is to Sydney like the Castlefield area of Manchester - 3 mins to the harbour and the footbridge, 10 mins to the city centre/train etc.  2 pubs at the crossroads before I get to work.  One nice (the Kirk on Harris) and one not so nice (The Quarryman).  I can see over the harbour and the bay to North Sydney from my flat.

• Do you have shops/supermarket near to where you live?

Yes, a korean shop, a japanese one and a chinese-mini-mart in the bottom of my building, 2 supermarkets a short walk away.  Brand leader for supermarkets here is Woolworths!  Paddy’s market is also nearby so I go there at the weekend for really cheap goods.

Just up the road near the supermarket (both underground jobbies, so no eyesore)  there are loads and loads of nice cafes to sit outside of.  A bit further and you can sit by the harbour.  Watching the ships roll on in, and roll back out again.

• What are the prices of:

1. • loaf of bread

It’s expensive actually, maybe $3 or up to $4 (2.05 to the pound now I think!)

1. • pint of milk

No idea - I only have it in tea at home so don’t buy it. Sorry Mum.  Sorry flatmates!

1. • chicken

I don’t know, but I know rump steak in the market is $10/kg, tomatoes were $1/kg, bananas about $2/kg in supermarket, $1.50 in the market.  We cooked for 12 people, three courses for less than $10 per head.  Really nice too with fresh prawns and all that - well done Rob!

1. • cheese

I don’t know, but I do know they’ve got a make of cheese called Coon.  Hum. And they don’t call it ‘mature’ and ‘extra mature’ but ‘tasty’ and ‘extra tasty’

• Where do you do your laundry?

Now I have the luxury of a washer Top Loader (dancing in the moonlight, Jamie Oliver and all that!) and a dryer.  The dryer is on the wall, mounted upside down for some reason (I suppose the right way up from where you’re sat!) but it seems to work fine.

• Do you have a tv?

Yes - it’s a big one, rear projection so not good for the Xbox360, but good for general viewing.  I’d say about 5 years old.  We also have leather sofas and the most horrible possible paintings on the wall.  They need to go, If anyone wants to send me a poster - feel free!  Anything! Stone Roses, Jim Morrison, Che Guevara, Kandinsky, met sat on girder eating lunch while building the Chrysler building (not the Empire state, as most people thingk!) , anything!  We have nice polished floors, a balcony with a BBQ and a really nice view of the city.  Kitchen is alright, plenty of cupboards and fridge.  All mod cons.  There are 3 double beds, and a guest bed in the corner of the dining area/lounge. It’s not a stunning flat (though could be if decorated) but it’s pretty nice.

• Do you argue over he gets the remote?

Nope - don’t watch much telly really - it’s all reality TV and sport.  Also we’re all grown ups! I did see a great programe featuring Anne from Neighbours though - she’s aged gracefully since I last saw her in 1999 on British TV.  Generally read a book, play with laptop or watch a film on the big telly.  Or even just sit around and chat!  Sadly no Sky Sports (Foxtel out here).  Might be a good thing though.

I’ll add my own question here: who do you live with?
Sebastian (Seb) is 24 I think and from Melbourne.  He’s a football journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald and just moved here.  I mean proper football soccer football.  Not ‘footy’ which is Aussie Rules.  I’m hoping for free tickets, but he knows and loves his sport and beer, so it’s all good - he’s proper enthusiastic about things, which is nice.
Pete is 29 (I think) and from Northern Ireland - he’s a good lad, quite sort of enigmatic.  He’s leaving us in July, so the hunt for a new flatmate will begin - it’s great fun!  We have 3 double rooms.

• Do you have a bath/shower – just the one?

I usually have a shower, and yes - just the one per month.  Oh, you mean in the flat?  Yes - Pete has an en-suite with shower, but doesn’t mind us using it, and there’s a proper bathroom with a bath too.
We have a spare computer as a server and generally just swap the laptops around and play lots of random music that we download, or films and hook ‘em up via the Xbox to the TV.  Geek did you say?

1. Do you buy your own food stuffs or have a kitty type thing?

No Kitty - Missy and Freddie have new homes! :(  Oh, nah, buy our own, but we’re grown ups so there’s plenty of communal stuff - what goes around comes around.  Sauces, oils, tea etc etc etc.  Might do a kitty for cleaning stuff, but we’re all good so far.

• Who’s your best friend there?

Ooh - tough one.  I’ve got a few good mates really - but a lot seem to have come and gone.  Rob was my best bud for about a month, but he’s left me now *sniff* and gone back to England via Thailand.  My mates are in order of meeting them (lots of girls, sorry!)
Glenna and Alison from Virginia - I met them in my hostel the 2nd day I got here.
Ruth from Orkney - she’s a football coach and living here for a few months.  Lovely Scottish lilt so she has! (She’ll love that)
Matt who I used to go to Skinners’ with - he’s a teacher and rugby player here.
The YHA girls, Annika (Germany) Heather (Canada) and whoever they’ve got tagging along with them!
Lovely Sarah, Not so nasty Nige, the absolutely fabulous Rachel and the Terrigal Massive - Sarah I know from Tunbridge Wells and they’re all doctors up the coast.
The lads at work - Tom, Tom, Robbie, Brian, Cem (Gem) and Emma (not strictly a lad).  Robbie’s the token Aussie of the bunch.  We go for the odd beer and we’re going to see The Whip (from Manchester) next week.  All real good fun at work.
Tara (Kiwi) is Tom Hajek’s girlfriend’s mate, so I hang out with her and her posh(er) mates quite a bit.  She organises parties so she’s always a good person to know.
Henrik the viking from Norway.
Caroline who is nutty as a fruitcake in a lovely way and she’s a Swedish hairdresser.  She lives by the beach in Coogee, so a good excuse to go and visit!

Update! 21st May : Oh and Renee who is my buddy at work that I forgot to put in here, mainly cos she’s not in our office very much - she’s super helpful, good fun, she reads my blog (!) and for some reason seems to agree with me on stuff.  Which both is both unusual and nice!

All the above are pretty separate, just linked by me, so sometimes a combination of the above, and often their friends - there’s never a night I can’t go out it seems! I’ve just turned Pete down an offer to go out and have a drink with his bro who lives here, and me and Seb went out last night and get really rather tipsy.  I was a bit of a celeb among a bunch of Oldham girls when I did my Manc accent as “Ooh, Ah’ve not heard a Northern accent in 5 month!”  His review of the night - “0/10″ though his judgement was blurred by a raging hangover.  No purlizter prize for any copy filed today!

Aussies are a wierd bunch - they really tend to mix and match mates when they go out - it’s completely normal for someone just to join your group for an hour or two and start chatting like you’re old mates.  Getting in the rounds, having a laugh - honestly, they’re such a friendly bunch it’s not like back home, and 99% of them are nothing like the beer-swilling pom-bashing stereotypes.  I’ve had almost a universal welcome, and they’re just real fun.  They love beer and sport, so we were bound to get on well.

Oh - a stat for you - Sydney averages 340 days of sunshine a year.  It’s 8pm and I’m sat out on the balcony writing this in t-shirt, jeans and flip-flops.  Oh - that’s pretty much midwinter!

Ok, well that will do for now.  Indeed I think I’ll put this on my blog!

These are just for starters, I’ll probably think of some more!  LOL

My tooth is fine this morning – it feels like I’ve have won the lottery to be pain free YAY!

xx

Val

Val Hudson

Secretary

Gleneagles Project Services Ltd

Tel:      01484 606949

Fax:     01484 609533

The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee(s). If you are not an intended recipient, please delete the message and any attachments and notify the sender immediately; any use or disclosure of the contents of either is unauthorised and may be unlawful. All liability for viruses is excluded to the extent permitted by law. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Company or its affiliates or subsidiaries - Thank you

Gleneagles Project Services Limited

Company Registration Number - 5871949

Mailing Address: Suite 11, 1a Woodsome Park, Fenay Bridge, Huddersfield, West Yorshire, HD8 0JW

Registered office: 2 Greaves House Lane, Lepton, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. HD8 0DJ

Bless my mum, eh?

G’day possums – I can’t believe it’s nearly a month since my last post, apologies for that – I will try and keep things a bit more up to date with some smaller updates now and then rather than saving myself for one big blog.

Well, what have I been up to? I’m still working (hooray!) and I’ve even been paid now – it all looks very impressive when you see the amount in Aussie dollars paid into your account! The Aussie dollar is getting stronger actually, which is alright for me earning it, but not so good for all the tourists; it’s up (or down depending on your POV) to AU$2.05 to the £ now. Wow, that was a thrilling intro to a posting wasn’t it? It’ll get better, stay with me! While I’m getting my apologies out of the way, my camera so enjoyed its travels around New Zealand that it went back over to NZ with Lucy who’d lost hers to do another lap with her – so I’ve not had a lot of photos lately (certainly not ones outside of a pub!) but that should be resolved shortly.

OK, well outside if work I guess the reason I’ve not done any blog posts has been the reason that I’ve just been really busy! I met a lovely young chap called Rob from Oxfordshire who is a rather talented chef (working at Claridges for Gordon F*&#@%g Ramsey when he gets back, and for Bill Grainger here, who I’m led to believe is the Aussie version of Jamie Oliver) and as we had a bit of time in hostels before he leaves and I move into my flat, we decided to try out a few hostels in Sydney rather than getting stuck in just one – I could probably write a guide to them now! Living in a hostel and working isn’t ideal, but it’s not really too bad, I’ve not been living in any of the party hostels really, and life is quite pleasant when you’ve got a bevy of nice young people all trying to make friends with you. The standard has been variable – I think Rob liked the one in Kings Cross where he could watch three hookers working from the comfort of his own bed! The only difficulty is that it’s hard to just do nothing in the evenings. You don’t have anywhere to just hang out and watch TV while you wear your PJ’s or cook your own tea – Big props to Ruth for cooking tea the other night and letting me stroke her pussy. Oh matron! I actually miss Das Missy, which is a bit sad. Indeed I’ve found myself eating out almost every night unless Rob decides to cook something tasty for us. Back at the YHA he found himself cooking for just about the entire hostel for $5 a head – and it was fab. It’s not really a problem, as there are so many places that are cheaper to eat than cooking (Sushi is really popular here) and the food is good. It’s not good for the old waistline though – I need to hit the gym again after losing some weight in New Zealand…

Last weekend Rob, our American friend Alison and I went to the rather lovely (!) town of Newcastle for the weekend. I can’t really say why we went, other than it had a train station and I thought it would be funny BECAUSE IT’S ALSO SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND! HAHAHA. Ahem, but anyway, it was a good weekend – the second biggest city in New South Wales and it really rather reminded me of Newcastle back home. Then Sunday was wine tasting in the Hunter Valley – one of the major wine producing areas in Australia. I actually really enjoyed the wine tasting – it’s not something I’d done before on any real scale, but I’d picked up a bit of a taste for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc while out in New Zealand (I challenge anyone to try a glass of that and not to be reminded of fresh passionfruit juice) and was keen to give it a crack. Tex our driver picked us up bright and early at 9am, and I think the alcohol content in our blood was still fairly high from the night before – however this soon cleared at about 10am with our first tastings! You get to try loads of wines at these places, and we all chose to swallow our wines, as it’s not good form to spit really, is it? As well as some more famous places like Lindemans and Rosemount Estate there were some amazing little places among the 150 wineries. The undisputed highlight was the Brokenwood winery, a small family run place with some fantastic wines. My stand out was probably their Shiraz Viognier but I had a few glasses of their famous drop – Cricket Pitch. It’s called Cricket Pitch because the grapes are grown just outside where we were tasting on what used to be a cricket pitch. This dismayed me a bit, to lose a pitch in such a beautiful area, but I think Ian Botham would be proud to see that it wasn’t all in vain – the wines were simply fantastic (at about $20-$30 a bottle) and the lovely Mandy knew all about them, and she gave and she shared (the wine) without taking. Oh Mandy!

I’ve found it really easy to make friends out here – I don’t know why, and it’s not just me that’s found the same. Of course I haven’t really got any “best friends” as such yet, but everyone is just really friendly, and I think the whole ambiance of the place just lends itself to a friendly vibe. I think it’s a combination of the fact that almost all the expats out here are either in the same boat as you with regard to starting out in a new country, or have done so recently and know what it’s like, and the Aussies are generally a well-travelled and friendly bunch, so it’s the same for them. I’ve had a couple of calls out of the blue from people who I’ve not seen for years, but because we’re out here together, it sort of feels like you should meet up! Firstly was Matt from my old school (4reel), Skinners’ in Tunbridge Wells. I’d not seen him since I was 16, and even then we didn’t hang out that much together – he did play for Uckfield RFC, who were the bitter rivals of my old club, Crowborough, so I suppose I wasn’t suppose to fraternise with the enemy. Anyway, he is now the captain of Mosman rugby club here, a big old club with 8 teams and he’s a good man to know for getting tickets to Waratahs games, and we’ve been out for a few drinks and all that. Then as fortune might have it just as I was deciding on something to do for the weekend, Sarah from Tunbridge Wells got my number from the magic of Facebook and invited me to go and stay up at her place in Terrigal for the weekend. Bonza! She’s working out here as a doctor and we had a great weekend, she’s got a flat with an amazing sea view so after a quick bash at surfing (mainly bobbing around and then looking cool with a board on the beach) a few sundowners were called for. Well, a couple of sundowner drinks soon turned into a full-on session, taking in a restaurant, a few pubs and then a brilliantly tacky bogan nightclub and finishing with the British tradition of a 4am skinny dip in the sea. I’m glad to see that doctors are even less sensible than the rest of us! Today had a bit more surfing then catching the train back to Sydney. You know the old expression that “there’s always someone worse off than you”? Well, it’s days like these that make you realise that no matter how nice you think where you live is, there’s always someone better off than you too! I’ve pretty much decided that I’ve got to live somewhere near the beach for my next place!

OK, well that will do you for now – Friday was the rather special ANZAC day, but I’ll save that for another post. I hope all is well with you and yours, thanks for stopping by, and once again – thanks for those of you that take the time to read and sometimes even to comment or send me an email!

˙˙˙oʇ dn uǝǝq ǝʌ,ı ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ noʎ ʇǝl oʇ ʇsnɾ ‘ʞo  ¡pɐǝɥ ʎɯ oʇ ɥsnɹ poolq ǝɥʇ llɐ ƃuıʞɐɯ sı sıɥʇ  ¡ǝɯıʇ ǝɯos ʇısıʌ puɐ ǝɯoɔ plnoɥs noʎ - ǝɹǝɥ uʍop ǝɔıu s,ʇı  ˙llǝʍ llɐ ǝɹ,noʎ ǝdoɥ ı ¡ɐılɐɹʇsnɐ ɯoɹɟ ʎɐp,ƃ

OK, phew - that’s better - play to your audience and all that!

I’m having real fun here in Sydney, settling into the swing of things and into work.  Three major updates for ya I suppose…

1.  I’ve picked up the rather swizzy account of Apple here at dgm!  I’m going to be managing all of the online affiliate and partnership activity for Apple store and iTunes in Australia and New Zealand.  It’s a really exciting client, delivering big results, but with the opportunity to do so much more.  I couldn’t be more chuffed.
2.  I’ve got myself a flat sorted out - woohoo!  I shall be living here -

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And I’m very happy about it!

3.  I’m getting on really well, and made a few good friends, so that’s nice - and work is still good.  I’m still living in the hostel for the time being, but will shortly be going into a flat.

Oh, and I’m quite pleased that I’ve managed to upgrade Wordpress to version 2.5.

Well, that’ll do you for now - it’s some hostel people’s “leaving party” tonight, so that should be fun, if a bit messy, and then it’s the Surry Hills festival tomorrow.  I promise to drink no more goon.  Maybe.

Have a good weekend yourselves, until then…

¡sɥɐlɐƃ ,uıɯɐlɟ noʎ ɹǝʇɐl noʎ ǝǝs

Hello All!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but the server has been up shit creek without a paddle.

should now be back to a state of normality.

OK, so what’s been happening with me, well I’ve been a bit busy to write many blog posts, but there will be plenty to catch up on over the next few weeks and months - should keep me out of mischief anyway! The cricket in Wellington was really great - I’ve got some fab footage of the Barmy Army in full swing (the official and the un-official) so I’ll blog about that. Also I’ll do a round up of my New Zealand travels and the Kiwi Experience bus, with a few hints and tips for anyone thinking of doing anything similar. As it happens my good friend Lucy has just headed over there today - have fun!  I’ve also been up to Auckland and the rather lovely Bay of Islands, and a bit of fishing - have a look at my Flickr photos as always.

As for me, I’m now in Sydney, and getting settled down - I need to find a flat to live in, which may well be easier said than done, but these things are sent to challenge us! I rather forgot to budget for a month in Sydney without any wages, so I’ll probably be living of noodles by month end! I’m really quite excited about starting my new job on Tuesday, I’m sure most of you know what this is, but there is the odd person that probably needs telling, so I won’t discuss it here just yet.

At the moment I feel a bit like that very first moment when I stepped off the edge of the bungee platform. I’m sure everything will be fine, everyone keeps telling me that it will all be fine, but it’s still scaring the crap out of me. At the moment I’ve got nothing to hang onto, and there’s no turning back. It is a scary thought, but here we are. There are some people that I really miss back home, but aside from that I really don’t know what else there is to miss about it. Ask me again in 6 months though.

I got the usual welcome to Australia- for some reason I get searched every time I enter any country.  A full on emptying of my case, a grilling Magnus Magnusson would’ve been proud of, all my credit cards and any flat surfaces swiped for traces of cocaine, and even all my photos on my camera looked at.  I’m not sure exactly what they were looking for - I was coming from New Zealand, a country with possibly the strictest customs regulations in the world, and had a perfectly valid visa etc.  There is a specific reason I was targeted, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was.  Any ideas?