Tis the season to be busy...

Hi all,
Sorry for my slackness at updating this, but I do appear to have been the only person on the planet who had to go to work this week!!!
Anyway, it's been a pretty hectic Christmas week, kicking off with a Harbour Cruise and lunch around Sydney Harbour with Bo, Jo and Lou - our Christmas gift to them. The weather was damp (both humid and rainy) and I was a little sea-sick, but it was a lovely relaxing couple of hours.
Once back on dry land, we hit the shops for last minute Christmas purchases... which actually saw Bo and I treating ourselves. Lets just say that we bought up big at Tiffany and Co, I got a pair of D&G sunnies, and Bo FINALLY bought her much coveted Tag Heuer watch. We were exceptionally good to ourselves!!!
I bought myself a Tiffany ring to celebrate my new job and to just treat myself after a bloody awful year (apart from Charlotte).
A lovely day.

Christmas Eve I attended Midnight Mass after calling about ten Catholic Churches in the area to find one that was actually doing a midnight service. I'm glad I found one, as we use to go when we were kids and snuggle into Mum's fur coat (it was the 70s) to try and stay awake.

Christmas Day was spent with Ann, Gary and Dionne, who had arrived from Perth late on Christmas Eve.



It was Ann and Gary's first Christmas in Sydney, and they did an outstanding spread. It was a wonderful day and we rolled home a stone heavier than we arrived. I also discovered Haigh's Caramel Chocs, thanks to Ann... a very dangerous move!

I've been at work this week, but Sydney offices in general have been like ghost towns. The sales, on the other hand, have been quite a different matter! Great fun spending my Christmas vouchers, but crap that there were just people EVERYWHERE!!!

Because the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be 75 years old in 2007, the NYE celebrations in the 'Emerald City' have taken on a Wizard of Oz theme. But more impressively, this has greeted Sydneysiders for the last couple of evenings...

This is in celebration of the Harbour Bridge, which is also affectionately referred to as the Coathanger. The fireworks tonight look set to be outstanding!

Today, NYE, is Bo's 32nd birthday. She hates her birthday as people are always busy and are never able to arrange to do stff with her on her actual birthday. We've celebrated her birthday up to two weeks after the fact on previous years, but this year we managed to get her 10 closest friends together for lunch at Sugaroom at Pyrmont. It was a lovely meal - eaten alfresco - and Bo had a great time. She was also thrilled by her Mango-Passionfruit cheesecake...
Bo's had a ball and I think has enjoyed her day more than in recent years.
It was my sister Jen's partner Ruick's birthday yesterday (30/12) and it was on that auspiscious occassion that Charlotte chose to utter her first word - Mamma! What a bright 6.5 month old girl she is.

And finally, to end the year with a happy snap, here's Lynnea and I modelling my new D&G sunnies and her new braces!!! I'm not sure who looks more proud!

I hope you have a fantasic New Year's Eve wherever you are, and here's to a much improved 2007.
Cheers xxx

New kid on the block...

It's been a fairly hectic few days.
As you know from my last post (below, I finished up at the Daily Telegraph on Thursday.
On Friday I left for a couple of days at Callala By with David, Richard and Sonia. I've been so stumped with gift ideas for this Christmas, so I hired a 4WD and took us all to our regular South Coast cottage for a couple of days. Sadly, the weather wasn't what you would expect from Australia the week before Christmas - at one point I was driving at 20kms an hour with fog as thick as any I'd seen in the UK. Add to that the fact I was driving the very lovely but very tank-esque Ford Territory, and I think you get the idea.

So, instead of the planned beach weekend, we ended up visiting the local town of Berry, as well as the Silos Estate winery (remarkably good) and managed a couple of brisk walks on the beach to keep Elvis happy - he's still asleep!

An incredibly relaxing weekend, the peace was shattered when I heard my Dad had broken his leg while out with his dogs. He's in plaster for eight weeks and totally wheelchair-bound. Jen and Charlotte made a mercy dash to Spain on Friday afternoon, with Ruick joining then on Christmas Eve. They're planning to stay until he's out of plaster. I really wish I was closer.

And finally, I started my new job today at ninemsn. I think it's far too early to be enthusing about my role, etc, but the company does seem to be very employee-focused and I think it could be a good move. That said, I am like a fish out of water at the moment - no more breaking news for me - and I hate when I don't know what I'm doing.

I guess only time will tell...

Noel's whirlwind tour...

Noel Gallagher has been in Australia and Japan for a handful of acoustic shows to promote the Oasis greatest hits package Stop the Clocks.
These dates were not promoted, were in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and sold out in a matter of minutes.I was fortunate enough to have been given a ticket as an early Christmas present - and despite Noel's very short 1hour and 15 minute set, it was a real treat.
Playing a back catalogue of b-sides and the more mellow Oasis tracks, Gallagher wasn't really keen to engage that much with the crowd, preferring to let his songwriting and musicianship do the talking.

It was very reminicent of the Nirvana MTV Unplugged sessions back in 1992, but with a cast of 1000 England and Manchester City football fans screaming him on.
From choruses of Blue Moon to heckles of ''Ave it' this was a real reminder of life in the UK. I doubt any Aussies had managed to get tickets.

A really interesting evening - if I was Liam Gallagher I'd be shitting myself.

Game over...

I'm no longer Editor of the Daily Telegraph Online. I'm unemployed until Monday. It's been a tough year but this is one of my goals ticked off before year's end.
I was, of course, a blubbering wreck throught today, but onwards and upwards.