Mick, Mick and Mick

Thought I'd better do a weekend roundup.

Friday night saw me heading into Emerald City for Rinna's 21st birthday bash at the Three Wise Monkeys. Battled the Sydney traffic along the M4 and Parramatta road. Found a park at Market City and headed for the pub walking along the main strip of George Street in the Haymarket area. It was kind of hard to miss, as it was the one with the massive monkeys above the door.

I had a bottle of plonk for Johnny and was worried about getting in the door past the bouncer, not to worry.... a cursory glance and I was let though.

Promptly purchased a schooner of Belgiums finest and tried to find the smoking area, Found it and was pulled up for crossing the red line taped to the floor. I could smoke on one side of the line but not the other. However a floor mat with a line taped to it provided a useful ploy for getting around the laws.

Then got into a conversation with three Tasmanian guys up from Launceston who were in Emerald City for the boat show. We compared a few things, weird smoking laws in pubs, travelling distances, rental prices, quality of beer etc etc. Their names: Mick......Mick..... and Mick. Teenagers in middle aged bodies. Very funny nevertheless on a constant Big Wednesday search for the perfect beer.

I went looking for the birthday bash, Rinna pulled me up ( I don't remember her being that small) and headed up to level three for a few conversations with a few fellow NSW bloggers. Johnny and I had the most to talk about, I found out he once lived a stone's throw away from me on the other side of the railway tracks. Rinna's ex husband Jerkface (his description of himself... not mine) had a talk about the old days on the net. There was Andy up from Melbourne, I met the Swanker and Swankette, Muffin, caught up with Misha and Rinna's best friend Tina. There will be a few additions to the Aussie blogroll.

We were on Level 3 and had to head down to Level 2 for a gasper.

Frankly, these new smoking rules in pubs SUCK. I'm not talking small through a cocktail straw suck, I'm talking massive Westinghouse turbojet engine capable of lifting a 70 tonne jumbo into the air and propelling it along at 700kmh SUCK.

Sixty people crammed in on level 2, in an area designed to hold to twenty puffing on gaspers, not trying to cross the magic red line was an experience in surreality.

Then after 11pm I tried to get back upstairs to Level 3. Jacob's ladder...... even weirder, I had to find the magic staircase that had not been deemed an exit by the bouncers. There were three stairways leading up to the third level.... only one was allowed to be used.......which I couldn't find. Which Johnny couldn't find, which Jerkface couldn't find, which Rinna couldn't find. The 3WM management needs to go to Disneyland to learn how to manage people's movements methinks.

So I called it quits at around 11:30pm as I had work the next day at 5am. Went back to the carpark and could not find the lift. Market City had doors to cinemas, Paddy's Market, the shopping centre (locked out) but no signs to the lifts to the car park. I eventually found one which took me to the subterranean wokings of the inside of maket city. Waste pipes, grease pipes, large smelly compactor bins, big junction box thingies...... all the behind the scenes workings. Most times I would have found this interesting but I wanted to get home.

I then took a wander through the Market City maze to find another elevator which ended up on another level, to the foyer of what looked like a brothel named "The Babylon Health Club" (descibed at this link as a "health and fitness club".....yeah right). It had the most amazing glittering, shimmery blue floor I have ever seen and some gauche Babylonian freizes at the entrance. Two rather ernest looking men were watching my moves, wondering if I was going to wander on in. No thanks. Eventually went back down, went outside and around to the car entrance and walked all the way down to my car.

Home at 12:45am, asleep at 1am, back awake at 4:30am. Felt like I had been hit by a truck.

Went to work by 5:30am and sanitised my production line with 9 others. It was minty fresh. Came home, went to bed.

Today I went to work again to help plant 200 trees for Landcare Day. The soil was really heavy, clogging, tough, bloody awful clay and thus, it was a bit of a pain in the arse (and the shoulders). Swung a mattock for a few hours loosening up soil to plant the trees, shrubs and grasses. Planted lots of lovely seedlings which should one day make for a wonderful treed area.

Had lunch at a local Worker's club, came home played some Railway Tycoon II and SLEPT LIKE A BABY.

That's about it...........