2006 - "The Year of the Reality Check"

It's coming up to 6:00pm here in Melbourne on December 31 and i can finally sit down and reflect on the year that has passed before me at light speed. All in all 2006 will go down in history for me as "the year of the reality check."

Coming out of 2005 i was flying. Work was great, i was feeling the healthiest in a long time, i was enjoying work and i still had Martine on my mind. 2006 was going to be a year where what momentum i had built up in my life since March 2004 was going to continue to build and take me to places i would never have thought possible. Throughout the start of the year my life had a rough idea but no plans. I liked that a lot.

Throughout the early months of the year i had a birthday that turned into a slurring karaoke party, my plans to visit Martine were scuttled and the prospect of teaching 30 Chinese kids the "Time Warp" started to make life a bit frustrating yet with my positivity (or what could be diagnosed as naiveity) i kept thinking that it will all steer back on course and things will work out fine. Well as the time to finish our contract came up on me like a freight train the urgency to tie up loose ends and make plans seemed to be the overwhelming objective. There were places to visit in Hong Kong and there were people to say goodbye to. The saga with Martine and the "will they/ wont they" storyline was confirmed as a "won't they" yet i don't hold any regrets about the events that took place. It took me a long time to realise that someone who i cared for and loved dearly would be going off on another adventure and that i wouldn't be there to share in it.

The final day of school looking back was the closing of one chapter of my life that was the highlight of my time on this planet thus far. The friends i had made and the adventures that i had will always be with me and i hope that one day i will able to see you all again and express how much your lives made an impact on me. The "Time Warp" was a major success and standing on that stage and seeing the parents just loving the fact that some teachers actually gave a shit about them and wanted to not only teach but entertain was something that will always stay with me. I know deep down that teaching is not my career of choice but i loved entertaining the kids and seeing them smile. I loved teaching, it was my best job ever.

2006 also saw me visit Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Burma. Each of these countries has its own unique charm and the adventures ranged from the silly (being hungover at sunrise at Angkor Wat) to the absolute diabolical (the disaster of Taiwan) yet through all of these was Sab and with her decision to go to the otherside of the country to start her longwaited teaching degree fills me with the double emotions of happiness in her finding her way and sadness of not having her to bitch and moan to. Her friendship is the strongest i have with anyone and that will continue no matter where the next stage of our lives will take us. The year also saw my lovely friend Mel come over and stay for a few days. It also took me to a Queen tribute concert, a potential drowning in Laos, a solemn experience in Cambodia and a massage course in Thailand. They were just some of the adventures of the year.

Back to Taiwan for a minute. To say that it was an unmitigated monumental disaster is the understatemnt of the year. The impact of the events there is only know to Sab and myself. It wasn't just a job offer that went awry but it seemed that the adventures we were building up to were in an instant imploding and sending our lives on a totally different journey. It severly shook our confidence in all things and the decision to come home was the right one considering our options. It has taken me from mid september to now to realise the impact the choice has made but i'm a job i know won't be a career because i don't want it to. I'm in a city that has only family and freinds here but it's not enough. I'm in a place right now where at the start of the year i thought i would never be. I'm back at home and back in Melbourne back in the environemt that caused me to leave in the first place.

Life now is all about going to work and sitting in front of a monitor for 8 hours. Life now is getting over the depression that has plauged not only my mind but body. Life now is living back at home but knowing deep down it's not where i want to be. I have the travel bug! With Sab going to Western Australia in two weeks, it closes a chapter in my life where we shared adventures, laughs and tears. I know its not the end of our special friendship but its just an evolution of it. The next time i leave home i'll be doing it on my own and that is an exciting and scary prospect in itself. I wouldn't have it any other way. I have goals in 2007 and rather than "talking the talk" its time to "walk the walk."

It's time to get serious. It's time to get real.

As i said this year was the "Year of the Reality Check"

I wouldn't have it any other way. How can I?

Love to All and Happy New Year :)

Someone to Watch over Me

Call it fate. Call it circumstance. Call it luck but someone may be watching over me.

How so? Well let me explain.

Sab and I were going to go to Phi Phi Island for Christmas 2004 as we were going to catch up with our Canadian freinds Gordy and Aletha. We met them when we worked in Dalian and were really loooking forward to seeing them again and enjoy some beachside action in some of natures most beautiful surroundings. Whilst in the midst of our planning for that trip a teacher at our kindergarten (Byron) talked up the benefits of going to Koh Samui which is on the opposite side of Thailand (in the Gulf). The more he talked about it the nicer it sounded so we decided to change our plans at the last minute and take Byrons advice and enjoy Koh Samui instead.

Come the 26th of December i was hungover due to a great Christmas night of watching ladies kickboxing. It was only when i made my way into the main street of Lamai that i found out about the tsunami that had ravaged Thailand and various other countries. I sat in a bar and was watching BBC World for updates when news was filtering through about what happened earlier that day and how Phuket and Phi Phi were severly damaged. Aletha was swept out of her building and into the sea and only survived because she is a naturally strong swimmer. Gordy was in the water at the time and described it as "being in a huge washing machine."

Come later that week and it was the famous Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan (i know i've spelt that wrong). After a fantastic night of dancing away with 8000 revellers on the beach, i took a speedboat back to Samui as it was only 20 minutes to get there instead of the usual hour on the slow boat. 1 month later 5 people were killed doing exactly the same thing.

After the disaster that was Taiwan my mum has kept mentioning that "there's a reason for you to be home" and maybe the events of this week were the reason. In case you (the "you" being the 2 or 3 people who only read this blog) there was a massive earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan. Sab and I were going to work in a city called Tainan which was affected by the earthquake. I couldn't beleive it when i read about that. Were we screwed over because somehow some being not of this world decided that we weren't supposed to be there because somehow our lives would be affected because of this earthquake?

Or can you just put it down to circumstance?

Christmas 2006

My last two December 25th's were spent a world away from last minute shopping, family members stressing over the correct amount of bacon needed in recipies or wether or not the Christmas lights are turned on before we leave the house. I loved the fact that i didn't have to rush to get ready to get to a relatives house and that my biggest concern was that wether or not i felt like a spring roll from the spring roll lady. I liked the fact that i could go for a swim and just read a book and let Christmas be celebrated around me. In short i was happy to be off the Christmas radar for a while.

So this year being back at home seems out of the ordinary. I knew what to expect on Christmas day with our family. A lot of banter, Grans Christmas Pudding full of coins from 60 years ago which is followed up with Dad's little victory jig if he find a coin in his slice, too much food and the task of splitting it up at the end of the night and also my yearly present from Gran. About 15 years ago i mentioned to Gran (thats my dads mum for those outside of the know of my family structure) that i would like the Guiness Book of Records as a gift. It seemed that one year has turned into 15 as i now have every edition from 1989 onwards and also one that was donated from friends of the family that was dated 1978.

Thanks Gran. That's Number 18!

With that my Christmas Eve was dominated by Table Tennis. It was celebrated at my Aunty Lyn and Uncle Johns (thats my mums brother) house in the beautiful suburb of Yarraville. It was also my little cousin '10th birthday so between birthday cake blowing out and Christmas Mass it seemed i spent most of my time hunched over the table tennis table playing either my cousins or my brother. The highlight of the night would have to have been the mad dash from the church back to my uncles place to make it home in time for the start of "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" and seen that the mass finished at 6.50 and we were on the couch at 6.58 that really shows my families spirit of Christmas.

Also i must say that Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight totally destroys Sydney's poor excuse of an event. Melbourne's ability to stage events that have a certain class and ceremony to it can only be seen as another example of the difference between the two titan town on this continent. The Sydney carols seem to have more "celebrities" and a few singers plugged onto the end of it whereas Melbourne take the totally opposite idea. It's about the music, not the people singing it.

Which leads to yesterday and lucklily the annual U.N Summit (my name for our family Christmas Party) was being held at home so i had the home ground get shitfaced advantage but i was a very good boy and also as the weather was totally out of season it changed my beverage consumption habits dramatically. It seems that mother nature had forgotten to take her Valium because the weather in Melbourne has been all over the shop. In the space of week the weather went from 35 degrees and major bushfires in the state to 15 degrees yesterday and snow falling on the mountains! It really is a game of Russian Roulette when it comes to Melbournes weather and even the Russians have better odds than us. They only have one season anyway...really really really cold! Add to the fact that everyone i purchased presents for all received different coloured Beerlao t-shirts continued the tradition i started last year (with the Vietnamese Hats) of bulk buying presents which saves me a lot of stress. I'm hoping that next year at Christmas i'll be sending back gifts from somewhere in the world but that is a long time away and i'm not thinking about that for a while..well at least until Chris gets married in Feburary.

Still unseasonal weather aside, Christmas Day at home was celebrated the way our family knows how...lots of laughs. As i have stated before i am very lucky to have a family that has nothing but the deepest love and respect for each other. My afternoon was full of kids running around the house, the sound of wrapping paper being ripped to shreds, the desserts never being eaten due to full tummies all around the table and just the smiles on everyones faces. The memories of Christmas' past came flooding back and even though the desire to travel and see more of the world still burns inside me, this was one day where i was glad to be back home.

I left my life in Sabs Bag....i didn't miss it at all.

The past 5 days i have had a a weight lifted off my shoulders and no it's not my own weight, that happens after Christmas.

Last Sunday at Olympic Park where Sab and I were watching the soccer i put my mobile phone in Sabs bag for the duration of the match as my pockets were full. Well so were my hands thanks to the disgusting Lamb Souvlaki but that's another story. It was only when i got home that i had realised that i had left it in Sabs bag and considering that i was working 12:30 to 9pm all week i wouldn't get the chance to drive up to Sabs house to pickup the phone. It's amazing how attached i am to my phone. Though i don't have the social network of a Hollywood celebrity i would still look every 30 mins at my phone to see if anyone had messaged me yet this week i grew not to need my mobile phone. I used it all the time to pay golf on the bus from Tin Shui Wai into Central and even though my phone has a camera (which has about 10 pictures from my time in Hong Kong on it at that's all) and Bluetooth i barely used it yet i couldn't live without it.


I use it as my alarm clock but it seems that is all its good for. I felt 10 years old again. If someone wanted to contact me they had to call home and they couldn't get into contact with me. I was off the grid much in the same way as John Connor in Terminator 3 welll without some crazy broad trying to kill me. No one could know my location (unless someone was monitoring the CCTV camears of Melbourne) and i wasn't a slave to my phone. I woke up when i wanted to and after Tuesday i had no desire to use my phone ever again well when i say never again i mean i'm now not waiting with bated breath for a new msg to reinforce the view that someone out there is thinking of me and was nice enough to msg me on my phone. Technology has become such a part of my life that i'm beginning to realise that maybe i have too much technology around me. I sit at a computer at work all day then i come home and surf the web, update the blog or chat to people online at night. My iPod is my lifeblood and my digital camera has taken over my function of memory as a place to store images. I have too much technology in my life.

So when Sab came around with my phone i put it under my bed to charge and i haven't gone near it since.

It's only a phone...right?

My Christmas Poem

Good Tidings to you all
From wherever you roam
Good Tidings to you
To you and your home
Yet our home is one that we all share
And our home needs our love and care

We all need love and at Christmas we get it
Yet for those without love we should not forget
For Christmas is not just about that shiny red bike
It's about a spirit of brotherhood for we're all alike

Yet nations are fighting and people are dying
For what end i will never understand
Yet we cannot forget them
we must lend a guiding hand

For Christmas is a celebration of our capacity for good
And sometimes that message gets lost
Between the desire for the perfume or the watch
Yet Santa shouldn't be the person who supplies the joy
It must come from every living girl and boy

My christmas wish is not for material things
Its not about what carols carolers sing
My wish is that we all dare to dream
And that the christmas spirit will always be seen

My words will not be enough to start a trend
Yet the christmas spirit should never end
So i ask of you all who read this to pause
And sign up to my Christmas Cause

For why should we all celebrate something
that has a natural end?
This spirit should turn enemies into friends
This spirit must continue throughout the year
It must overcome trepidation and fear

It all starts with yourself
So live life to the best of your ability
Lets all live in peace
Cause' theres only one humanity

Seasons Greetings

Kris Kringle Konfusion

No it's not the name of a new genre crossing soft rock band, it's actually what happened today at work.

Early last week everyone on the floor where i work (well techically we work at desks) was given a red envelope which included the name of the person they were Kris Kringle to. Luckily i got the name of the guy sitting next to me so the task of finding a present for him wasn't too hard. His name is Sean and he's a top bloke who has a dry sence of humour so on the weekend i made my way to the local DVD store to pick up a copy of a comedy golf DVD for 15 dollars. As 15 bucks was the limit i thought i had picked up a pretty good present.

Today, Santa came to work and looked exactly like one of the other team leaders whose name i don't know nor even want to get to know. She handed out the presents for each team and mine was passed over. I wasn't sure why. I thought because i had forgotten to stick the official name tag on the gift but as the day went on i kept looking at my gift to see wether or not Sean will actually get it.

Later this evening when most of the office had left for the night (i was on the late shift) i ventured over to the tree only to see that my gift was going to someone in my team called Ryan! I have no idea who he is and due to an admin stuff-up my gift for Sean is now not going to mean anything to this guy Ryan.

The perils of office life.

The Victory is Coming!!!

Not my best angle by far but still...just excited to be here!

Soccer in Australia has undergone a dramatic change in the past 2 years. Before 2004 Australian soccer was basically a second rate league with teams based on ethnic differences and the game was run by an administration full of dickheads who had no idea how to promote the sport. With our brilliant muilticultural background, there has always been an undercurrent of support for the game yet it was always treated as an understudy to the major sports of Aussie Rules, Cricket and both Rugbys.

Not anymore.

Australian soccer (oh i'm sorry...football) has been transformed since we qualified for the 2006 World Cup and since then the local competition has been scrapped and rebooted to an 8 team competition and thankfully rather than 2 or 3 teams in Melbourne, there is only one. With that move, ethnic tensions have been wiped clean and the whole of this sports mad city is behind the Melbourne Victory. It was my first time to a local league soccer match in my life and Sab wanted to come. Sure we were hoping for some crowd and flare action but although the top of the table Victory were playing the bottom of the table and in financial dire straits New Zealand Knights, i was looking forward not only to a show on the field but mainly off it as well.

The crowd built up slowly and by the looks of it it was going to be the last football game at the spiritual home of soccer in Melbourne, Olympic Park. In a way it was fitting as it could be said that the sport is moving onto bigger and better times as construction of a 25,000 seat stadium for rugby and soccer is starting soon but due to the popularity of the Victory, there are calls of increasing the capacity to 30,000.

I didn't take the pic of course but it shows the passion Melbourne has for their team.

As the match started the Victory seemed a little hesitant to stamp their authority on the match. Considering that half the New Zealand team had to stay home due to stuffed up flights from out of Auckland, the Melbourne boys should have pressed the issue earlier but there was a sense that the floodgates were going to open sometime and boy they opened big time! In the space in 10 minutes the game changed from a 0-0 snoozefest to a 4-0 massacre. The crowd came alive and Olympic Park was rocking and 45 minutes after we didn't know what to expect, we were converted. After the half time whistle the focus of the night switched to the crowd and even though the game had 15,000 fans, it would have had 30,000 fans if it wasn't for Robbie Williams shaking his bootay across town at the Telstra Dome.


The crowd was electric and i have never been in an atmosphere like i was tonight. Everyone at the ground was shouting from which part of the ground they were from, they were giving crap to the Kiwis and supporting their own. The stadium was rocking and when the final whistle went the whole joint was jumping. Sab and I are now Victory fans for life and with Melbourne wrapping up the minor premiership the rest of the season is all about getting ready for the finals which start in Feburary. Yet if Melbourne makes the Grand Final and it's played at home i can't go because Chris is getting married that day. Whoever thought i'd get dissapointed at the prospect at missing a soccer match...how times have changed.

The Office Christmas Party Review

Fix Bar, location for the Christmas Party. I didn't sit down all night.

I have now been at Fosters for just under two months and have had the chance to form some friendships within the company, mostly with the other members if my team. Considering the work I do can sometimes get repetitive, the group around me is great and we keep each other entertained throughout the day with conversations about general rubbish and general office talk. This week was the first week that I had settled into a good routine so the timing of the Christmas party was perfect. Sufficed to say as the night wore on my status in the company as one of the “rookies” was coming into the fore as I found myself floating in and out of conversations and really having no idea what to talk about with other people.

This is one of the traps of the staff Christmas Party, it is a event where work related conversations are en masse that if you don’t have sufficient stories to keep the night going on then what else do you talk about? Unless you are talking about work related social events no one really wants to know who you are or what makes you tick. That’s what I don’t like about Christmas parties as I think it’s a chance to get to know your workmates better but you never really get the chance do you? There was one girl who I’d never seen before who asked me what I did before Fosters and the look of astonishment on her face when I told her that I was a kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong actually showed that she wanted to talk about something other than “then this customer wanted the 04’ vintage but all we had was the 05’ and boy were they pissed” yet I lost her in the crowd after she had to 'excuse herself to go to the bathroom' which i took as 'i'm not interested in that so bye'.

Also it seems most people know me by my last name then my first which is great for them as “Pepper” is a pretty easy name to remember but when someone shouts out “Pepper!!!” at the top of their voice and I turn and have no idea it makes me look silly.Yet they are entitled to belt out my last name in the same way that people who have known me since primary school can. Perfect example, the office hottie was working beautifully on the bar with a few of her colleagues and I was walking past when she shrieked “Pepper!!” Considering she hasn’t spoken a word to me at all since I started I was surprised that she actually knew my name. So I naturally stopped and was waiting for her follow up which was this "that's such a funny last name" as she giggled and slightly lost her footing off one leg which i out down to the number of empty shot glasses on the bar. I get that sentence all the time when other people are pissed. I think I should change my last name to “Captain Fantastic.”

Also with staff Christmas parties is the certainty that when “finger food” is provided, you usually end up eating your own finger because you are bloody starving. I have never liked finger food because with my tendency to enjoy food until I’m full I just can’t nibble on two party pies and call that an adequate snack. So if I reach in and take a few items off the tray fully knowing that it won’t come around again for the rest of the night does that make me look like a pig in front of the other staff? It’s these and other things that make most Christmas parties either a success or a failure. Our big boss of the department came along and I decided to stay right away from her as I knew the “so how have you settled in?” chat would have been bought out to play. As the night wore on at Fix, the beverages kept coming and I was starting to get bored talking about work stuff so I decided to go to another companies Christmas Party in the next partition and say hi. Considering I spent half the night between the two parties shows that not only were the people from the Product Makers (they make flavors) very nice but the people who I work with just didn’t fill my interest quota from the night.

I was walking around the bar as groups of employees were talking away about stuff I couldn’t be bothered with and I knew that they were going to kick on afterwards but considering the Docks were on “my” side of town I was going to go home from there. I decided to have one bourbon and cola before going home. I had had beer all night so when I put my glass down on the table and turned back to someone to finish a sentence I turned back and between me and the table was a guy so I reached around him and had a sip as my….ewwww it was tequila. I had picked up the wrong drink. Needless to say it had an immediate impact and I had to get out of the party. It was a nice night but it was just a run of the mill event and i called Sab as I was staggering along the waterfront because I wanted to talk to her. Even I have my limits of verbal conversation in an office environment and I just wanted to have a good (though now I was mildy pissed thanks to the tequila) conversation.

I called Sab saying I had another revelation and that was “Melbourne is a great city to live in as it has everything but it’s not a city to find yourself in.” The taxi ride home felt like an eternity but Saturday morning I wasn’t feeling the best but thanks to Panadol and a large Bacon Double Burger meal at Hungry Jacks I was feeling pretty good in the afternoon. It’s now Sunday morning and I’m in bed writing about Friday nights events and I’m looking back thinking “did I have a good time?” The office Christmas Party is a unique event as it’s not really social yet it’s not strictly business so you can have a good time but not let loose. Still if they had karaoke there, I would have given “Living on a Prayer” a very good crack, luckily they didn’t otherwise I’d hear about it Monday morning. Then again I would have bought the house down in the process!

Christmas Poem

I'm trying to think of a christmas poem to post here. I'll have one done by the end of the week.

Christmas East Keilor Style

I enjoy Christmas but i think the rest of my family and neighbours enjoy it more. Here's why.

Peps Place Mini Movie Review - Casino Royale

In short, i've been waiting 4 years and i've saw it twice in 24 hours. It's that good. Here's the proof.

The Promise

It may have cost $5 but it's worth so much more

I'm not adjusting well back in Australia. It's been three months and i have a job that keeps me busy during the week. The people at work are great and i've been slowly catching up with freinds. My room back at home now has some trinkets of the past two and a half years on display and the city of Melbourne is looking fantastic at this time of year. Christmas is just around the corner and so why do i feel like shit? I'm not as happy as i chould be being back at home and i've figured out the reason why...i failed myself.

How so you say?

Well because i promised myself that i wouldn't work at a call centre again EVER!! and here i am back in the environment that caused me so much distress and depression that professionally i'm back at square one. I failed myself but due to the fact that the disaster in Taiwan gave us limited options n terms of contingency i am going to do my darndest to make the time at home as positive as possible.

Last week i puchased a book called "The Promise of Bruce Springsteen" for $5 at a discount book store. I have been reading it at lunchtime at work and enjoying the sharp, unbiased critique of his career when i came across a paragraph that hit me square between the eyes. The paragraph was talking about the time between he released "Born to Run" (when he was 25) and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (when he was 28).


The paragraph says:

Springsteen admitted that he had undergone "a big awakening" during this period, during which he "realised a lot of things about his past." Twenty-eight years old, he discovered that the running and just running some more so idealised on Born to Run was no answer. "Where were these two people going?" he finally asked himself. "I didn't know myself." From that moment on, Bruce Springsteen began to construct his own story line.

It hit me so square between the eyes i highlighted it!

That line in bold hit me square between the eyes for thats exactly how i feel!! I was in shock. I left Australia when i was 25 and loved every second away from home. I did realise many things about myself and i did have a big awakening. I was free...on the road..i was running but now i'm back home and with my 28th birthday in feb next year i feel like Bruce did nearly 30 years ago. I'm running somewhere but i don't know where. The difference from 3 years ago is that the journey was about self discovery and my ability to adapt in different condition and live outside my "comfort zone" and now that i'm back home in the "zone" i'm finding that the zest and sence of direction is unravelling because i don't know where i want to run to next.

I promised myself call centres were out, i promised myself that i would make the best of my time at home but i'm struggling because there is no purpose for me to be at home. I'm not wanting to go back to Hong Kong because i am finished with that place. The memories are beautiful but that part of my life is over.

I want control right now and all i know in my heart is that i want to run.

Broken Down Blues

Last Wednesday night after work i made my way to the airport to farewell Dr. Michael Wong on his two month work related Ireland adventure. I was there with his girlfriend Beth and after he went through the departure gates, Beth and i said bye to each other and i made my way home. So far this blog has some exciting images doesnt it?

The happy couple just before Mike makes his way to Galway..hehe have fun buddy!

Well after driving to my local supermarket to pick up some stuff for lunch the day after. I got back on the car and started it up when in the process i high pitched wheezing sound came out of the engine. I thought to myself "ohh that doesnt sound good" so i tried to start the car again still with no success. Now the car is a 1990 Nissan Skyline that has been the family stalward for over 15 years and its a great car that has done many thousands of kilometers but why was it the night before i was going to see "Casino Royale?" that the car had to konk it? I was shattered not for the car but for the fact that i would have to wait one more night to finally see the first Bond film in 4 years.

I called dad who came down and lambasted me for not having petrol in the car even though i told him the gauge was between a quarter tank and empty. The roadside assistance man came finally and was gone in two minutes. He looked like an Indian version of "Cigar Man" from the X-Files and did what all guys do when trting to look impressive with cars and thats just fiddle with a few bits and then he just said "Compression, you need a tow truck." Then he left!



Dad and I were shocked that he didn't really have a good look at this so he called the RACV and complained and said can they send another guy out. The RACV sent the same guy out again.

So Cigar Man was back and this time he had a really good look and then explained that the injectors were ok but it wasn't kicking over because the part that does the compressing of the fuel was broken so we weren't going anywhere. Between the visits from the RACV dad wanted me to get some petrol for the car so i went to the service station which was about 50 meters away and picked up a can and filled it with 6 bucks worth of gas. I gave the guy behind he counter and he gave me no change. When i asked why he said "the can is worth 14 dollars!" So with this i went back to dad and the car cheesed off and now with another problem of getting the petrol in the can to the car we needed a hose and a funnel. I went inside the supermarket and after finding a cheap funnel and a pet shower head with hose i came back out of the supermarket proud of my Macguyver idea.

Funnel $1.50,Pet Shower Hose $3.50, Idea...well you know the rest

So fter getting the petrol in the car thanks to the above contraption the tow truck finally came and then it was on the way to the garage that the car has now become a hall of famer. I rode in the tow truck and all the driver was talking about was how he hated hotted up Skylines as they are a bitch to tow and how he was glad that our Skyline was just a plain old sedan. Oh that and how many hot chicks he saw that day. Well after a bumpy 10 minute ride we made it to Ultra Tune and the car was locked up and that's when dad called. "Mark the indicators are stuffed on the Astra. Can you beleive it two cars breaking down on the same night!" Luckily the nearest Astra dealer was just down the road and still open and dad was able to get the last spare part needed for the indicators.

Meanwhile my canneloni frozen dinner had thawed out and it was 2 and a half hours since this all started. I got home at about 11 and just went to bed. The problem with the car is that one of the bolts in the engine sheared off! But EDY (thats the cars name and letters on the number plate) is back where he belongs and that's spick and span in our driveway.