I'm completely aware that I've slacked off AGAIN in the website stakes. My spare time at present has been occupied with writing the “subscription” system for the site so I can have the postings emailed out to whoever wants them. The good news is it's pretty much working, so when I get a second I can mystically weave it into the site. But enough of that nerd stuff… here's what I was MEANT to post earlier:

Shot over to Melbourne on the weekend…. And what a lovely time was had by all.

Unfortunately, due to me being an idiot, I didn't arrive there until about 10pm, so there was v. little fun to be had Friday night. We did stop at some random italian place and get late-night pasta.

Saturday we headed over to Pam and J's place and caught up with them – goddamn, it was so cool to see them again! And of course you're off on a winner when there's a Simpsons marathon on TV, followed by WRESTLING !!!

Next cab off the rank was Michelle and Craig's place, which we managed to find fairly easily (clearly, I wasn't in charge of navigating), and Em & I spent a couple of hours up there chatting with them, playing with Rhiannon & Lukey, and “trying out” Craig's new TV with the DVD of The Fast and the Furious.

On the way to Craig and Michelle's we had to stop off and do a quick job for someone, which involved going to the following suburb:

Now, is it just me, or does that name look like it's pronounced “BUR-WICK” ? Apparently it's “BERRICK”. Stupid if you ask me.

The next step in the voyage was in to Richmond to Vlado's for The Greatest Steak In The World. I'll devote an entirely separate post to that, because hot damn, it deserves one.

We slowly made our way back to Em's place and had no energy for anything except putting a DVD on, so we had Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and another attempt at finishing The Fast and The Furious… fatigue got the better of me though and it was again time to flake.

Sunday we'd arranged to meet Lynn, Ryan and Athalie in at Southbank, and taking Em's wistful advice we delayed this meeting until midday in order to allow the appropriate amount of Sunday sleepin time. Top marks for that decision Em!! Again, what can I say but that it was awesome to see Lynn & Ryan again (despite having seen them a couple of weeks ago), and it was also really really realllllly good to see Athalie again. Goddamn, I'm just an all-round sucker for nice people ! It was kinda funny that Lynn & Ryan are getting married in Adelaide on Easter Saturday, and Athalie & Brett are getting married in Adelaide on Easter Sunday… everything's WEDDINGS at the moment !

After an excellent brunch and a shedload of coffee at Blue Train, we mosied on down Southbank and checked out a busker (a really cool escape artist, who paused frequently to encourage kids to stay at school), and the various bits of handmade crap on sale in the markets. Thankfully none of it appealed, and my wallet was left relatively unscathed.

The night ended with a nasty microwaved meal at the Melbourne Airport Formule 1 motel, and watching the movie on that night. Wouldn't you believe it – The Fast and The Furious ! And AGAIN, I missed the ending !!

So that was my trip to Melbourne. Thanks again Em for being a total legend and being my taxi – it was awesome spending all weekend with you!

That's all out of me for now…! The photos are in my photo gallery under “20040319 Visit To Melbourne”.

2004-03-23 : Never a dull moment
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