'Panda' has come further into my life

My next door neighbours, Patrick and Karen had to move out of their flat, and as they are in temporary accomodation, asked me to look after their cat, 'Panda.' I was worried at first, because I've never had to take responsibility for anyone before. It seems to be working out so far. I bought her a collar, with a bell, and a name tag with my phone number, and I'm learning to be excited about which brand of cat food to buy her.

I can hear her now! She must be out in the street. Maybe I was mistaken as I've been out on my balcony on one side, and looked out of the front door, and I can't see her. It's like that awful advert for Aussie tourism. 'Where the bloody hell are you???!!!' I don't know where she goes. Tell a lie, she goes into other flats as she used to come into mine, and they like to see her, and feed her, and have her company. She slept on my bed last night, but at 9am I let her out, and I've not seen her for four hours.

They are not the same as dogs are they?! Dogs want your company but cats appear to take it or leave it. No! They can, or rather Panda can, be very affectionate. She likes to 'invade' my personal space, and get up to kissing distance. And if she sleeps with me all night, she does not complain about my snoring either.

I can 'touch type' so why is it so fucking difficult to hit the right keys when it's dark?

I guess that is just one of life's little mysteries? Of course, you MUST have your fingers on the 'Home' keys, otherwise you are fucked whatever the light, and your words come out like an Enigma machine.

I learnt to type on a manual typewriter in 1975/75, the only boy in a class full of girls, 'man' I should say, and 'women' as it was night school at Hardley School (now the New Forest Academy I believe?)

Maybe I should go back to manual typewriting? I make so many mistakes on my computer keyboard now, constantly going back and forth.

No going bcak (sic.)

My hangover is almost gone (but the 'I'm a dickhead' feeling remains.)

Guilt. That's my problem, or perhaps it isn't a problem, if I change for the better. Catholic guilt though, what about that? I am RC, though I never go to mass, and have never had communion, nor even been to confession.

I don't know why I felt so crook today? Until I totalled up what I'd had and where I'd been in my diary, that is

Crown Hotel:        2 schooners of Pale Ale. ($6)
Trinity:                  3 schooners of the 'B.O.M' (beer of the month, always $5.)
Royal Exhibition:  2 schooners of Coopers Pale Ale ($6.20)
Strawberry Hills:   2 schooners of Endeavour Pale Ale ($7.50)

I did not actually finish my third beer at the Trinity, alhough to counter that, I remembered that Damo gave me a bottle of Carlton Dry when I was over at Neil's earlier in the day. Which means I drank almost 10 schooners of full strength Aussie beer. 10 schooners is equivalent to about 7 1/2 pints, which I don't drink, thank God, in Australia, though some of my friends prefer them.

I could tell that I was stuffed, walking back Elizabeth Street to my flat, stumbling, uncoordinated, slurring my thoughts if not my speech,. I would usually stop at 6 or 7, so I don't know what happened last night, maybe just the urge to stay out and not go home?

Now it's almost 5pm and I feel like a beer! No! NO! NO! I'm going to have an OJ, at first anyway.

My mate Bill used to say that when he had a hangover, all he could do was sit at his table and watch the clock ticking around and around, hour up on hour, until the feeling passed. He could not eat or drink or read or watch TV, or listen to music or talk to anybody. All he wanted to do was to watch that clock, as I'm watching mine, 1657, and I'm going out at 5!

Why do you keep going back to a bar or a cafe?

Is it because the beer, or food, or coffee Why do you keep going back to a bar or a cafe?s good? Is it the ambience? Is it good value? How do you measure good value, anyway? Is it because everybody else goes there? Do you measure it by the length of the queues outside? Is it cool to queue? Walking down Crown Street, I sometimes think that people won’t go to a place unless they have to queue, whereas I won’t go to a place with a queue.

But I will keep going back to a place where the staff smile when they see me walk in, and they know my name, because I know their names. I’m sad when I walk into a place and none of my friends are there, but it’s just as good when the staff know me, and I can sit at the bar, and distract them from their work, and know that they still like me.

This morning, my regular cafes were both closed, so I went down the road to another one I go to occasionally. The coffee was excellent, and I had a second cup, but the young guy who served me did not smile once, which to me is like saying,

 ‘Fuck off, don’t come back.’

But I still left a tip!

Ends

Yet another attempt to be original on an internet dating site.

I've been single for a long time, so I guess I've got used to it. I'm not sure if that is good or bad? I can handle being on my own, and I don't usually feel lonely, but it's nice to be with someone, who really wants you. Not in the way that your parents want you, nor your brothers and sisters, nor your friends, but in the way a lover wants you. Does that make sense?

I've put one of my favourite groups on - The Strokes, although I've not heard this album before - 'Room On Fire' - 33.04 minutes, with about 29 to go, which is my target to finish my 'CV.' I mostly like groups like this, The Beatles and The Stones being my 'Gold Standard.' Most days, I select something on YouTube, preferably something I've not heard before, and see if it turns me on (like John Lennon wants to in 'A Day In The Life.')

I'm semi-retired, or perhaps I'm 'wholly-retired' as I've not done any work since November, 2014. I've got a contract with a public service department but they have given me no work this year, and it's the busiest time now, so I guess they won't be calling me. I don't mind, as although I like the job, it involves a long commute out to the 'burbs. Not that I've anything against the 'burbs - Penrith in this case, which I actually rather like, but one and half hours each way commuting, either on the train or waiting for the train, is wearing.

I've got enough of an income from various sources not to have to work anyway, and now that I'm studying a Humanities degree with the Open University, I've found something useful to do with my time. I'm on my second unit, which is 'Creative Writing', following on from 'Critical Thinking' and I've enjoyed it so far. I have to devote at least 20 hours a week, which is the same amount I used to work. I like writing so I might try to structure my degree around more writing subjects.

I'm from England originally, coming here in November, 1978, staying for eighteen years, then, following redundancy, going back to England for a holiday which lasted twelve years. I looked after my Mum and Dad, and then after they passed away, I decided to come back to Sydney as I've got a brother here. I'm from The New Forest, near Southampton, although I was born in South Shields, which makes me, nominally at least a 'Geordie!' My Mum's side of the family were from there, whilst my Dad's side were from London. My parents met in Germany, after The War, and as they came home to 'have' me, I like to say I was 'Made In Germany.'

I've not been back to England since I left in December, 2008, and I've no real desire to do so, not even for a holiday, though I may do that some time. I've even let my British passport expire without renewing it. I've got a valid Aussie one in case I need to travel! I pretend I'm a 'Currency Lad' but with my Pommie accent, I will always be 'Sterling' and a 'New Chum!'

I still like lots of things about England though, Tottenham Hotspur, my football team - can't wait for the new season to start in a couple of weeks, then there are the English newspapers to read on line, and Sky News UK overnight, and two channels of UK TV. I watched four episodes in a row of 'Doc Marten' the other night, cried too.

My album is almost finished, and it's 8.15 pm, so I might go down to one of the local pubs here in Surry Hills for something to eat - and drink. I do like my Surry Hills pubs and cafes. I've got a car, but it seems to stay in the garage whilst I walk around Surry Hills, occasionally straying into Redfern, or the southern edge of the City. I like to swim, not so much in the winter, though I've been down three times in July to Bronte and Redleaf. In the warmer months I'll be down every night, though the traffic is irritating.

I like shopping in 'thrift shops' (like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis!) I bought ten shirts the other day in Ted Noffs shop, $5 each. One of them is a Country Road and I guess that one alone would have been far more than fifty bucks? I am snobby enough to only look for designer labels. I bagged up another ten shirts to recycle as soon as I got home. The sad thing is that my Mum loved to go in charity shops and I took the 'Mickey' and now it's too late to tell her I like shopping in them too. I paid $20 today for a racing car game, which I'm hoping will work properly, and I could either sell it on E Bay or give it to my brother. I keep meaning to sell something on E Bay but I've never done it. I have many books from the thrift shops too, particularly ones on rock music.

OK, the album is almost done, and so I am I.

Ends

How did I get to "Bad Waldsee 2014 - 3.Tattoo Highlands Pipes and Drums of Bad Waldsee?"

Bad Waldsee 2014 - 3.Tattoo Highlands Pipes and Drums of Bad Waldsee

I was on YouTube but I was playing rock music so how did I get on to bagpipes? I wasn't playing one of my favourite songs either - 'It's a long time to the top if you want to rock n roll.'

 I remember now. I got distracted, as usual, from playing rock music, to something about football, and thus to 'The Old Firm' - Rangers and Celtic.

I'm a nominal Rangers fan as it happens, though as a Catholic, I 'picked' the wrong team. I was only 13 then, back in 1967, when we brought my Nana down to Southampton from Jarrow. My Mum's side of the family are  Geordies, you see. (from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.)

It's still England up there, but closer to Scotland than it is to Southampton, and Nana liked to read Scottish papers and magazines like 'The Sunday Post' and 'People's Friend' which she had delivered a couple of days later.

I liked reading 'The Sunday Post' with its cartoons about 'Oor Wullie' and 'The Broons' and of course, 'Scottish' as opposed to 'English' football. And there was no sectarian reporting in 'The Post' either, so I just picked a team, and that team was Rangers. I can't remember why? Maybe it was their long-serving player John Greig, or Davy Johnstone, or Derek Parlane. I don't know. I often picked favourite players because I liked their haircuts, pace Georgie Best!

Years later, I found out that Protestants support Rangers and Catholics support Celtic. Too late. I've never seen Rangers play. I think I might be frightened to go to a game. The Glasgow brand of sectarianism scares me more than its Belfast counterpart, where I guess sectarianism really started?

Funny thing is that I have a very good mate here in Sydney, who comes from Belfast, from a Catholic and republican area too, but his Dad is a Spurs fan like me, and he got me a 'West Belfast Spurs' shirt, my favourite Spurs shirt, too.

They have a different sense of humour over there and I never know if they are joking.

'Rangers and Celtic fans travel from Belfast to Scotland on separate ferries (and Rangers fans get the more modern ferries?)

'The only bar in Dublin where Rangers fans can watch their games is a gay bar?'

'If you fancy a day off work, you just ring in a bomb scare?'

Still, there seems to be peace there now, no bombs, no 'squaddies' killed, no sectarian murders. Maybe they could do the same thing in The Middle East?

Define 'Friendship?' When does an 'acquaintance' become a 'friend?' What the FUCK happened to my text?

Bad Waldsee 2014 - 3.Tattoo Highlands Pipes and Drums of Bad Waldsee

 I just typed about 500 words or so in 28 minutes. How do I know it was 28 minutes? I'm listening to 'Ryan Lewis and Macklemore', fuck, I mean 'M and RL' - 'The Heist'.***

I did not save my text because I thought Blogger automatically saved it??? I wanted to spell check my text so I highlighted the text, meaning to copy it over to Word, and got the last fucking thing I copied from Youtube to Google a couple of hours ago.

I lost some text the other day on a forum I frequent. Same fucking thing happened I think.

Moral of the story? Always, ALWAYS, type in Word first, and save frequently, or type it in Gmail perhaps?

Sometimes, I tell myself that 'losing my text' is 'God's way of telling me it was a load of crap.'

 And, HEY! I got something else to write about too! Far tooooooo many exclamation marks, dude. And what am I doing using the word 'dude?' It just seems cool and right today! 

*** Before I played the entire album, I watched the video for 'Same Love.' Makes me cry every time! Just like 'Terms of Endearment' and 'An Officer and a Gentleman.' And I don't need to pull a fucking hair out of my nose either.