The Neverending Story

I'll jump at any excuse for a party but when your hit with 3 in a row, life goes crazy. From birthdays to casinos and everything in between I have had an IMMENSE Australia Day weekend! Sure it differs from Australia in that its below zero here, Brits are lucky to know what the abbreviation BBQ stands for and there are certainly no beaches, but the people and the night life nearly make up for any losses.

Now that Luke has gone home to celebrate Australia Day on home soil its given me the motivation to get up and leave the UK after weeks of procrastinating. Originally my flights were booked out for the 29th Dec but after 7 date changes the date is finally locked in for the 4th Feb, in fact I've changed my flights so much that the entire call center working for Air New Zealand now knows me by my first name, saying "Hey Matt, its Lisa, how have you been? I take it you want to change your flight dates again?" haha now thats service!

With leaving only 10days away all of a sudden I realized that I NEED to squeeze all the things I've been wanting to do into my final week. So here goes:

Saturday the 24th Jan was Jessica's 20th Birthday party and also the start of my 82hour party streak. We went to Rich's place for pre-drinks and pizza before heading out to hit up Liquid. No-one wants to take a jacket out clubbing so we all left the house in shirts, sure it was freezing but at least it wasn't raining as we made the 2mile walk into town. We arrived at 11pm and didn't leave till the club shut at 3am, where low and behold we all suddenly wished we had jackets. It rained the whole way home, the only break was when we stopped for a kebab.

I crashed on the sofa at Richs place at around 4am and was up at 8am to catch the train home. After I got home I chillaxed on the sofa and cleaned myself up ready for a night out at the Reading Casino, and what a night it was! Dad gave me 100 quid to gamble and it was my lucky night!! We got picked up in Steve's twin turbo charged Jag and FLEW to Reading where I got signed up and went on in. First stop was the pokies which are nearly a guaranteed loss, I mean ask any of the lads who came to Jupiters Casino with me on Schoolies week, right boys? Turns out I once again managed to hit the feature and my 5 quid gamble quickly turned into 65 quid!

Counting myself lucky I went for a meal with Dadio, Steve and his son, before once again returning to the gaming floor. This time I went to the Roulette tables, where I put 1pound on red 7.... what do you know red 7 came in. followed immediately by a 1pound bet on 0.... dah dah dah it came in!! Now 70 quid up on my 2 quid bet I was going alright. My luck continued through the night and I ended up winning about 500 quid which is just under $1200 AUS. Then it all went tits up! It's now 3am and I was left with 6 quid which I put on and around 24, lucky last bet..... it came in and paid 200 quid! I happily walked out and the night was over. Got home at 4am and was on the phone till 6am.

Up early the next morning admittedly I didn't feel too bad after my winning streak last night but was still in need of some relaxation time, so what did I do? I organised an afternoon of go-carting with Dadio on Thurxton raceway, with a top speed of 58 m/ph these karts were not to be messed with! I drove foot to the floor along the back straight which ended up in me driving through a tyre barricade and onto the grass... oops. I quickly learnt from my mistake and came out winner with a best lap time of 58.095 VS dads 58.109 heck yes! Thats an ass whooping. haha. After that we went to the cinema and watched Role Models, which was about the time I realised its Australia Day and I although exhausted could not turn the opportunity down. I caught the train into London with nothing planned, no where to stay, 80 quid in my pocket and alone.,after all it was a Monday and most sensible people are in bed early for work on Tuesday morning. Hitting the most logical bar in town, 'Walkabout' I was in for a treat. Finally some real beer, VB stubbies were on sale and thats unheard of in these parts. To top that off they had an Australian band playing and it was easy to spot the real Aussies from the London wannabees! The Aussies sung along patriotically to songs like 'A Land Down Under' and 'I'm a Bloke' where as the Londoners just danced mouthing unknown lyrics to try and fit in lol.

So amongst all the Australian celebrations I met some Brazilian girls who invited me to hang with them for the night, not such a bad deal I didn't think. We caught a cab from Temple Walkabout on route to Piccadilly Walkabout where the party continued. We danced all night long and for a fleeting moment I actually thought I was at home. But 3am came and the bar closed, having lost the Brazilian girls at this point I meandered out of the bar en route to some unknown place to rest my head. I went back to the only place I know.... Waterloo Station. Found myself the most comfortable rock hard bench I could find out of the wind and pulled my hoody tight around my head put my gloves on and plugged my iPod in and what do ya know a bed was born. Sure it was the most painful and cold sleep of my life and honestly I only laid there for an hour before realising that the hope for sleep was long gone. I caught the first train from the station and rode around on the subway for 2 hours waiting for the shops to open.

It's now Tuesday morning and I've had a total of 9 hours sleep since Friday night, I just spent the last 2 hours on the subway and partied for 3 nights in a row... I looked like death, and Death is in my experience not what you want to look like when going to meet some girlfriends for coffee later on in the day. I dashed into Primark on Oxford St and got myself a new outfit- one that wasnt sweaty and covered in alcohol- followed by a quick dash into a chemist to permanently borrow some aftershave and I was as good as new!
I went to Tower Bridge for the rest of the morning and ate my lunch before heading out to meet Alexis Medrano and Hayley Parker.... the first 2 girls, and two of the best, I met on my trip all those months ago in Thailand!! After some serious catching up I went back to Alexis' place and waited for my train home. Not surprisingly I got on the c2c train from Rainham and fell sound asleep, after all I had over an hour to get back home to Hook, or so I thought. I overslept my stop and had to get off the train and turn around so the journey took an extra 30minutes ahh!!

Finally the walk home from Hook station took 20minutes, I stopped off to get Indian takeaway on the way home. Then collapsed into bed which is where I have remained for the last 12hours until now.

With only 7 days to go before I leave the country the countdown is still on to squeeze in as many events as possible before 130pm on Wed 4th! Let the fun begin....

SMILES =]

A white Christmas?

Well as you all know I spent my Christmas this year in England with dad, Luke and the family. Unfortunately there was no snow! But the incredible 3 course meal we had on Christmas day soon made up for any other disappointments, it melted in our mouths. Johnny & Jake had spent the entire day in the kitchen preparing a feast and it was exactly that!

On Boxing Day we had 38 people over in the new house in Holt Lane, talk about crowded =] But we had a great time, family and friends came around for the celebrations and Georgia and Elliot brought their Wii along with Shaun White Snowboarding and Guitar Hero! Well man I was set, JD and coke in one hand and a guitar in the other, we partied the night away.

Some might say that I’d already had enough partying in 2008 but I was ready to see in the New Year in style. The night was organised, the girls from Bristol had invited me to a house party and I was all set to go, copious amounts of alcohol and fireworks sounded like a night that I would never remember but never forget! That is until the death flu got a hold of me and confined me to the sofa. Home alone on New Years.... not anybody’s idea of fun, talk about a quite night in!

I couldn’t move my muscles were aching, I hadn’t eaten in 4 days, I couldn’t swallow, I was shivering in the cold, I thought the world was all coming in on me. But I powered on through, trying not to listen to the loud music coming from down the road, or the fireworks and celebrations from town. I think I may have fallen asleep before the clock struck midnight only to be woken up by my mobile ringing and screaming voices wishing me a Happy New Year. I guess I’m just gona have to make New Years 2009/2010 twice as good!

It’s now Monday the 12^th Jan and I’m currently sat in Dublin International Airport waiting to check in for my flight back to the UK. I’ve been in Ireland all weekend and it’s been a blast (on the credit card that is!) at $13 a pint it’s nearly too expensive to go out, souvenirs are way over priced, actually I’d go so far to say that Ireland is even more expensive than the UK. But with all that aside I had free accommodation with the lovely Maire who was a fellow Gap Year representative, and he has been an absolute angel. I arrived into Dublin on Thursday the 8^th Jan to a smiling face at the airport, and after 8months of travelling alone it’s a great feeling to have someone meeting you once you get off the plane in a foreign country! We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Dublin and the rest of the weekend doing the tourist thing.

I get home in a few hours, heck the flight is only 45minutes followed by an hours train journey. Now in all logic a flight should cost more than a train right? WRONG! My train costs $37 return and yep you guessed it I only paid $21 for my return flight!! Now why can’t Australia offer these deals!? Luke heads home on Thursday back to the sunshine ‘Down Under’ which means I’ll be heading back to work soon before leaving for Canada on the 2^nd Feb.

Wait they just called my flight over the PA system that’s my que to go. I wish you guys all the best of luck at uni this year and I’ll see you all back home in June!

Till next time...

SMILES =]