Friends

Busy week last week I can tell you. There are certain things that are taken for granted and you only really miss when you realise they are gone. It is a cliché but it is so, because in all it's overuse, it has a strong ring of truth. This was made very clear during the events of last week. We had Moira's brother over from England and also we had two of our dearest friends staying with us as well, Duncan and Emma.

Now our flat is a small one bedroom affair, with emphasis on the small. We had five adults all staying under the small roof and this was always going to be a bit of a squeeze! Concepts of privacy and space were out the window, which was lucky as there was no room in the flat for concepts of any size.

We met Duncan in London where he was staying as part of his world wide adventure, he is from Tasmania which makes him part Australian (part sheep). I employed him as a temp and we instantly became good friends, I am not sure if this is down to the lunchtime visits to the pub or the concept of doing as little work as possible for the Highways Agency. Anyway we had several good years in London, our complex network of friends growing slightly larger, especially when he met and fell head over heels (soppy enough for you?) with Emma. A delightful girl who takes no sh*t from our friend Duncan, Which is exactly what he needs! Needless to say he was a success with the company and when I left they made him CEO or something, not really but he was doing very well.

When we found out we were going to move to Australia there was much discussion over people who we would be missing. Friends and family we would be leaving behind and ways we would endeavor to stay in touch with them . If there is great happiness and excitement in setting out on a new adventure then there is equal grief in the act of leaving behind friends and family in whom we have spent considerable time and shared some special moments. Weddings, births and birthdays are all events that help bind friends and give groups of friends a link to something special, something shared between them that nobody has experienced or can repeat. Being part of something a little special is a human need and one that is certainly missed.

Don't get me wrong, Moira completes me and is my rock through life without whom I would be never able to cope. But friends sometimes give me an alternative type of therapy. The one thing which we never had any lack of until we moved was friends. For the past five months we have been coping well with the lack of any best friend type people, Moira has made friends with people at work but at the moment they are more like people she knows than special confidences.

Anyway when we announced that we were moving to Australia guess who started applying for jobs over here. And he got one almost straight away, speaking the language probably gave him a head start. They even had to move out here before we left. Unfortunately this job was in Brisbane. Which is a long way away. About an hours flight from here, not so far away as to make life impossible but we cannot call round the pub together like we did in London, still it is better than never seeing them again. And they came, not just them either. Phil and Perry are a couple we know through Duncan and Emma's housemates and they were coming to Melbourne at the same time as D&E! Quite the re-union. they were staying with some friends and we were going to get the opportunity to meet them as well so we could possibly increase our circle of friends in OZ.

Phil and Perry came round and were suitably impressed with our view, making the appropriate level of Oooo's and aaah's that I actually thought they would be really good on a wine tour!! We had to eat fish and chips the first night, way too many people to cook for and it was weird. Here were seven people who nine months ago were running their own life, minding their own business in London and were now sat round a small plastic table picking at fishy bits or chips. And this was the opposite side of the world. Amazing really.

Now when meeting new friends it is never a good Idea to start drinking before lunchtime. Especially when the plan is to go our for dinner. But Duncan was here! And there was beer in the fridge, actually there was way too much alcohol in the fridge to be safe but hey! So we went to dinner later, alot later (after snoozes to alleviate the alcohol consumption). Out to meet our new potential friends. Dinner in a newly opened Japanese restaurant in St Kilda. (Just a quick note to self: When in Japanese Restaurant, talking to waiter, do not mention the following - Kill Bill, Hitori Hanzo, Warm or Cold Sake and Hiroshima). I just continued to get drunker, and drunker. Moira says I was an embarrassment, which is something as she is used to my drunken antics, she really is my drunk barometer. Things were bad. I don't think we made new friends, if anything scaring away the one's we already have. Apparently I have been told I was asking if people liked food! I hang my head in shame!! Still I did have a good time, as far as I can remember and I don't think anyone wants to kill me, well maybe the waiter! Something I said about a samurai sword maybe.

After everyone left we realised that we really do want to see our friends more, so we booked a return visit. D&E live on the 30-something floor of a skyscraper in Brisbane so we are going to go and have a looksy, I am scared of heights so this is going to be interesting.

So to all those people we have left behind, please please send us some e-mails, a card, money, anything really. Facebook is so impersonal and we do not hear enough from you all. Lisa, Dom, Carly, Lucy, Mos, Andy, Jason, Chris, Clair and all others who I cannot remember (joke).

We will be getting finally connected to the phone system here so we will be giving people nuisance calls if they don't get in touch - Remember when you are all tucked up and comfy in bed we are WIDE AWAKE with itchy ringing fingers.

Another superb thing to happen last weekend was the arrival of my newest friend. Our brand new Samsung washing machine. It is a top loading technological god. It works out how heavy the load is and calculates water usage and stuff. It has a detergent drawer and so many lights it is sooo cool. Best thing is there are more controls than you can shake a mangle at but to operate the thing you just press "Start", absolute genius. The manual is a little weird though as it has been translated so I can tell you that our machine has:

For curios washing user incorporated into lid is transparent window device. When machine washing peer through to see progress of washing cycle.

Wow!

As I mentioned we spent an hour in Telstra shop whilst a young man made a hash of using the computer ordering system to request we be set up with a phone line. So soon I will be putting our number on this site. Or maybe just sending it out to a select few, who knows!