Protestants vs Catholics

Coming from Australia, it takes a little while to comprehend exactly how deeply ingrained the disagreements between the protestants and the catholics are here in Scotland. On the day of the Carter game there was a local derby between Glasgow's two "Old Firm" sides, Rangers and Celtic. These two teams have been incredibly successful in the Scottish Football League and have the biggest fan-bases of any teams in the country. It seems however that you really don't have much choice about which you support, because Rangers are the Protestant team and Celtic are the Catholic team... so essentially the religion you're born into ties you to one team for life. Not only does it determine who you support, but religion finds its way into the football ground in a very serious way. Celtic fans sing the Irish National Anthem (in Irish), while Rangers fans sing God Save The Queen. Irish flags, Union Jacks... you get the picture. Ever wondered why Rangers wear blue and Celtic wear green?

Throughout the UK, it's standard practice for the crowds to be segregated by their teams which is something unheard of in AFL or Rugby League. However, if it weren't at force in Glasgow, I reckon the weegies would kill each other. Allan told me some interesting tales about a couple of experiences he's had in Glasgow and they're scary to say the least. The football almost seems to take second place to the sectarian hatred, and when football's basically the only sport in town and it's going ten months a year, there's a lot of destructive influence going on. Some people are so keen to get involved in Scotland's most intense sectarian rivalry that many people support these Glaswegian teams, even if their own city or village has its own team. Now, this religious alliance isn't restricted to the Old Firm sides, but for other teams in the Scottish Football League, it doesn't seem to be as significant and they should all be very pleased that it's not.

It seems to me, as an outsider, that the historical and continued success of the Old Firm sides is the curse which makes Glasgow such a damned horrible place. In Buddhism, there's a saying that all unwholesome behaviour has its roots in either greed, aversion or delusion... and the synergy between footballing success and sectarian rivalries, mean that Glasgow is wallowing in all three. Knowing little of the history of these sects I don't understand why they can't make a bit of an effort to get along a bit better. They both believe in God and surely that above all factors must be a unifying element that should bring them together rather than tear them apart. Imagine if they know how divergent my religious views were to theirs, they'd probably tear me apart! For the sake of yourselves and your city weegies, get the hell over it.

Rosslyn Chapel

Today was a nice quiet day - well needed. In the afternoon we went off to Rosslyn Chapel for a look around and it was very nice, and very old. On the outside there was a lot of scaffolding, supposedly for the purpose of holding the place together but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just so you could climb up and see the chapel from a different vantage point, as well as the glorious countryside. What I liked about it as well is that it's still a functional chapel with actual services and meeting and such, so it's not just a relic of a faraway time.

I liked this picture here with the skeleton and the sickle because it looked a bit creepy. I don't understand the significance of it, but it looks pretty cool.

On the way back we popped into Sainsbury's and I got some HP Honey Woodsmoke BBQ sauce that I reckon will be a treat. Went to the Boots chemist nearby but they didn't have asthma inhalers. Hopefully I'll find somewhere tomorrow that'll take pity on me and let me buy one in the absence of a prescription. Luckily they had cold and flu tablets on sale so I brought a couple of packs along with another bottle of cough syrup.

After dinner, we went to Scott's brother's house for a cup of tea and a chinwag. I got to meet his wife, his daughter Tammy, and their lovely dog Simba who is notorious for climbing trees. After a much needed day of rest, it's back into Edinburgh tomorrow for some proper music shopping. Time for an early night.

Carter USM Live @ Barrowlands

The day started off with a trip out to Motherwell with Allan and a few of his friends, to see Hibs play. First we went to a pub where the Rangers-Celtic game was on, and once that finished we went over to Fir Park to watch the game. On the way I saw this sign that had me in stiches, I had to get a photo.

The game started alright until one of the Hibs fans got red carded for a dangerous tackle. Fair enough, but in general the ref was a bit of a wanker. Despite being a man down, Hibs got the opening goal from a penalty, and the game was well and truly alive. Unfortunately, not long afterwards Motherwell replies with two quick goals, neither of which the goalie had much of a clue about. The second half was frustrating, with no goals added by either side, though a Hibs player did manage to hit the crossbar with just a few minutes to go. In the end, Hibs went down 2-1 and it was time to head off the Glasgow.

I've heard that the centre of Glasgow is quite nice, but any parts I saw were an absolute dump. I feel genuinely sorry for any nice, decent people who live there because that city is seriously in need of disinfectant and a good scrubbing down. Some of the people there are totally weird. It's almost as if the Neanderthals weren't actually made extinct - they've just been hanging out in Glasgow for a few millennia. Thankfully we managed to find a car park not too far from the venue and after venturing out for a scabby meal, we ducked back into the car to eat it so that we wouldn't have to deal with the freaks and so we could give the car a little extra protection.

In time we started to see a few Carter t-shirts appearing and thought it was safe to go and line up out the front. I loved seeing all the Carter t-shirts. I had on my After The Watershed tour t-shirt which no one else seemed to have, but I loved seeing the variety. Once we got in and to the merchandise stand there was plenty on offer too. I picked up a Sheriff Fatman re-issue t-shirt with "You Fat Bastard" written on the back for £15 and a blue hoodie with the Carter logo for £25 which will be great for showing my love for Carter even in the colder months. People from the Carter forum started recognising me and we had a quick chat and a few offered to try getting us into the afterparty which had been organised last minute - I didn't even realise there was one.

We went into the concert hall and saw about half of Chris T-T's set and he was pretty good - musically and lyrically his stuff reminds me a lot of Billy Bragg. While it was on I saw Les in the crowd, and Scott and I had a quick chat with him, before someone else wanted a chat and we didn't want to hog his time... especially since I'm staying with him for a week or so from Tuesday! Next were the Frank and Walters who were a quality outfit. As expected, they played After All, but I was absolutely surprised and elated when they finished their set with Michael... an absolutely brilliant song.

There were songs being played off a CD before the gig started and people were singing along. I thought, if people are singing to songs off a CD, how into it will they be once Carter actually come on. As I'd hoped, Jon Beast was there before the start to get the crowd warmed up. He wouldn't have been too warm as he was completely in the buff except for some (we think) excessive black electrical tape around his todger. Beer was flying up on stage and he was absolutely saturated. He introduced Carter and then it was time for the classic opener - Surfin USM. For the first time, the meaning of the title became fully apparent as there was crowd surfing, moshing and all manner of insane shenanigans afoot. Scott and I were only five rows back, but in time I think we each slipped off and back in separate directions as we left those shenanigans for those insane enough to endulge in them. That said, it was nice to be in the hustle and bustle for one song at least so that I could experience that part of the gig too. Next was My Second To Last Will and Testament and I was singing along but the singing started aggrevating my asthma which had been playing up and I almost got to the point where I couldn't breathe, so amidst all the excellence of the gig, I almost started to panic. Thankfully I'd drifted far back enough that I could slowly regain my breath and enjoy the concert from that point on, even if my involvement wasn't as active as I'd otherwise probably have been. Jim and Les seemed to have a great time on stage, and the crowd did too. The best thing was that there was nothing even remotely tragic about it. Often when bands reform there's a certain lameness about it all but this seemed to be no different to any other gig from their heyday and cudos to the boys for being so bloody brilliant to be able to pull that off. Scott's favourite song for the night was Sheriff Fatman. Mine was a toss up between Glam Rock Cops, The Only Living Boy In New Cross and Say It With Flowers. No surprises in the track selection, although I was a little disappointed that there weren't any songs played from once Wez the drummer joined the band... still, I guess the drum machine doesn't know those songs so it was perfectly understandable.

By the end I was happy but completely buggered. My symptoms, which had been getting worse thoughout the gig included sleep deprivation, asthma, chest infection, conjestion, tension headache, and possibly still a touch of jet lag. I also had ringing in my ears (and still do!) but I don't think I was alone on that count! Alas, neither of us were really in any state to attend the afterparty. By the time I got out of the venue I felt like I could do with a respirator and a fire extinguisher full of ventolin. We got to the car safely and thankfully the car was still in one piece too. We found a service station and I got a drink so I could take a raft of cold & flu tablets and painkillers and try to fix up my shabbiness. We got home by midnight and I went straight to sleep and even though I had to wake up at 6pm to have a shower to declog the conjestion in my head and chest, I got back to sleep and for the first time since I arrived in Edinburgh, I actually got what you would call a "proper sleep". Once I woke up I had a chat to Stephanie on Windows Messanger and got to pull funny faces at Bennett. He had a great old time and so did I. He also looks pretty dapper in his new glasses. Apparently he's been a good boy and has been wearing them most of the time. Maybe he's enjoying being able to see longer distances - I know I would.

Thankfully, today is going to a cruisy day, and in half an hour or so we're off to Roslyn Chapel, which people outside Scotland would know primarily for its role in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code.

Welcome to Edinburgh

I noticed that the money I'd received from the ATM outside Tesco's was a little odd as it said "The Royal Bank of Scotland plc promise to pay the bearer on demand Twenty Pounds Sterling at the Head Office here in Edinburgh by order of the board 1st October 2001". Sounds a bit like an IOU doesn't it? However, I am assured that it is real money... Scottish pounds! Being genuine GBP it should be accepted anywhere, although apparently some places in London are a little bit funny about it. From this point on I to try to break notes where I get the chance with the hope of getting some English pounds as change. Scott says I can change it to English pounds at the bank so it's no real drama. I might do that on Monday when we do the music shops of Edinburgh.

After a slow start to the morning I cooked us porridge, Australian style, and the only real difference in the taste was because the oats we got at Tesco's the night before had wheat bran in them too! Different, but probably very healthy, and Scott was very pleased with it... the combination of cinnamon, sultanas and honey seems to go down a treat. After breakfast we set off for Scott's hairdresser, just out of central Edinburgh, and after that I had a Link sausage roll which was really nice. We checked out a few extra shops, including one little second hand music shop where I picked up a copy of a Bellatrix album for £4. The time on the meter was running out, so we went back to the car, walked past a Fish and Chip shop advertising deep fried Mars Bars and drove to a shopping centre on the way back to Scott's place. By this stage I was feeling pretty crook, from lack of sleep and my cough. I picked up some cough medicine at the Boots chemist and a 3CD Hacienda compilation from HMV for £10.

Getting back to Scott's, I got the chance to meet his dad Allan, but then I was off to bed for a few hours sleep - completely dead to the world. Scott woke my up at the pre-arranged time of 6pm but he had to knock on the door for a bit to wake me, I was so out of it. Downstairs for a quick dinner, quick shower and a quick coffee... all with the goal of feeling a bit more human. Allan drove us into Edinburgh and we started the evening at a cool little pub called The Tron, where there were some decent tunes being played on the video screens. There we met a few of Scott's friends, had a drink, and then went off to this odd youth hostel pub. Odd, primarily because many of the kids there were under 18 and yet there was alcohol being served. It was pretty tacky, with plenty of karaoke in effect... one guy in particular had a shocking voice! One of Scott's friends sang a couple of tunes and thankfully he was much better. In an attempt to wake up and get going I had my first Jagerbomb (a shot of Jagermeister literally dropped into the glass of Red Bull... shotglass and all) and that worked a treat. While there the remainder of Scott's friends arrived and as 10:30pm came about we set off for the main destination for the evening, the indie club Evol at the Liquid Room.

The Liquid Room was a decent enough venue and the music selection was a good range of old and new. Having been out of the loop musically a little of late, some of it I didn't recognise but it was all of a pretty good standard. Once I started dancing to some tunes I started to wake up a bit and we kept going until just after 1. At this point we left and walked back to the meeting place back near the Tron where Scott's Dad was going to pick us up. All in all, the people we came across were agreeable enough although there were regular ambulance and police sirens so I suspect others weren't so lucky or well organised. Edinburgh at night is a pretty spooky place - in part because it's actually built on top of the old Edinburgh and partly just because all the buildings are made of stone. There is so much stone in this place, it's unbelievable. I'll leave you with some random pictures of Edinburgh nightlife, taken largely while we waited for Scott's dad (bless him) to pick us up at that late hour.

That guy on the left, his name is Paul too. Like all of Scott's friends, he was really nice.

This is the further north I've ever been

On Wednesday, I got home from work and went out for dinner with Stephanie and Bennett aat DiCaprio's, not far from the airport. It was nice to spend some time with them before I went and even though Bennett was a little grizzly for the first few minutes because he'd just woken up from being asleep in the car, he soon came good. Afterwards, they dropped me off at the airport and Bennett was a hit with all the airport personnel. After having a bit of a look around the airport, we all gathered around for a bit of a cuddle and a cry. Bennett was really good about everything, and even though I will worry for him about how he's going without his Daddy for three weeks, I'm pretty sure he'll be fine. Maybe it was because I told him I'd bring a present home for him! I'm sure I'll find something somewhere.



I went through the hand-luggage screen and managed to set the metal detector off with the staples in my itinerary, which was a fair effort. Once through the security net at Tullamarine airport you basically find yourself in a large Duty Free shop. Very strange. Once finding Gate 9, I sat a read my new Donovan book and enjoyed some tunes until take off at around 11pm. The first leg of the flight was to Hong Kong and it was pretty uneventful. The seat next to me was free, and next to that there was a young lady who seemed quite nice. Unfortunately though, she's a heavier sleeper than me so I had to wake her up so I could get through to the toilet.



The Qantas inflight entertainment system is pretty good. There's movies (didn't watch any), TV shows (watched Simpsons and the Office), as well as tunes (listened to REM) and the Flight Path program which tracks your flight progress and some games. It's also got games and I spent a few hours playing chess and checkers, although they seriously need to revisit their settings because "hard" didn't quite live up the challenge it set.


Arriving at hong Kong I was pretty tired, with about only an hour's sleep under the belt. The staff seemed a little terse, but I suppose it was 5am or so their time and I wouldn't want to be working that early either. I liked seeing the bilingual signage, especially this one here from the travelator which I think makes a pretty good general principle whether you're on a travelator or not. More Donovan book, more iPod Shuffle, and back onto the plane for a second breakfast. I'd asked to be given vegetarian meals during the flight which was great, but for some reason they insisted on trying to give me soy milk at every turn. Soy milk?! It's not even milk is it? Somehow I don't think female soy beans created milk to feed their offspring. No way was a drinking that crap. During breakfast, one of the hostesses noticed I was tired and told me that because so many people had gotten off at Hong Kong there were a lot of spare seats further back in the plane and I could actually have a 3-seater to myself and lie down. After breakfast you can guess where I went! Although I probably only got an extra two hours sleep, just being able to lie down horizontally was enough to make me feel a lot better. A lot of the sleep I had was very faint sleep, not deep at all, and most bursts of sleep probably only lasted five minutes. The rest of the flight was long and arduous as we travelled over northern Asia and the former USSR. From about Moscow onwards it was a tad more interesting because I had at least heard of most of the places we were flying over. I wasn't too impatient about the flying, I was just tired. Finally, we flew over London and courtesy of a holding pattern due to conjestion at Heathrow I managed to get a few aerial photos even though I'm sure I could just as easily see pretty much the same thing by logging onto Google Maps! The sky around Heathrow Airport is amazing because there's pollution streak lines from all the planes and at any point in time there's usually about 10 or so different streak lines intersecting each other at different angles in the sky. That airport is disturbingly massive compared to any airports I'd been to before. Getting off the plane, you walk into Terminal 4, keep walking and then get bussed to Terminal 1 for the transfer. Then there's a very long line at the security check, and then the young woman from immigration hassle me (politely) about lots of things. What are you doing here? Who are you staying with? Why does this temporary residence address say Brixton, when you're going to Edinburgh? Plus a whole lot of questions about Carter USM which I would have been more than happy to answer if I wasn't dead tired and just wanted to get to Edinburgh. Then once through there, I got to the waiting area for British Airways domestic flights and had to kill time until they decide which gate you go to.

Then from the gate, they bus you again off to your actual plane! By this stage, I was in a real daze and was just hoping they'd bussed my luggage onto the plane too. The flight to Edinburgh was OK and I got this photo of a really interesting phenomenon which was like a circular rainbow in the clouds. Exactly how it works I don't know, but at one point the circular rainbow even had the shadow of the plane clearly emblazened upon it and it looked brilliant. It would have made a great logo for an international airline! Edinburgh Airport was a bit more relaxed than Heathrow, and without too much waiting (relative to the past 28 hours), I found my luggage, found young Scott and then off we went. I was probably too tired to be of much conversation, but we had a pleasant drive as we went off to our first destination... Tesco's! That place is brilliant. The highlight surely was seeing all these Scottish foods at such cheap prices. Normally if you try to buy any of it over here it's 2-4 times more expensive - no wonder the Scots have such sweet tooths. I also got some cash out so it was nice to actually have some local currency in the wallet again. From there we went to Gorebridge, which is where Scott and his family live. It's a cute little place they live in, and his Mum and brother Neil seem really nice. The dog's nice enough too, even though she's a bit wary of strangers. A cup of tea, a bit of a chat, then off for a shower and into bed at 9pm. I managed to sleep until 4am, but my cough woke me up a few times along the way. I feel so much better already! It's now 5:30am and I might try getting back to sleep again if I can, but I'm pretty confident the jet lag won't be too bad, because Bennett the jet lag simulator has had me well trained to be up at the most unusual hours over the past three and a half years.

So what are you going to do while you're there?

In nine hours I should be in the sky so I'm running out of time to tell you what I'm actually doing while I'm in England. So here's the itinerary... very comprehensive (even though I've edited some boring bits out). If anything doesn't make immediate sense, it's probably a music shop.

Wednesday, 17th October
20:50 Recommended check-in
22:50 Flight QF29 from Melbourne to London (incl. one stop at Hong Kong)

Thursday, 18th October
13:30 Flight arrives at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 4
15:15 Flight QF3465 (operated by British Airways) departs from Terminal 1
16:35 Flight arrives at Edinburgh / Turnhouse.

Friday, 19th October
a.m. Sleep in
p.m. Edinburgh pubs and bars
20:30 EVOL @ The Liquid Room

Saturday, 20th October
a.m. Chill out
p.m. Football - Hibs vs Motherwell
19:15 Chris T-T @ Barrowlands, 244 Gallowgate
19:55 Frank And Walters @ Barrowlands
then Carter USM @ Barrowlands

Sunday, 21st October
a.m. Chill out
p.m. Rosslyn Chapel

Monday, 22nd October
Edinburgh music shop trek
· HMV – 129-130 Princes Street
· Virgin Megastore – 124-125 Princes Street
· Fopp – 15 Rose Street
· Avalanche Records - 63 Cockburn Street
· Avalanche Records - 2-3 Teviot Place
· Avalanche Records - 17 West Nicholson Street
· Avalanche Records - 28 Lady Lawson Street
· Elvis Shakespeare – 347 Leith Walk
· Vinyl Villains - 5 Elm Row (Leith Walk)
· Record Shack – 69 Clerk Street
· Hogs Head – 62 South Clerk Street
· Backbeat Records – 31 East Crosscauseway
· Coda Music – 12 Bank Street, Old Town
· Ripping Records – South Bridge
· Unknown Pleasures – 110 Canongate
· Golden Oldies – Haymarket, near Haymarket Bar

Tuesday, 23rd October
11:45 Flight BA1443 to London
13:05 Arrive at Heathrow, collect luggage and catch Tube, Piccadilly
line (dark blue) to Green Park station. Get to Brixton via Victoria (light
blue) line – Zones 1-6.
15:00 Arrive @ Les' place, Brixton
20:00 Help out with "Getting Fruity on the Radio" @ Phoenix FM, Brentwood

Wednesday, 24th October
a.m. Music shops on Berwick Street, Soho
lunch Stockpot, 60 Old Compton St
p.m. Music shops on Berwick Street (continued)
1 - Cheapo Cheapo Records - 53 Rupert St
2 - Division One - 36 Hanway Street
3 - HMV - 150 Oxford Street
4 - HMV - 360 Oxford Street
5 - M&VE - 38 Notting Hill Gate
6 - M&VE - 28 Pembridge Road (+bookshop @ 14)
7 - M&VE - 95 Berwick Street
8 - Mr. CD - 80 Berwick St
9 - Reckless Records - 26/30 Berwick St
10 - Sister Ray - 34-35 Berwick St
11 - Sounds of the Universe - 7 Broadwick St
12 - Tower Records - 1 Piccadilly Circus
13 - Virgin Megastore - 14-19 Oxford Street
14 - Steve's Sounds - 20 Newport Ct

19:30 Donovan & David Lynch - University of London, Logan Hall, 20
Bedford Way London WC1H 0AL

Thursday, 25th October
a.m. Rough Trade (East) - Old Truman Brewery, Dray Walk
Smallfish Records - 329 Old St, EC1
lunch Wild Cherry - Globe Road (near LBC), Bethnal Green
p.m. London Buddhist Centre precinct (LBC, Sudana etc.)
Old Spitalfields Market, 65 Brushfield St.
Kinetica Museum, SP2 Pavillion, Old Spitalfields Market
Catching up with Ricardo Autobahn – TBC
night Possibly: Robots In Disguise, Carling Academy Islington

Friday, 26th October
a.m. Return to Berwick Street (see list of music shops from Wednesday)
p.m. Oxford Street and Soho precinct

Saturday, 27th October
a.m. Camden Market - Camden Town, North-West London
p.m. Rhythm Records - 281 Camden High Street
M&VE - 208 Camden High Street
dinner Cottons (Caribbean restaurant) - 55 Chalk Farm Road
night Club Silver @ Underworld (Saturdays - £6 - new/old indie) - 174
Camden High Street
or Asian Dub Foundation @ Cargo (£10 - 83 Rivington Street)

Sunday, 28th October
day Greenwich market (weekends)
M&VE - 23 Greenwich Church Street (7 days)
Royal Observatory - (part of National Maritime Museum)

Monday, 29th October
day Check out Brixton properly
Brixton Market - Electric Avenue, Pope Road, Atlantic Road,
Brixton Station Road (Mon-Fri, 10am - sunset)
dinner Thankyou dinner for Les and Crissi at Khan’s or Eritrean
21:00 Long Slow Kiss On The Lips @ The Dogstar (free, Mondays,
electro/indie/reggae) - 389 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton

Tuesday, 30th October
a.m. Move things over to Leanne & Greg’s place, Earsfield.
p.m. Tower Of London

Wednesday, 31st October
a.m. Call and book London Eye time
Abbey Road
12:00 Lords tour - St John's Wood (near St John's Wood's stn - £10)
pm M&VE - 38 Notting Hill Gate
M&VE - 28 Pembridge Road (+bookshop @ 14 Pembridge)
Intoxica - 231 Portobello Road, London (west of map)
Rough Trade (West) - 130 Talbot Rd (west of map)
19:00 Vipassana meditation at London Buddhist Vihara - The Avenue,
Chiswick (near Turnham Green station - way out west)

Thursday, 1st November
10:30 Westminster walk
11:30 Changing of the guard (then continue with walk)
p.m. London Eye
dinner Bamboula (Caribbean restaurant) - 12 Acre Lane, Brixton
night The Brunettes + The School + Wake The President + The Deidres @ Windmill, 22 Blenheim Gardens. Leave in time to train way back to Leanne and Greg’s.

Friday, 2nd November
a.m. Confirm flights home
Natural History Museum
p.m. Science Museum
Hyde Park (incl. Speakers Corner)
17:00 Pre-party @ Jamm, 261 Brixton Road
night Carter USM live @ Brixton Academy w/ Sultans Of Ping FC, Brixton
Academy - 211 Stockwell Road
Afterparty @ Jamm, 261 Brixton Road. It will be a late night because Allergy are on until after 4am. Stay until close and then go to Leanne and Greg’s.

Saturday, 3rd November
a.m. Recovery
p.m. Record Corner - 27 Bedford Hill, Balham
Bar 366

Sunday, 4th November
Daytrip out of London

Monday, 5th November
06:30 Leave Leanne and Greg’s place.
10:20 FinnAir flight AY832 to Helsinki departs from Terminal 1, Heathrow Airport
15:15 Arrive Helsinki Airport
16:40 FinnAir flight AY67 to Hong Kong departs from Terminal 2

Tuesday, 6th November
08:20 Arrive at Hong Kong Airport
09:45 Qantas flight QF30 to Melbourne departs
21:35 Arrive at Tullamarine Airport

Distractions

The first Carter USM reunion show to be announced was the Brixton one.... back on April 4th! That's nearly a full seven months before the actual show. In some ways it's been great to have so much advance warning, because it's given me time to get my passport in order, book annual leave, book the flights, save some pennies, plan the itinerary and all those kind of boring but essential things. That said, it's been a long wait.

Somewhere along the way, the place where I work had a good financial year, so we all got to choose a free toy for our efforts. Whilst I'm not a fan of Apple's MP3 range, there was an iPod Shuffle available and I thought it would be worth getting... as I didn't much fancy the thought of lugging and worrying about my 40GB iRiver on my travels, especially as it's getting on in age a bit and the battery isn't what it used to be. Despite the inevitable technical malfunctions (curse you Apple!), I've finally managed to load the iPod Shuffle with 175 tunes for my trip. It's all charged and ready to go... and so am I.

Recently I got so tired of waiting, I organised a weekend away to Phillip Island with friends to drink too much beer and watch the AFL Grand Final just so that I'd have something a little more immediate to look forward to. Check out that line of empties!

I even started this blog as a distraction to be honest. Thankfully now, there's little need for any big distractions because I've only got 4 days to go. My bags are pretty well packed and it's just a matter now of watching the last few days slide by.

Never having gone out of the country before, I'm still likely to be a little on edge until I get on the plane and it takes off. I think once I'm in the air, heading for wherever it is we land first, I'll finally feel like the trip has actually begun. Until then, it's just mild edginess mixed with a wry smile.