About bloody time!

Dear dedicated readers

Please accept my most sincere apologies for the total lack of blog entries for the last couple of weeks, which has been due to a combination of slackness (in the first instance), being busy (in the second instance) and the blog website completely mucking me about and refusing to let to write anything (in the third instance). But here I am and I am feeling inspired, so let's rock!!! Jezuz, clearly I have been inspired by Jon Bon Jovi...bit of a worry.

Well, the New Zealand Spring season has launched itself upon us with a series of ultra windy days and some stonking downpours (like right now - good job I decided not to bother bringing the washing in don't ya think?), so I have been holed up in the house & pottering. Today my pottering might even stretch as far as cleaning, for even I can no longer deny the grostesque nature of the kitchen floor (and I can't even blame the dog 'cos she doesn't come into the kitchen)(it's too small and there's too much of a risk of an embarassing, yet fatal, tripping scenario). Guessing you don't really care much about that though and would rather hear of our adventures of the last couple of weeks.

Most excitingly we now have broadband! And cable TV! So I can surf the net and watch crud as much as I want - huzzah! For those of you who also have broadband and tend to keep anti-social hours you might be interested to know that I have signed us up to Skype (handy free internet phone link), so if you fancy a free chat sign up and you should be able to find me in the directory. Jo has even managed to get the Madonna-esque headset to work, so if you do chat to me you might like to visualise me looking like a Gap employee, or a call-centre flunky (or Madonna, for the more imaginative of you, though my ability to do top dance moves is restricted by the length of the connecting cable - and my crapola dance skills).

Speaking of dance skills (or should that be 'skillz' for I am down with the kids), we ventured into the bacchanalian debauchery that is Wellington on a Friday night the other week in order to celebrate Jo's mate Ingrid's birthday. We started rather sedately at the Good Luck Bar (v. groovy, slightly scary waitresses, great cocktail list) awaiting the call from Ingrid to let us know that she was heading into town, where we met up with Hollie (another Kiwi who has recently returned after several years overseas). Moving on we headed to Pound, Wellington's 'finest' & only gay club, to catch up with Hollie's sister Abbie & her friend Sandy. It being 11pm on a Friday night Pound was almost completely empty. Actually it might have more to do with the fact that Pound is horrible, naff & hideously decorated (and that's just the clientele! Ha ha! Not really...but maybe...). Ingrid arrived just in the nick of time to save me from having to attempt to drink another glass of their house red (Chateau Ammonia 2003, I think) and we headed off, en masse, to try to find some suitable entertainment. Oh dear god.

Our first stop was Maya, a local hotspot where the lighty-up dance floor immediately sent me heading for the bar & a vodka. THe music was a rather intriguing combo of crap & rubbish and we left not long after they started playing a Grease medley/mega-mix. After a quick stop at the Ponderosa bar next door for a brief moment of sanity, we headed around the corner to the Go-Go Bar. The Go-Go Bar isn't quite as hideous as it sounds, but having temporarily forgotten the fact that NZ has more women than men I was slightly stunned by the whole 'hen night' vibe (waaayyy too many boobtube-esque tops). Much jigging was going on in the dancefloor region, but by this point I had lost the will to live and chose to sit quietly in the corner and simply observe. After carefully noting a series of interesting fashion combos - my personal favourite = the gold clompy-heeled strappy sandals with ribbon ties going up the legs a la Miss Piggy) I decided that sitting quietly and not observing might be better. We left at about 2am, only to be hit by the aural assualt of another Grease medley blasting from another bar...

Obviously I need to seek clubbing advice...

To be continued tiomorrow...