Meantime

Over the last few weeks I've mostly been spending my time at work. It suits me fine as I'm desperately greedy to lay my hands on as much money as possible and, for various reasons, I don't really enjoy being at 'home' these days. I've really settled in nicely with everyone who works there and, on a lot of levels I enjoy the job itself. After working other service jobs in my short life and having been around a few companies in retail, I can fully appreciate how good it is to work for Puma at South Wharf. There aren't many things to criticise and it's a lot more laidback than having to work in the 'boutique' type atmosphere I was in at Miss Sixty. After having proven myself quite capable of handling the day-to-day rigours of a standard retail job, the boss generally leaves me to my own devices. In the space of four to five weeks I've steadily had my hours increased, getting the pick of the shifts. I've normally been rostered in to work 20-25 hours, but with overtime and changing shifts it's been working out at 30-40 hours a week. So, a couple of days ago I got the news that I'd been offered a full-time contract. I duly accepted and I start next week. This is the best news I could've hoped for as my visa only allows me to work for a company for a maximum of six months and most employers weren't willing to employ me at all. The benefits are security and stability: I'm guaranteed 38 hours a week, over five days and two days off. I also get 2 weeks paid vacation - so when I go back to England I'll be getting paid for two weeks! I also get an increase in my uniform allowance that adds up to two free pairs of shoes and five free items of clothing of my choice. Pretty sweet! A bum like me couldn't ask for more.

The view of the Yarra and Melbourne from outside my work.

In other news, I've booked my flight home now and I can't wait for it. I'm going to have a month or so to hang out and take a break (go drinking and watch football). I can't wait to see all my friends and hang out with the Swedes who are coming to Manchester and I'm accompanying back to Sweden. I love the Swedes so much and, as always it's been too long that we've been apart!

In the mean-time I really need to be figuring out what I'm going to do. It doesn't seem like I'll be going to Toronto with Ingrid, or at least not initially. I'm still applying for my visa so I can go for a length of time that suits me. My heart just isn't in it at the moment, and I feel like I want to do something more for myself. I don't really know what my options are but I'd quite like to move to Scandinavia or Germany and learn a language. I'm 22 and still can't speak a foreign language, which is a bit ridiuculous. I feel like it's something I need to do and it will prepare me for going back to university to study history. I don't know what it is about Northern Europe that intrigues, excites and fulfils me but there is definitely something there. Just like the passion I have for history and completing a degree in it - I don't think it would be a bad idea to go with it and see what happens. It's scary to be so unsure of the future and what I'm going to with myself, but it's also exciting. I don't have many commitments so it gives me a wide-scope to sit down and think about what I want to do. I know for a fact that I'm not ready to throw myself into any serious commitments career-wise. The problem is I feel that I've been fucking around in Australia, wasting a year where I could have been learning something solid. On the other hand, (and most importantly) I've got to be with Ingrid all this time, been to many new places for me, lived in a foreign country and been learning life-lessons all this time. So now, being here, I'd like to choose somewhere else I'd want to be and learn something new, something more tangible and see where that takes me.

I'm still writing away, but as ever, it's mostly just ideas. I really need to get myself into gear and throw something down on paper, good or bad. I'm keeping my mind sharp by reading as well. I'm currently reading a sterling biography of Ian Fleming by Andrew Lycett, to keep my ever-thirsty Bond fix satisfied. I'm also reading 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' by Jeff Lindsay which is the first in the collection of Dexter books. I love the show so much I figured I'd give the books a try as well, and they are definitely not disappointing. I've realised that I primarily enjoy stories centred around strong protagonists so I've been trying to develop a profile of the main character of my proposed collection of short stories. I think it's important (for me at least) to keep being creative and satisfied with what I make instead of harbouring any grandois ideas of fame, glory and money. I wouldn't be adverse to any of those things, but for now I'm focusing on doing it for myself, to feel like I'm moving forward at least.

The lesser known, younger Fleming.

On an final note - one of the positives about having a job and pulling in the hours is the money. For the first time in a long while I truly feel like I've earnt and deserved the boozing at the end of the day. Here are a couple of pictures of me on the sauce and enjoying myself.

Julesy and I put away the first few of many that didn't see me get home until 7am the next morning. I've missed the early morning walks of shame.

Listening: A shit-load of Beatsteaks. I've rediscovered why I love them so dearly.

Southern Weather - with a Vengeance!

We've had some crazy storms in Melbourne over the weekend. As I walked to work on Saturday morning I remember being quite cheery, looking up at the sky and thinking about the prospect of rain. I definitely wouldn't have predicted what was to happen though. Everything was fine until about 2-3pm when I went on my break and I could hear the rain thrashing heavily on the roof of the building. I was later informed that it was, in fact, giant hailstones. As I went for my lunch break and I looked outside the thunder storm was immense. Melbourne is known for its sudden downpours and I've experienced a few over the summer. It usually happens as the temperature steadily increases over a few days and then a cold front comes in from the south but this one was different. Within the hour the ceiling of our store began to leak. It wasn't a big deal at first but after a while it started to leak more and more until steady streams of water began to plunge downwards and we had to close. On closer inspection it appeared that there was a crack all the way down the ceiling and we spent the rest of the shift moving stock, mopping copious amounts of water in one direction and then the other and finally having to empty our make-shift buckets. Unbeknownst to me, all carnage was breaking loose across Melbourne with many areas flooding - including my house and my street! I stole some photos of around Melbourne from The Age newpaper's website to give you an idea of the carnage.
Some people literally throw themselves at an opportunity when it arises; the size of some of the bigger hailstones that fell on Melbourne.

While I was at work battling with the excess water, my poor housemates were doing the very same at home. Luckily our house is on stilts, but the 'basement' is on ground level. We live right next to Moonee Ponds Creek, which flows into the Yarra and Bent Street itself is in a bit of a dip in the centre. It all flooded, ruining cars and everything else that got in its way. Fortunately there wasn't much damage to the basement and the boys did a sterling job of plugging the gap and soaking up the water with anything they could lay their hands on. I feel bad for Leon as we'll have to take up the carpets that he spent ages proudly putting down there. However, it certainly worked out well for Ken as he finally managed to christen his kayak on Bent St. itself! He's been talking about getting out on the creek for months and it's pretty funny he finally got to use it on our very own street.

A little peak of what our street usually looks like in comparison to Saturday evening with Ken on his kayak.

In other news, I finally received my first paycheck in about 4 months, and a short, sigh of relief was given. Ingrid and I went out to Melbourne in a slightly more subdued storm to our favourite cheap sushi places and for a few beers as well. Partly the reason why I love this sushi place is that it's cheap and it has one of my favourite beers. It's surprising that it would be the Japanese that would make such a clean, crisp and refreshing beer. Ingrid asked me what my favourite beers are but there's easily too many to name.

Southern Weather

The weather in Melbourne is usually pretty crazy but there has been a noticeable trend over the last few days: it's gotten cooler. Yesterday was the first day of autumn, so logic would dictate that it's getting cooler here because of that. To be honest, I really don't want to get my hopes up. I feel like it's been one hell of a long summer for me, always feeling around 10-15c too warm, so I've been looking forward, for a long time, to getting some respite. Now don't get me wrong - I don't pine for 'good old British weather' by any stretch, but somewhere in the middle would be nice.

Soundwave on Friday, on the other hand, fell on a typical, baking hot Melbourne summer's day. It'd be quite fitting if that was the last day of summer. I still stand by my choice to have worn the tightest fitting jeans I own and had an awesome time. I don't think it would've felt right if and everyone else wasn't sweating their arses off and drinking too much booze despite the solid and immediate headache it gives you at those temperatures. After standing outside in the glaring heat I didn't even burn; somethings will never cease to amaze.

Doing what I do best.

It was my first (and probably only) festival in Australia, but not much is different to Europe. What was strange was being so far from home and seeing some of the bands I've grown up listening to and never got around to (or had the chance of) seeing live. Even though they're all American, I still associate them with a feeling of home. Nonetheless, it was good to tie-up those few loose ends, and to be smug in the satisfaction that they were all as good as I always knew they would be. In total I saw a little bit or all of 12 bands: Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, Motion City Soundtrack, Glassjaw, Alexisonfire, Paramore, The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, Dance Gavin Dance, The Almost and HIM. The bands I was looking most forward to seeing were Glassjaw, The Get Up Kids and The Almost, and I'd love to replay every second over and over. I didn't get many decent photos but I'll put a couple up any. The problem is, they don't really capture the moment as I was too busy partying it up to give a damn about taking photos. One thing I didn't expect was to get to see my top 3 so easily. I hardly had to push or fight to get in the midst of it. I think it's because the festival was made-up of mostly young pop-punkers and older metal-heads. I'd say my bands were the niche of the day. The youngsters haven't grown up enough yet to know about decent music and the metal heads are so old and deaf that they don't have a clue, and never did. All in all it was great and better than I expected. I got to share some of my favourite bands with the hardcore fans who know their stuff without having to deal with the excess festival-dregs. All in all, with a few beers, a sweaty crotch and an attractive Scandinavian girlfriend to make the guys drool - it was a top day!

The Get Up Kids; The Almost.

I managed to recover enough for a full Saturday of work the next day and didn't make a mess of my hangover or broken bones in front of the boss. It was fairly uneventful but it's nice to finally get some shifts in and get to know my workmates a little more. Although my interview was 2-3 weeks ago I've only just started this weekend with some proper shifts. For the next couple of weeks I'm only in for 15-25 hours, but hopefully after that I can get in for a bit longer. The simple fact is that I'm a slave to the money economy and I need all the funds I can get (as we all do). We went out to a house-party at Ingrid's friends house that night. It was fairly standard but I took it easy as I had a working day ahead of me on Sunday as well.