So Mardi Gras, I guess

So Mardi Gras, I guess I better write a bit about it then? Met up with the usual suspects and friends before wandering down the path in hyde park thereby cutting off the start. Mark and Ryan who were staying with me [and had helped start the day with champagne on the roof terrace] asked if this was it 😉 Little did they know. It was Ryan’s first Mardi Gras/Pride event so I guess he didn’t realise. We merged with the actual ‘parade’ at this point and I lost everyone a few times and spent a lot of time trying to get the works camera to function. Some good shots and some bad shots but more importantly some missed shots :o(. Cute boy in cap with boyf you know who you are 😉 We were bored by Picadilly Circus despite frantically looking for the closer to heaven float to try and catch a glimpse of Paul Keating – I am not alone in this however as Ian had already texted me about the man and the float!]. We then made our way to Finsbury Park.
Jacs and I went in the press entrance and then arranged to meet everyone else at the champagne bar. After wandering around for a bit, I went in search of the regular big events crowd. You know the people you only ever see at pride or Walk for Life and such. I went looking for Tony & Baloo at the line-dancing Area [which was as usual one of the busiest venues]. Bumped into some people at the bungee that I knew from somewhere but couldn’t place the name. Saw a few of the blogger boys – erm David, Jonathan and Ian, or was that 2 David’s? Not sure now – Oh cos I had met up with Scally too cos he is part of the gang so you know he’s always around.
Wandered back to the champagne bar and watched some of the main stage stuff and then saw two guys from holiday in Gran Canaria Rob and Steve [Mark who was staying, was another of that crowd] we made vague plans for a return trip and drank some more champers [?35 a bottle was a bit steep mind]. Now my usual gripe about Mardi Gras is the nasty pop acts you normally get at G.A.Y. all onstage together. This year though Steps joined the line up and the crowd went wild [well actually it may have just been Camilla]. Wandered backstage purely because I could and met up with Mark who I haven’t seen for ages [he is a promoter for DTPM and has been jet setting around the globe the last few months which is a step up from being a waiter in the London Ryan Hotel].
Supergirly did a couple of classics which reminded me of a. when I saw them recently in Croydon with Spence and b. when they came to our Christmas Party and the microphones didn’t work so they never did the act. I missed Ken Livingstone and Peter Tatchell who by all accounts were actually quite a laugh. The pre-recorded video message from Josh from Big Brother was no surprise as it had been widely rumoured he had taped one [not that he is doing BB purely for the publicity you understand or that of his company]. Now the problem with ego and pre-recorded footage is clear. He is full of himself but has not been popular. A chant from the crowd made it clear that they would have preferred a message from Brian – “Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian” they chanted clearly they have picked their favourite. Oh and the fact that the event rganisers had managed to obscure the company name Josh had plastered across the bottom of the screen only made things worse for him 😉
Wandered back to the champagne tent where I was looking around for the others when a nice young gentleman crossed my path and looked back [result I thought] but did absolutely nothing about it as usual. So met up with the others and then made to sit down and who should be nearby but the cute guy. So anyways after a bit of looking back and forth I finally wandered over [very unlike me – must have been the champagne] and uttered “um errr Hi erm um how’s your day been?” So Stevie if you are reading this [in the EasyEverything Internet Cafe in Amsterdam] I’m amazed you actually spoke to me but glad you did 😉 That’s all on that particular subject until August the 4th.
So how was email(‘your’) Mardi Gras?

Well after many years of

Well after many years of not being especially organised for Mardi Gras but always doing the same thing we have decided to organise what we normally do – make any sense? No probably not. Well you see every year we meet up at the City of Quebec and then do most of the march but get strangely distracted along Whitehall and end up going to Retro Bar for some beers and then when the crowds have subsided a bit making our way to the venue for the party.
This year will be no different – just we have actually made this our plan. We are meeting at 11am at the CofQ and then meeting later at the Retro Bar. Those going onto the party will get a tube later. Simple innit?

Disturbing Search Request of the

Disturbing Search Request of the day was +shop +jockstrap +uk
I was wondering if I have ever referred to jockstraps on my site. I know I have certainly mentioned shops and the UK but jocks have me stumped so I ran a quick search and you know what? I did mention them on Monday, March 05, 2001 whilst describing Mardi Gras in Sydney.

It was the Crusaid Walk

It was the Crusaid Walk for Life yesterday and I walked with the team organised by AOL and had a really good day. The route was a little wierd – sending 5,000+ people down back alleys and underpasses was not especially well thought out but It was all for a good cause. Had lots of fun and made a few pit stops along the way and bumped into a few people I haven’t seen since last time – or various other yearly events like Pride and Mardi Gras.
Spence came around afterwards and we caught up as I haven’t seen him in ages and then I headed off out to Clapham for dinner with Nic & Vianney, Andrew&Andy then off to the 2 brewers where the four of them decided to end my singledom. It was not the best night for doing so however and the only bloke worth interest was with someone else :o(

So no post for a while

So no post for a few days and Mardi Gras was over the week-end yes you guessed it – another huge entry coming up…
Oh and not checked for spelling errors or anything as this is a blog on the go…
Saturday I actually managed to wake up kind of early. I added some finishing touches to our fantastically cheap Shoes from Woolworths and added some more glitter and sparkle. David arrived around midday and we set about adding more sequins to the already over the top with sparkle outfits. By 2.30 in the afternoon we sparkled from head to toe in silver and black with extra body gliter and crystal tatoos for effect.
We arrived at the Albion Street Centre and met up with the other volunteers and dancers who all had more silver than you could possibly imagine. I think Sydney must sell out of sequins, glitter and hairspray in the week before Mardi Gras. There seemed to be an inordinate amount flying around the centre while we all preened and prepared for the big event. We then made our way down to our designated meeting point and armed with our ‘parade participant’ stickers set off to see the other floats all lining up. There seemed to be hundreds of them
We had the Melbourne marching boys beside us practising their routine, the Albion boys and girls also got into the swing and the few hours we had to wait before the parade started seemed much more fun. [we did have a few trips to the pub and some champagne too]. Around 8pm our section started to move off and a cheer ran through the street. As we moved off it was hard to stay calm everyone looked so excited and the crowds were yelling and screaming support. As we turned onto Oxford Street I was amazed by how many people we saw.
Earlier in the day when we had gone wandering it had been busy but nothing like the number that had now lined the streets with their step ladders, milk crates and the like. Every balcony and flat roof along the route had people sprawled all over. There were fireworks a plenty and the crowd was raucous. The 45 minutes or so it took us to walk the route seemed to go in a flash. As we hit Taylor Square I realised that Oxford Street was just the beginning all along the end of the route there where stands of people who had paid money to be entertained by drag queens during the whole parade and have seating. All the money going to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.
At the Captain Cook hotel I was snogged a couple of times by a gorgeous aussie boy. It seemed rude not to loiter for ore but the float had already continued so I had to run to catch up. In amongst the hundreds of thousands of people I managed to see Fran too and have her take a photo :o) So soon you will all be able to see the lovely outfit
The parade itself is very well organised and at the end we even had our own parking spot. So we al bid farewell and arranged to meet at various points and times at the party. By now it was 10.30 pm and the party was just kicking off. Scally and I took a short walk to see some of the rest of the parade and then headed off to Fox Studios for what turned out to be the party of my life!

The venue is hard to describe if you have never seen Fox Studios. All I can say is that it seems to be around the same size as Euro Disney – or perhaps larger with a little village and a few huge [and I do really mean huge] rooms full of dancing people. We met a few of the people we had arranged to meet up with but also bumped into some we hadn’t and with the amount of people there that was astounding. Saw Brad again – kept bumping into him all week actually more on that later but for now I’ll try and describe the party. Probably no words would ever be able to describe the atmosphere or the outfits ;). I would suggest you just book tickets for next year and see for yourself. It was the largest event I have ever attended and there were the most casual bunch of peole I have ever seen. People wearing nothing more than a thong or jockstrap through to those that had spent many months preparing their outfits in lame and fun fur or leather and rubber, sequins and feathers, body paint and lycra. Everyone looked fantastic and I could have just sat for hours looking at people. Unfortunately there is a no camera rule at the party so there will be no photo’s to show you unless there are some in the gaypers here before I leave that I can scan in. The party went on until 10am but around 8 in the morning I encountered trough man which brought me down big style and although we had just made another group of best new mates who were giving us beers and joints I felt hte need to leave. So we headed off to the taxi rank and went home for some much needed shut eye. After a shower to remove the glitter of course. I still seem to have more glitter than is humanly possible in my hair todat and it is Tuesday morning lol.
Woke up late Sunday and could not face Oxford Street or the recovery parties. Why they call the recovery I am not sure as al you do is end up taking more drugs and getting more muffed. So I settled down with comfort food [pizza and ice cream] to watch channel 10’s coverage of Mardi Gras.
It was fantastic – If anyone wants to see the video we taped it so give me a yell! The Sydney Marching Boys did Madonna proud!
Monday was a bit of a blur really went and changed my flight tickets at Gulf Air so I now fly home via Singapore again – not bad for $75 for another 4 days on my trip 🙂 so delaying cold and rainy London until Saturday afternoon now woo hoo. Went to Darling Harbour with Scally and some of the AOL and ex-AOL crew out here and consumed a few bottles of wine at Pontoon before Bettina and Margy turned up for dinner. We went to The Clock and I had Kangeroo which was lovely and then went of roaming Oxford Street again
So today is my last day in Sydney I’m gonna head on over to AOL here and beg them for a job and then will need to be heading to the aiport for the flight to Singapore and another few days on the tropical island for rest and recuperation. This last 10 days or so has been one long hard party but I will certainly be coming out again next year. Hopefully dragging a few morepeople out here to experience the awesome parties and the parade of course but perhaps just as a voyeur next year not a participant.

Okay well here is an update from Sydney

Okay well here is a little update for you :o)
went to the Gulf Air offices today to see about changing my flight. Looks like if they can they will only be able to change the singapore – london not the sydney – singapore. So I will still be leaving sunny sydney on Tuesday night :o(
They are going to call me if they can change the flight. Looks like they have no availability though so I will keep my fingers crossed.
Went to Bondi again today and did the cliff walk around to Bronte via Tamarama [‘glamarama’ allegedly the gay beach] all the beaches were pretty empty. When I arrived at Taylor Square I discovered why – I have never seen Oxford Street so busy [okay so I have only been here a week but you know what I mean]. People where walking on the road as the sidewalk was too busy with people chatting, eating and shopping!
Met Adam and Rob – Adam is an internet friend of Spence -so brought some of that wierd unsure emotion all back.We had a really nice meal after some drinks at The Shift and then wandered back for more drinks – unfortunately by this stage the lines for all the bars were completely mad so we went to the little bar above the shift which is always quiet. Saw a man who was gorgeous and as usual didn’t make any move – must go to assertiveness lessons or something.
So all in all a really nice evening – came home kind of early as it is gonna be a busy one tomorrow . Bettina and Margy have vacated their room – well actualy gone to Bettina’s mums for the week end as they are not participating in MG this year. So they have sweetly offered me their room. These Oz girls are so nice. I mean really nice ina genuine way.
Every morning of my stay in Sydney I have been picking a ‘tarot’ card from a pot along with the girls tomorrows is Action so I’ll interperet that in a number of ways
So off to bed in a minute or so when I have caught up on some blogs I have been missing out on and maybe a look at Spence‘s relaunch site and Dave B‘s site which I discovered in my referral logs. I may be in Oz and not on the internet much but I do chek my logs still!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS 2001 SYDNEY

*LONG UPDATE ALERT* (from Sydney)

*LONG UPDATE ALERT*
My eyes started to feel much better by Tuesday night so I put my glasses on and went into Oxford St to meet Brad and the gang at The Albury to watch Pam Ann. Unfortunately the rest of sydney’s gay population seem to have had the same idea so there was already a line at 9pm and they where not letting anyone else in. So Brad and I decided to go for drinks in the bar next door – soon it too was packed and we went for a wander with the others in search of pizza.
Brad gave me a lift back to Redfern where I am staying which was nice – he really is much better off now he has moved back to Oz than he ever was in London.
Wednesday was mostly a shopping day – with an outfit to find for the Mardi Gras float we trolled up and down Oxford Street. We had already seen some trousers in Daily Male which are a bit sparkly [and very silver] but had to go check out the competition. An awful lot of the shops look like all they seel is outfits for Mardi Gras – either that or the Sydney scene is normally much camper than the London scene
After all that shopping we ended up at Cafe Comity for a well earned rest and drink – this country is so civilised – not quite so much as Singapore but…
In order that we did not spend the entire day shopping I dragged scally up the AMP Centrepoint Tower for some tourist sight seeing – he is too wuss to do the harbour bridge walk with me :o( something about being scared of heights. So as part of our centrepoint ticket – bearing in mind all we anted to do was go up and have a look at Sydney we got a ‘skytour’ thrown in. Talk about tourist trap aghhhhh. Okay so how many little films can you watch about australian history before you become tempted to throw yourself off the tower – should you ever make it up there.
We wandered around this ‘guided’ tour for what seemed like hours before we finally made it up the tower itself. The views though where well worth it – and I recommend anyone visiting makes a trip up. Sort of like the twin trade towers or the empire state in New York really.
Wednesday night was Barbeque night *lol* no really though Bettina, Linda and Margy had the barbie all fired up and raring to go – the steak was fantastic and the beers went down a treat too. Ice Poles for desert and hey presto I could have been a local [except when I went to the bottle shop for beers he automatically handed me Fosters]
Thursday was one of those mornings – well actually it stretched into the afternoon but in general we all sat and watched trashy daytime TV [which is as bad in Oz as anywhere else] and then watched the channel seven daytime movie – really trashy one about a ranger searching for some lost kid with the woman from terminator showing as little acting skill as possible yet again. Scarily it had the same terminatoresque voice overs too.
Okay so then we spray painted the $13 trainers silver to match the sparkly trousers and went off to do some more touristy stuff! I dragged scally to the Opera House which was looking a bit jaded actually. Looks fantastic from afar but when you get up close it reminds me of the Civic Centre where I grew up in Crosby. You know the sort of thing a concrete communal space with a concert hal and library with unfinished concrete walls and stairwells and dark wooden finishings here and there for effect. Allegedly the Opera House is due for a refurbishment which will be good. I never realised though that the entire thing is tiled!
So a bit more shopping followed this tourist extravaganza and we picked up a sparkly black shirt to go with the sparkly silver trousers. Oh and lots of body glitter and a couple of stetsons. In for a penny and al that! Oh and then suprise suprise it was time for yet another party. Thursday night being the Arrivals Party – a good excuse to get all the foreigners in one place. We met up at the Oxford first and then went to flag a taxi to Fox studios [seems to be the place to have all your Lesbian & Gay events] were we met Daniel a rather nice American whom we chatted to for most of the evening. The music was pants but that didn’t stop me having fun and it was after 4am before I knew it – so staggered back home around 5am this morning.
Off now into town to go and see if I can change my flights and stop over in Singapore for a couple of days on my way back – my neice is missing me already!
Also caught up with a few people today – chatted with Adam a friend of Spencer’s whom I am meeting tonight for a meal with his partner and also Jo my friend who moved out here recently and chatted to Andre who works for AOL out here – I realy want a job out here [No Sheena I am not joking]. So erm the next update will no doubt be after the parade and party so Happy Mardi Gras 2001 and look out for the Albion Street Centre 2001 a safe sex oddessey float and the two sparkly english boys handing out packs of condoms and lube 😉
*/LONG UPDATE ALERT*