OBF disturbs the peace

OBF (Other Best Friend) came to visit! An added bonus - his new(ish) partner came with him. It was so great to have them here, we explored my new city some and even decided to do a road trip down the coast. Here are some pictures of our gay old time:

fantastic voyage

well after quite a hiatus, I'm back! since I last wrote, I've relocated from England to Australia, spent three months in Perth and driven across the country from perth to melbourne. Along the way:

the longest, straightest road in Australia:

the glamorous accommodation:

...the equally sophiscated drinking establishments:

we saw no camels, 2 dead wombats and a number of kangaroos:

and not far from Melbourne, the amazing Great Ocean Road:

Boyfriend of Forever/Bye For Now

Hey Peeps.

For now, work has overtaken my life.

So I present my Boyfriend of Forever for you all to drool over during my indefinite absence...

Political Truths

So I went out on my first date for 2007 on Sunday. It’s been a while, so I felt quite nervous to be honest – it’s amazing how I out of practice I felt; given it has only been a few months since my last date.

Sunday's date was 38 years old, quite sexy and a Labour politician. We had a (seemingly) nice afternoon which continued in to the evening. At the end of the evening he said to me that he would message me the next day to arrange another time to meet up. I felt quite excited, which makes a nice change. Despite the fact he waxed so lyrical about Tony Blair that I nearly threw up.

It’s now Thursday and I still haven’t heard from him. I’m definitely voting Tory in the next election. Men suck. And not in a good way.

AHY: Welcome to the World

I'm now an uncle.

AHY entered the world on Tuesday 30th January at 6.28am weighing 7lb 14oz and is absolutely gorgeous.

I am now officially in love.

Congratulations to my sister and B.I.L. of course.

I'm currently listening to...

The Klaxons on repeat.

I love them. Golden Skans is genius.

Baby Talk

It’s been lovely to get a few comments from people saying they miss my presence in the blogosphere; thank you peeps. It's nice to feel wanted.

I’m in a bit of a melancholy mood at the moment. I think it’s part January blues and also part my little sister being about to have her baby. I am, of course, completely ecstatic about my sister and B.I.L. having a child and my niece’s impending arrival; however, it has just made me think about myself and children.

As I age I sometimes think about what I want out of my life; especially with regards to children. My quandary, however, is the practicalities of the situation.

I have had several lesbian friends ask me (in all seriousness) to father children for them. On talking it through with them though, it just doesn’t seem acceptable to me. If I was to have a child, I would want to play an active role in that child’s life. I would want to live with the child, be responsible for that child, be a proper father to that child rather than a ‘male role model’ the child sees only occasionally. So how does this fit in to my lifestyle? How would this work when I don’t want to live with my lesbian friends and their partners? How would this work when my lesbian friends don’t want to live with me?

But when I see families on the tube as I did recently where it is obvious the parents have no real interest in their children and as a result a child’s eyes seem dull and generally disinterested in life; I feel angry and know that I could offer more to a child.

Anyway, for now I will content myself with my beautiful new niece who is about to be born… and enjoy the weekend!

Boyfriend of the Week

Just quickly...



Ferdy from This Life.

I love him.

Have a great weekend!

What you do?

Well, first things first: Happy New Year. Here's hoping 2007 is amazing. Thank you for all your lovely Christmas and New Year greetings, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I've been busy with Christmas and New Year festivities, and basically had my head completely out of everything else... which to be honest, has been absolutely fantastic. I needed a break.

I'm now back to work, have a new consultant to train, am organising a trip to Australia (coming in March), and attempting to not drink anything alcoholic before the 20th January (which is the triplets' 7th birthday at which I will most definitely be drinking simply to get through the event).

Blogging may therefore take a bit of a back seat for the moment.

Oh, and I've been watching re-runs of This Life over my break and have already dumped Samuel Johnson. His replacement will be shared shortly...

Boyfriend of the Week

Well Christmas can't come soon enough... and not because I find the holiday truly inspirational or anything like that, but purely because I need a rest!

In short:

* Work is HELL.

* I want to move to Melbourne NOW rather than in a year's time.

* I hate the fact that London is about to descend in to WINTER.

* I need SLEEP.

However, in order to avoid seeming absolulely negative.... here is my new BOYFRIEND of the WEEK:



Yes, I've been watching repeats of Secret Life of Us late at night to remind me of where I will be living in a year's time. And I've fallen in love all over again.

Break in Transmission

For now, I'm too busy to blog... so until next time:

Concuss-Head

I managed somehow to give myself concussion on Friday night (I wasn't *that* drunk, honest), but a few highlights of my last few days include:

The Birthday Party of a pair of Dandy Gay Twins;

Dinner at the Criterion with Angela Bishop who was absolutely charming in quite a right wing way;

and finally...

Bill Henson at the V&As' Twilight Exhibition.

Sick Note.

One of the consultants who works for me is a complete and utter nightmare. I think I've referred to him previously as TWG (The Welsh Gay). I don't actually have time to outline the extent of his nightmarish-ness, however, need to rant about one particular area of behaviour.

TWG is always (and I mean ALWAYS) afflicted with some type of illness or another. If not the flu, a diabetes-related condition (the diabetes itself is questionable), a kidney infection or a verruca (yep, waaaayyy too much information) - he is CONSTANTLY sick.

This year he has had something like 24 days off work for illness (more days than his holidays) and approximately 14 of those days have been on Mondays (chel surprise).

Last night I went out with the Handsome Lawyer for a catch up and he is working in employment law at the moment, he offered me some advice as to how I can sack him without fear of an employment tribunal - perhaps I'll take him up on that....

Master of Mystery

Whilst on the tube homeward yesterday I snuck a peek at the tall, dark, handsome man's reading material sitting next to me and saw that he was reading something called The Mystery Method.

I did a quick scan and was surprised to see that it was actually a document to do with how to pick up women. And in my opinion, the advice wasn't that great.

Firstly, I didn't think it was that great that the 'target' was being referred to as a 'victim'. Since when did females who are being hit upon become 'victims'?!?

One line I glanced at said something like:

"Take the victim down from their friends, family and home. Once isolated they have no outside support and in their confusion are easily led astray."

Yep, I think the Mystery Method is definitely the way forward. It was developed by someone who is named Mystery. I bet he's a laugh a minute.

I wonder if The Mystery Method works with the gays?

Turning

F/BF (Flatmate/Best Friend), OBF (Other Best Friend) and I went to see Anthony & the Johnsons with Charles Atlas at the Barbican in a show called 'Turning'.

A show which celebrates gender metamorphosis; the women on stage were truly celebrated in their beauty - each and every one had their moment to 'turn'.

F/BF started crying in the first song and didn't stop for over four songs. Antony's voice was as fragile yet powerful as ever and his songs took on even more resonance with the beauties' images being projected behind him.

I said to F/BF and OBF afterwards that I felt like we were watching an historic event; I have a feeling that the performance will inform and inspire artists for years to come. Truly incredible.

I've just bought an...

Apartment! (... in Melbourne)

I now have no money! But I'm very excited!

This is my new living room!

Michael Clark

So I finally have seen a Michael Clark dance performance.

I've been wanting to see one since I heard about him back in the early 90s and he worked with Leigh Bowery.

It exceeded any expectations I had - absolutely incredible. Mmm... runs until the 4th November at the Barbican.

The dance was thrilling, fresh and provocative.

3 words: GO SEE IT.

Boyfriend of the Week

I haven't had a new boyfriend for ages; primarily because I haven't had time. However, F/BF (Flatmate/Best Friend) and I went to see Marie Antoinette on the weekend (not bad, beautifully filmed but soooo languid that I got a bit bored) and I decided on my new Boyfriend of the Week.

Jamie Dornan - welcome. And the way you look, I think you might last a while. I won't mess you around like Keira did. Honest.

Adventures of the Jacketini

So I went out with my ex-boyfriend's brother (also a gay) on Friday night; I have always been very fond of him and he really makes me laugh - for a while he attempted to become fat enough to be labelled a bear; but only made it as far as cub status. We'll call him Cub for the purpose of this post.

I hadn't seen him for some time and have been working so hard that I knew I was well up for a few (aka many) drinks. We met at a very smart wine bar Grape Street in Bloomsbury and were surrounded by a mixture of very polite punters.

I'd decided to kill some time before I met him by shopping. For baby clothes. I've been going a bit mad since I found out my sister is pregnant, and now I've found out it's a girl I've been even worse. One of the items I purchased was an incredible double-breasted winter coat - in faux cream astrakan fur. It cost me more than I've spent on a single item of clothing for myself in some time - Cub and I decided to christen it "The Jacketini". A silence fell all around us and people nearby gasped when I pulled it out to show him.

Anyway, after 3 bottles of wine we foolishly decided to stumble to Trash Palace (why, oh why?!) where we carried on drinking until 3am.

I awoke the next morning with a vague recollection of knocking so loudly on the front door of my mews house to wake up F/BF (Flatmate/Best Friend) to open the door for me. I had forgotten that my house keys were in my pocket and not only woke up F/BF but half of the neighbourhood in the process. I quickly glanced around my room to see that I had my phone, wallet and shoulder bag - they were all present and accounted for. Then a horrible thought slowly dawned on me: Where is the Jacketini and other baby clothes?

I scrambled out of bed and did a search of the entire house - surely they were dumped in the hallway or on the stairs? No, no Jacketini to be found.

Obviously I went in to complete and utter meltdown. I was sure that having left them in the Palace of Trash that some lesbian couple had taken them for their soon to be born baby - why wouldn't they? Who wouldn't?

On speaking to Cub he informed me that he'd left his bag there as well and was going to check with the bar (once it reopened) to see if the Jacketini there. I was unhopeful.

Later that day Cub called me and gleefully screamed down the phone that the Jacketini was safe! I was so happy I could have kissed him. Somehow it managed to escape the clutches of the soon-to-be-lesbian-mothers and my soon-to-be-born-neice will be the most glamorous of all Perth babies.

I only hope that tonight is not a repeat performance...

Humour Me.

Was this when he was at his most beautiful? Yes, yes, it was.