Of books and bats and sealing wax

A place where Anthony rambles on randomly or just shares observations.

Or nice pics. Laugh and live.

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A few weeks ago I asked you to vote for a friend in a competition to be the Australian voice of Tom Tom. At the time he was languishing in eighth and a long way from the top three. Yet, yesterday this 23-year-old semi-employed student won the whole dang thing! Well done James (aka Designated Dave) and thanks to those of you who voted for him.  :)

A few weeks ago I asked you to vote for a friend in a competition to be the Australian voice of Tom Tom. At the time he was languishing in eighth and a long way from the top three.

Yet, yesterday this 23-year-old semi-employed student won the whole dang thing! Well done James (aka Designated Dave) and thanks to those of you who voted for him.  :)

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The two-and-a-half day long surprise party….

Okay you may have noticed I’ve been absent for the past week. That’s because last weekend Sandra whisked me away to a surprise-party/birthday festival that seemed never ending.

Friday night she drove us to Beechmont where she’d rented a former church for the weekend. Eight of our closest friends were already there and in their respective apartments and cabin over the road (complete with stunning view of the valley). Nice dinner followed by presents, conversation and alcohol.

Saturday morning was video games in a giant media room before guests suddenly started arriving unexpectedly. Before mid-afternoon the church was packed with over 90 people. Drink, cake, munchies, intoxicants… it’s all a blur really. People roamed freely from church to apartment; from party to party; from bbq to media room.

I thought that was cool but then the next wave of people arrived for the evening. She’d obviously planned this quite well with ‘like groups’ coming together. More alcohol, more games, late night… fun had by all.

But if I thought there was to be any respite on Sunday I was wrong. A weary-eyed breakfast was followed by a group country walk to arrive back to find family had arrived for a bbq lunch. Then even more friends started arriving on Sunday afternoon. I was exhausted and ready for a nap but there’s truly no rest for the wicked. Thankfully they didn’t stay too late and I got a relatively early night and - thank the gods - a Monday morning sleep-in. Leisurely packing of the many presents and cakes (how did we end up with so many of both?) and a drive through the rainforest before coming home to a quiet house and early night.

And it’s taken me most of the week to recover. It was awesome though. For those of you who don’t know me - I really love my friends. I’m fortunate to have quite a number of very close people in my life and sharing experiences with them is one of my favourite things. To mark a birthday this way was stunning and near-perfect. Multiple waves, multiple partying types, intense weekend.

To those of you who put in an appearance somewhere in The Blur, thanks for coming and being part of an amazing memory.

But now I’m not sure what I’m going to do for Sandra’s birthday in November…

Any suggestions?

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