old news	january 2004 news update 31 jan 2004 think the last time you all properly heard from us was a quick new year's greating. not sure what else we've been up to, but here's a quick update: continued to drink our way into 2004 with an early january get together with nick corrigan and celia from swansea. great to catch with everyone - especially celia. hopefully it wasn't too painful for the non-swansea attendees. we forgot that it was a sunday afternoon, and seemed to spend the next 8 hours consuming alcohol. v sore heads on the monday at school. thankfully we've managed to have work over the christmas/new year period so things weren't too bad. simon finally finished at lincraft, having completed a max 3-month period working there. his ladies were desperate to keep him there permanently - even the big boss asked whether there was anything he could do to change the visa restrictions. the joys of temping meant simon was ready for a few weeks break before starting his next placement, and we were able to celebrate my birthday together too. had a fantastic birthday weekend celebrating with nick and andrea again, especially as it was andrea's birthday on the friday. we went for a fab meal out to a local aussie restaurant where simon tried kangaroo, emu and croc (crickey!). for all you carnivores, simon's preferred choice was...... skippy!! al's one and only hot birthday was spent lazing by a pool and enjoying the sunshine. no wet january birthday for me this year!! the other big event this month has been the australia day long weekend. for us this meant going to the australian open on the saturday. we weren't sure who was playing but ended up managing to get seats on the court for tim henman's 5-set marathon. such fantastic tennis; lots of aahhs and oohhs, and tim's usual snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory! hope you all managed to spot us in the crowd?? i was the very sunburnt one! still suffering a week later! then on sunday we joined our aussie mates for the 'triple j top 100 count down' of records for 2003. well done jets and cat empire: two local melbourne bands in the top 5, even no 1!!! it's basically another drink/bbq fest. we joined in by bringing lammingtons and vodka jelly which helped. unfortunately/fortunately the evening ended in a impromptu clubbing adventure to the other side of the city. good night; thank you paula; it was a v long walk back from prahran. still we did manage to get out of bed on the monday for a bit of aussie culture, watching the parade, flag raising and a tour of the melbourne city council building (eclectic weekend eh?). tired and weary, we slept and watched tennis for the rest of the day. we've actually managed to be quite 'cultured' this past month. went on an aboriginal-inspired walk along the river yarra, finding out about the indigenous history of melbourne and what their cultures mean. and did you know that melbourne has the largest concert organ in the southern hemisphere? located in the city hall, we went to a free organ recital one lunchtime. yesterday lunchtime was spent with 7 old ladies and a tour of the domed state library building and art gallery on swanston street. the things you do for free eh?? we've been missing england too. managed to watch 'love actually'. wanted to wrap up warm on leaving the cinema, to go for last orders at the vic. an excellent funny film; ant and dec; bill nighy, martine, antoine dec!! we miss you all. phew!! and after all that, we've still managed to watch lotr3. almost as long as our emails, but at least it's all over now!! can't believe it's february tomorrow. we are off to a festival with moloko and souliisoul tomorrow, and then simon starts a new placement on tuesday. and next weekend.... next weekend, we will be at banrock station near adelaide (interstate again!), the home of our house wine. hurrah!!