It was a rather surreal experience stepping back out to Kings Cross at ten am of all times, i'm not sure that i'd even seen it so early before. I felt even stranger on entering Brado's again, a lot of people had left since my initial departure but it seemed my return coincided with what could be coined 'reunion week'. Louise had returned a few days prior, Andrew was back on Sunday, as was Pernille, Mel and Guy the Monday and a few mores faces appeared as the week went on, so I certainly timed my return well. Forest and Laurence greeted me in reception to to the standard exchange of"how was it?", "did you have fun?", "what was the boat like?" etc etc. The hostel was pretty dead with it being pre 12pm but the faces who were around I didn't recognise at all, it would become apparent that much had changed in just the five weeks i'd left.
I moved back into the old stomping ground of 3C to find the whole room still in bed, Paul and Lee jumped up to greet me with the rest looking on as if to say "Who the fuck is this guy barging in?", i think you'll find i'm a pretty big deal in this place i'll have you know....suresuresure. As per usual Paul was determined to drag me to a bar despite it not even being eleven yet, he never takes no for an answer so i cut a deal with him being that if he let me go get food and shut up then i'd join him. Lee and Owen soon joined us at the Vegas hotel while Paul had apparently taking up gambling a lot since I left, "i was bored with everyone gone, gotta do something" was his reasoning. He was pretty good at it too, not that he seemed to have a clue what he's doing, he just get's lucky everywhere it seems, the night before he one a load of food to feed two families at the Empire just for buying a beer. With Paul's winnings we decided to get a steak and after visiting four places that was advertising them we finally managed to get a feed at the Sugarmill, as well as run into some awful people at the same time. Well, it is Kings Cross after all.
I can't recall what the game being played on the evening was, United vs Villa maybe? I do know that pretty much the whole hostel was watching it and not going out, despite Miss Scott's best efforts for me to rally the troops since it was her friends birthday. I did get to see her briefly and Claire this is rich coming from me but you were "wasted", I quite enjoyed the role reversal for a change haha. In the end the lure of going out proved too much for me and Paul so we went for a few drinks and a few games of pool. As well as send drunken texts of course. We had a bit chat to a couple of Aussie blokes and a 21 year old girl who looked about 37, they were all nice enough but one of them seemed a but "unhinged" you could say. He kept going on about this hotel in coffs harbour and was determined to "burn it" for some reason, he kept talking as if we knew what he was on about too making it more unsettling. I didn't last all night thanks to having been up for two days now and drinking all this one so crashed out completely at 3am.
The next day i was awoken to what seemed like an already half-cut Andrew slapping me in the face while i slept in bed; haven been awoken I went downstairs to only be greeted by the hostel owners drinking and pushing a bottle in my hand. It was 12:15 and i'd been up five minutes, now i recalled why i left kings cross in the first place. It was Anzac day here which is much the same as remembering Sunday back home except instead of poppies being everywhere people here seem to use it as an excuse to drink, not that we need one after all. I was so tired after the coast trio that even after ten hours of drinking i was still stone cold sober, thankfully Andrew was not and so fucked that he provided all the entertainment you could ever need. And of course it was nice to have my fucking French sister Louise around for some "tope-las", that never gets old.
In my previous Sydney days i never really had a camera (coupled with rarely seeing daylight) so I decided to capture as much as the city as possible given my new prominence for activity. I used the free time to catch up on writing too and joined Forest on the harbour bridge, Opera House, botanical gardens walk, which turned out to be a really good day. Much was learned. Unfortunately this all played hell with my right ankle, flip-flops obviously aren't enough support for it after tearing it's ligaments awhile back, it swelled up pretty bad and i actually felt the need to take painkillers. I think i've only done that one ten times in my life so that shows you what i was dealing with.
Regarding the nights was a rather strange matter, since i'd left the atmosphere in the place had just dived. The banter was poor and now for the first time I found the place quite cliquey, nobody gave you the time of day, ignored your greetings and on nights out people went out in small groups rather then together.The free BBQ was a prime example, Me, Lee, Darryl, Lena and Louise all tried our best to make the most of it but it just wasn't happening. Most people ran off at half eight and what was left to view verged on the embarrassing just to be there. Party games for prizes are always the norm here but now they had Peter the sex pest ascting as MC, I can't say enough bad things about the man, just an awful creature. At one point i think about five guys in the hostel were just waiting for him to say anything they could latch onto to give him a slap, he was clearly an idiot too. The first game was true or false and his first question was "Does a Koala bear get stoned on leaves?" Well it's not a bear for starters but it went downhill from there with him getting the answers even wrong, after that it was the sex position round and my enthusiasm ad been killed. I didn't even make it to the sugarmill for the free drinks there such was the predicament. Thank god we had a DVD player in the room.
The rest of the week was a bit quiet in comparison to days gone by but i was happy with that, i have no idea how i managed to live this lifestyle for so long and survive, well i barely was is more the point. Thanks to Uni work I never got to see Claire but there's always December in London and we did manage to fit in one final Rock N Roll Thursday (that subject deserves its own entry) as well as Lee got a camp haircut which is always a good way to spend a night i reckon. I manage to annoy everyone again by going missing on my last night just as i did previously. This time i started the day watching Mayweather vs Mosley and then jopined Darryl to watch Chelsea pretty much win the league against the worst Liverpool side since the Roy Evans era. I don't like the nights attention being on me it seems, like i enjoy other peoples birthdays but hate my own, two weeks today for the next one too. It was a rather disturbing sight to walk in the room after to find Andrew passed out on the floor, playing with his nipples, he really is a strange man. I can't really remember what i did on the last day, I think i tried to pack my bag for a bout five hours before one of Ellie's motivation texts to "do something!" sorted that one out. I'd sure get more done if she was around to hassle me all the time. With all done it was just left to bid farewell and i headed off to catch the 8pm bus down to Melbourne...
Song For The Day - Broken Social Scene : Stars and Sons
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