b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

Hey there,

So where are we up to with our story? Lets see…

Ah yes. Our hero, after being locked in a dungeon for two and a half years, finally escaped and made his way to London where fate and providence conspired to get him a job all in three days and a great place to live in 3 months. So what adventures has our brave hero found for himself in the last six months? Well read on Children….

And click on the thumbnail images if you want to see larger versions. 

Work is going really well. I have a contracting job with one of the big investment banks doing my usual IT gig on content management systems. The mortgage crunch has caused things to take a bit of a down turn and my projects are reduced and less interesting - but the job appears to be safe and there is plenty to do so all seems to be fine.

Last time this happened I was in LA and it was incredibly draining, so its interesting that i am rolling with it much better this time. Better head space, better environment and less drain from other areas.

I have finally settled somewhere in London, having found a share apartment in Marble Arch. I found the place through a bunch called 'Outlet' who specialize in Gay Accommodation and am living with a really great couple - Australians of all things, so we have this antipodean enclave in the Arab/Scandinavian gulch that is Marble Arch.

Just off Edgeware Rd and conveniently located about equidistant from Marble Arch, Baker St, Edgeware Rd and Marylebone tube stations so I am basically on all of the tube lines bar Piccadilly (just across the park), Victoria (not far off) and Northern (who bloody cares) - spitting distance from the terminus for both the Heathrow Express (Paddington) and Gatwick (Victoria), right on the Central line for London City Airport and 20 minutes from St Pancras for the Eurostar.

If you are getting the impression that I am traveling a lot out of London, you are exactly right. Not that I don't love it here, I absolutely do, but there is so much to see here that its hard to sit still.

One of the most spectacular trips I have done is to Chateau Mystique, a spectacular weekend in Bordeaux. 20 people, 16th century castle, 5 star Michelin Guide chef, 4 nights - makes one fantastic weekend away.

Organised by Svetlana and Marc we took over the Chateau for the weekend, relaxed, ate, drank, soaked up the late summer southern French sunshine, kayaked, ballooned, cycled and played paint ball. Sound hectic? Absolutely not! Svetlana and Marc did such an amazing job of arranging things that it was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable.

The group that was there was really eclectic but gelled really well. I had a fantastic time and would not hesitate to go again.

There are some pictures on the Chateau site or in my photo album. 

France is strangely enough the place I have been to the most often. I also went to Paris for the weekend to visit my mate Alastair and his wonderful bf. Turns out that Paris is pretty much abandoned in August, but I had a good time wandering around, visiting some sites and spending time with my mates.

The Hotel I stayed at was beautiful too, and in a great location. Hotel Duo, well worth a look.

More pictures in my photo album. 

By the end of the summer it was time to charge my batteries with sunshine before the threatened English winter settled in. I had just about had it with the Brits bleating about what a dreadful summer it had been and how AWFUL the winter would be, so it was time to make my get away for a while.

Circumstances conspired that I was going to be going away around the time of a mate had planned to go to Mykonos and so I align my dates with his. There was no room at the Inn where he was staying, so I asked around and someone I had met at the gym - Martin - put me on the track of a hotel - The Rochari.

This turned out to be well for the best, because my other mates arrangements fell through and so if it were not for Martin, i would have been a little lost. We didn't plan it - but he an I ended up spending most of the week I was there together, just palling around. It was really fantastic to spend so much time with someone who was becoming a new friend.

Mykonos is amazing. The buildings are all a little bit 70's but the landscape is straight out of the bronze age - quite amazing. Martin and I went to a barbecue at an incredible house on the far side of the island from Mykonos town that looked out over rock and sea. Beautiful.

There are a few pictures in my photo album . 

 As well as the big trips out - there have been a few quick weekends out, quick breaks to see a bit of Europe and take a break from London. Its a fantastic city, but much like New York and Hong Kong, the pace here means you need to take regular get aways or the pressure will start to get to you.

Since I have been here, I have had weekends in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Both of which are beautiful, and well worth another visit sometime soon. The company in Copenhagen was particularly fine, with the marvellous Russ showing me around the city.

The thing that struck me about both of them way how much they relished being small cities, and make a vibrant life for themselves. I think its part of being such a tight woven community - basically you can drive 2-4 hours, or hop on a train and be somewhere new and very different. Which is so unlike back home.

Back in Australia, the cities are so vast that if you start driving from the centre, in 2 hours you will only have just reached the suburbs. So to me these pocket size countries seem amazing, and charming and because of their closeness to each other - still cosmopolitan.

With the run up to Christmas, London exploded with lights. And I completely forgot to carry my camera around - so I have no pictures - apart from one with my new iPhone, and that was for Chinese New Year.

Sorry about that. Trust me, the place looked great

New Years was the next adventure out. Martin, my best mate here in London, and I decided it was time for some sun and relaxation. Its been a big year and we deserved a big break - so it was off to Rio.

We left London on Christmas night after spending the day and having dinner with our respective circles. Its a great night to travel - we fell asleep in the air having left dark snowy Britain behind and woke up in the morning to  the glorious tropical sunshine of Rio.

Its hard to remember sometimes with all the affluence that there is is in Brazil, that its actually a third world country. There is an astonishing distance between rich and poor and it can be a dangerous place.  While nothing bad happened to us, we had a couple of scares. Its a risky place where even the police cant be relied on.

All of that aside, we had a great time. Fun parties, stunning beach, beautiful men and good times. Martin is fantastic to travel with - we had a ball together. Neither of us caught brazilliano fever - the boys there are REALLY REALLY amazing looking, but when it comes down to it, its the inside of a mans head that really gets my pulse racing.

We stayed until the end of the first week of January, had fun with friends - including the amazing Gil Khoury who I have known for over 10 years and who becomes more and more impressive a man every time I see him. Outside is stunning, inside more so.

More Rio pictures in the photo album. 

Back in London at the start of January and it was time for birthday celebrations. A mate of mine, Manuel, had his birthday a few days before mine, so we decided to share a party at his and his partner (also named Robert)'s place.

About 30 people came and we took a bunch of pictures of them. Sadly we missed what the background looked like. I have don the best I can to colour balance them, but they are all a little odd looking.

For my birthday I had arranged tickets to the Spice Girls concert here in London.

I know what you are thinking. That seems unnecessary - but it was a hell of a lot of fun. The production values were through the bloody roof and the crowd was incredibly appreciative. Although I think Martin, Stuart, Jérôme and I were the only "males" in the place. And SLAPPERS - Let me tell you, Essex was empty that night.

But long story short - we had a really good time, it was fun. 

I wrote a review of the concert in the blog, so if you are actually interested you can have a look at it there. 

This letter has taken long enough to write that I have actually been on another trip - Easter in Brussels. Everyone I talked to about it before hand was very negative about the place - small, quiet and dull were the most common and flattering things that were said - but I had quite a good time.

The city is postcard charming, the people friendly and the men - well, stunning! To be fair, it was a party weekend - La Demence - so there were a lot of out of towners around. French, German, Dutch and Spanish particularly. the music was good, the location great and the crowd a lot of fun.

The best bit however was laying in my hotel room at the Be Manos on Monday morning, with the sun streaming through the windows and snow falling . While its horrible to be out in, for and Australian boy like me, this was one of the most romantic things I have ever seen.

More pictures if you are interested over at my dot mac photo albums. 

There is a lot of travel planned for the summer coming. There is a dot mac calendar for those interested in checking to see if we are going to overlap. I will likely not make all of these, but here is the suggested list:

• Paris
• Amsterdam for Queens Day
• Barcelona
• Brussels for the July La Demence
• Madrid for Pride
• Ibiza
• Mykonos
• San Francisco for Folsom St Fair

All up, the last few months have been busy and great. And the year to come is looking better and better.

As always I would love to here back when you have time.

Love,

R