June...

After a small'ish prompt (thanks DG), I realized that it's nearly the end of June and I've yet to blog. To be honest, not really that much to say. It's been a lovely month in general, with a couple of highlights.

The BEST one - my gorgeous McBrad sent me long stemmed red roses at work! Huge box of the things, with chocolate love hearts as well. I got sooooo many comments from people at work and was the envy of all the girls! I didn't take them home, as I'm rarely there, so I put them in a vase on my desk and there they stayed. They lasted for a week so it was just marvellous. Although McBrad has given me flowers before, he's always given them to me at home - he's never sent them to my work before! And even better, the note just said that he wanted to tell me that he loved me. Everyone was highly impressed that there was no anniversary (they were all very familiar with our monthly anniversary celebrations that we did for our first 12 months), no birthday, nothing. It was just a lovely gesture from the love of my life. What a sweet heart!

I received some really exciting news from my brother Mark - he proposed to his boyfriend Sim on the top of Mt Pilatus (in Switzerland)! So they're now getting married - plans are at the moment to have a registry affair in the UK and then everyone head to either France or Italy for a long weekend celebration - they'll hire a villa for the celebrations. Should be awesome. We're still waiting for them to decide when this is going to happen but it's a GREAT excuse to head back to London and have a nice little European sojourn as well. :-)

And just last week, I booked us a little winter break in Nth Queensland - 5 nights on Magnetic Island. I'm really quite excited by this - Magnetic Island is just off the coast of Townsville where I grew up, so I've been there more times than I can remember. It was always a sleepy, backpacker style island, with a really relaxed low key vibe. But over the past few years, there's been some very nice resorts built and it's gone a lot upmarket, whilst still retaining its original feel. (well, that's what the locals are saying). So it should be great not only to spend 5 days and nights in warm Nth Qld, but also to show McBrad a bit of my hometown. Can't wait...we leave on August 10.

And that's about it...it's busy at work as it's end of financial year, but that's all over on Tuesday so can't wait for that. My life proceeds very nicely, with my wonderful man by my side, and our gorgeous puppy running ahead! I feel very blessed.

Christmas...

Christmas is upon us and I have been very neglectful of my poor blog. In my defence, it's been BUSY!

Kylie was last Tuesday and it was a fantastic concert! She did an awesome version of Slow, and the audience went off for Better The Devil You Know and I Should Be So Lucky! But you know what, the best aspect of the whole thing for me was the fact that I got to see it with my gorgeous McBrad. He actually was studying hard for an exam the following day, and in fact, was going over his notes while I drove to the concert. He was a bit stressed about going, but still came along because he knew it meant a lot to me...and it did! Just a sweetheart!

We had our work Christmas party on Friday night...it was themed Bling. I went a little OTT (bet you're suprised by that) and hope to post a pic of my outfit soon. It was lots of fun, and despite my earnest endeavours to avoid drinking too much, I did! I hadn't planned on spending the night at McBrad's because he's not keen on me turning up at some ungodly hour, pissed as a newt. But, bless his heart, after the 26th sms to him, he relented. I left the part at 12:30am so it wasn't that late, but could I find a bloody taxi? NO! So I ended up walking back to his place (Surry Hills) which actually was quite good - gave me a chance to sober up a bit. Of course, I was still fully kitted up in my bling and so got quite a few comments on the way home.

Saturday, we hosted our first "Our Party" which was pretty exciting for me. It was a mix of his and my friends so it made for an interesting bunch - I think there was about 30 of so in total. Fellow blogger Mike made an appearance, as did my lovely friends Evan (though, McDreamy was unable to come along sadly), Dan and Jacqui. A couple of ghosts of Christmases past were also there - namely my first boyfriend Dane and PC - just to keep it interesting. And from what one hears, some of the guests got on better than expected! :-) It was a great night and McBrad and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and I think everyone else did too!

This week, it's been all about last minute shopping - wee giftettes (as McBrad likes to call them) to purchase and wrap and I have to tell you, I'M OVER SHOPPING! Bring on Christmas I say!

We're here for Christmas day and so I'm cooking my first ever Turkey - it's an orphan's Christmas dinner. Thankfully, Tom, our resident culinary king has come to the rescue with some cooking instructions and stuffing recipes! so cross your fingers that it turns out ok.

Boxing Day, my brother Mark and his boyfriend Sim, fly in from London for 3 weeks. So we're all heading down to his beach house on the south coast so I am hoping for some decent sunny hot weather! It will be lovely just to relax and chill out, eat, drink, chat, read and go to the beach. I can't wait! I've got a half day tomorrow so I finish at lunchtime. McBrad is collecting me and we'll be doing all the grocery shopping for Xmas dinner and for down at the beach house so that will be one last chore to get out of the way! But then, 4 days of bliss!!!

McBrad also asked me today if I would like to go to Perth in January to meet his brother! His immediate family all live in Scotland however his niece and her husband moved to Perth a few years ago, so McBrad's brother (her father) is out for a visit. So looks like we'll be going to Perth for a long weekend. I'm just a bit chuffed that he's wanting to take me along to meet his brother - it's like a bit of formal acknowledgement to his family of me being his partner.

Well, I suspect that this may be my last post before Christmas so I just want to say that I hope you all have a great Christmas! This is my first one with my gorgeous man and I feel so very lucky to be experiencing it with him. I hope you all have your loved ones around you for Christmas too! Big hugs to you all.

Monty! xxx

Today...

A couple of things...firstly, we've got a couple of little breaks coming up which have all been sorted out in the last week or so since my gorgeous McBrad returned. Firstly, the Christmas details have been sorted out - should be a lovely long weekend down at the beach house with my brother Mark and his b/f Sim and the rest of his gang! Can't wait.

Following that, I've just booked (as in this morning), 5 nights at Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island in early January for McBrad, his friend Phil and myself. Phil's a long term friend of McBrad's who lives in London and so really wanted to get out of Sydney while he's here. I've not been to Fraser before so I am really looking forward to it! And spending 5 steamy summer nights on an island with my hot boyfriend.

Following that, we've got the Australia Day weekend sorted out - a friend of McBrad's is getting married (I blogged a couple weeks ago about receiving the joint invitation) in the Hunter Valley at Peppers Convent and so that will be excellent - nothing like lots of wine tasting and a wedding to put one (by that we mean McBrad) in the mood for romance and maybe more!!! ;-)

And of course, today is Melbourne Cup. I'm not a gambling man - in fact, until today, I've never placed a bet in my life. And so today, I rocked up to the TAB and I've now got bets on Septimus, Moatize and a trifecta with Nom du Jeu, Mad Rush and Profound Beauty. I'm also in the office sweeps for Moatize (twice) and Ice Chariot. So I reckon I've got at least half a chance of winning something. Cross your fingers!

Anyway, I'm in a marvellous mood with all these holdidays/short breaks booked with the love of my life. And I was just thinking in bed last night, that you all probably think that 7 months with McBrad is not such a long time. I've been alive for approx. 450 months and so it only represents 1.56% of my life so in that respect, it is only a very short amount of time. But, this is my longest romantic relationship and so every month we pass is very exciting for me! I'm sorry if I do bore you with my monthly reminder - but every month that goes by, things just seem to get better and better. Why I am so lucky, I don't know...but I'm loving it!!! :-)

Tuesday night...

...and I'm here at home (well, McBrad's home, but it feels pretty much like home to me), Poison (Alice Cooper) is on and dinner is in the oven. Oh, and now Haddaway (is that how you spell it?) has come on. Glass of chardy is being consumed rather quickly.

Anyway, I sat my exam yesterday and think I did ok. To be honest, as long as I get a Pass, I'll be happy. It's exceedingly dull stuff. But it's good that it's all over...for this year anyway. Not going to start the next one until 2009 so I have a few months off which is bloody marvellous!

I've come to realize over the last couple of weeks just what a commitment having a pet is. Noodle consumes my time at home. Being a Groodle (which is a Golden Retriever/Poodle cross), she's got the insatiable desire to retrieve stuff and so is always dropping (very subtle this one) her favourite toy at my feet, so that I can throw it and she can run and retrieve it. It's very endearing but after a while, I just want to concentrate on what I'm doing. I've got to wake up earlier than normal so that I can take her for a run before I go to work. I've got to come home after work and feed her and walk/run/play with her. It's normally well after 7:30pm before I can get to making my dinner etc. And she has an burning curiosity about everything I do - particularly if it has anything to do with food. She is such a sweet tempered thing and is the most social puppy I know, but she is a big responsibility. It's not something I would've thought possible even 12 months ago but she's a responsibility that I have willingly taken on as a surrogate father whilst my gorgeous McBrad is away. It's one less thing he has to worry about and is one thing that I can do to support him.

Anyway, the official count down has begun - only 6 1/2 days until I see McBrad again! So it's only around 150 hrs to go!!! I've missed him so much!

Pet Shop Boys is on now. I was talking to my brother Mark yesterday and he mentioned to me that it's only 9 weeks until Christmas which blew me away! It's come around so quickly. It's also quite exciting as Mark and Sim are flying over from the UK and will be staying for 3 weeks! They fly in the morning of Boxing Day and so we'll meet at the beach house and have a slightly delayed Christmas! (McBrad and I will be here in Sydney for Christmas Day itself and will probably just have a lunch or dinner with some friends) So it will be great to catch up with them (and the rest of the boys - there'll be 8 of us down the coast) and spend some time in the sun and at the beach and eating, drinking and relaxing. It will also be good because McBrad will be able to spend a bit more time with Mark and Sim and get to know them better. After all, Mark's my only family member that McBrad is likely to get to know in the forseeable future anyway.

And now Tina Turner has come on. And on that note, I think I shall leave you. Ciao!

Catching up...

I realised that I haven't posted anything for nearly a week! Eek! So this is going to be a bit of a mish mash of items.

Firstly, met up with the personable and very chatty ThoroughlyModernColin on Friday afternoon for coffee. A lawyer with the gift of the gab...now there's a suprise! :-) We had a lovely chat - it was great to meet with a fellow Queenslander and the fact that he's as witty and amusing in person as he is on his blog was a relief! Methinks there will have to be further coffees (or actually drinks) to get more stories out of him!

Friday night was our End-of-Financial-Year party at work. It was a Mexican theme and so I cajoled John, the Risk Executive, to go along with me as two gay Zorros! Hilarious fun and I've got to say, everyone else (with the rare exception) was highly uninspired...there were lots of ponchos and sombreros...how original. Anyway, John and I were beaten in the "Best Dressed" comp by a psychopathic cactus. How very dare they! Despite this, we managed to have ourselves a dandy old time, downing sangria like it was lemonade.

Saturday, toddled over to McBrad's and we had some retail therapy and then a nice quiet dinner at Rubyos, followed by a DVD and snuggle at his place. Perfect. Sunday was much the same so it was a lovely quiet weekend.

I was highly annoyed however, on Monday morning when I got to my car (to drive home)...some little bastard had smashed my window and stolen my CD's (about 30 of them) and a handful of loose change that I had in the car! Bloody nuisance! Hope they choke on the cheap drugs they buy with the proceeds! It's sooooo typical Surry Hills to smash a window to get into the car. At least, here on the North Shore, the criminals are much more skilled - they actually break into the car via the lock. So, replacing the window has cost me $265! Outrageous!

Only two more working days before I'm on holidays so I'm very excited! Mark, my brother, flies in from London tomorrow afternoon so we'll catch up tomorrow night! Can't wait to introduce him to McBrad! And then, on Sunday, off we fly to warm, sunny, tropical Far North Queensland! Particularly now that the weather has turned brass monkey on us, I am really looking forward to wearing shorts and t-shirts and laying on the beach in the sun! Lurvely!!!!

So that's about it...nothing really exciting to report. Well, nothing exciting for me anyway, though apparently something akin to the Coming of the Messiah happens tomorrow - yes that's right folks, iPhone is unleashed on the Australian market and no doubt, there will be salivating crazies lining up around the block at the Apple shop across the street from work.

Up up and (not so far) away...

I'm sorry to disappoint my legion of British readers...well, OK, all three of you...but the July trip to the UK has been postponed until further notice. McBrad recently received a promotion at work and because he's in a new position, can't take the time off to go overseas. So, we've had to content ourselves with just a short week-long holiday next month. I've been busy trawling the net and we think we've found the perfect spot. Port Douglas in Far North Queensland. In July, FNQ is gorgeous - warm, sunny and dry during the day, with lovely mild evenings. Perfect for lazing by the pool or for long, sunset walks along the beach (ok, you can start gagging now). I have found this lovely little resort which is about 10 mins south of Port Douglas which has its own private beach surrounded by rainforest - looks wonderful. So that's now the plan.

One good piece of news I have received is that Mark, my brother, is actually coming to Sydney in July! He had some excess leave up his sleeve and, thanks to him being the "travel buddy" to his best friend who works for Qantas, has access to very cheap flights. So he's out here for about 10 days. Now that we're not going to London, it has worked out exceptionally well that Mark is coming here, so I'll still be able to introduce McBrad to him.

All is well otherwise here in the Emerald City - it's still grey and rainy but on the upside, I'm back at McBrad's tonight and for the rest of the week, so I'll be snuggling my socks off over the next few days. AND it's a long weekend here - thanks to Her Maj - yep, that's right, Queens Birthday weekend! Wahoooo!

Up, Up and Away...

It's Monday morning and guess where Monty is...? Here at home! 'Why', you may think to yourself, 'is Monty at home on a work day?' Well, silly story really. I had a couple of boxes of wine delivered to my work on Friday and so went in yesterday lunchtime to collect them. I was carrying the two boxes (which are rather heavy) across the street to my car when I stepped off the curb and twisted my ankle. It hurt like HELL and I nearly blacked out with the pain, but thankfully, my good sense came to the fore and I recovered and was able to save the wine! But it was a painful journey with the two cases back to my car.

Got up this morning and my ankle had blown up several sizes - in fact, it looked more like a "cankle"! eek! Made it very gingerly and very very slowly down the stairs at McBrad's - he, being a Registered Nurse (albeit, non-practising), had a look and suggested I spend the day off my feet, with my leg up. He even thought it may be a good idea to have it x-ray'ed, just in case I've chipped a bone.

So, I came home, rang in sick, and am now happily ensconced at home, Sex and The City on DVD, feet up!

Anyway, I digress. McBrad has been wanting to got back to Scotland in July - both to see his family (all his family still live there) and to attend one of his best friends' 40th birthday. He actually priced the flights on Saturday - $3500 with Emirates! OUCH! Travelling in the northern summer aint cheap!!! Well, we got chatting about it over the weekend and whether I would like to come. I definitely would LOVE to, let me hasten to add, but this year had been the year I decided to actually SAVE some funds instead of blowing it all on overseas travel.

Too late for that - one overseas trip under the belt so far this year (Thailand) and now I'm seriously thinking about accompanying my gorgeous boyfriend to the UK in July! Eeek! And so, this morning, with spare time on my hands, I've been hitting the internet. Virgin Atlantic - $3500 as well. Thought I'd give Singapore Airlines a whirl. Guess what? $2800 return AND of course, it's flying the fabulous A380. The appeal for McBrad with Emirates is that they can fly into London and depart from Glasgow. Singapore only fly in and out of London. So, digit to QWERTY, I went a-hunting. Turns out BMI fly to Glasgow from LHR return for about GBP83. How good is that! The entire flight part for less than $3,000! Bargain. Accommodation would be virtually NIL - between McBrad's friends/family and my friends/family, it's pretty much sown up. It'd just be spending money on top of that...a relatively inexpensive holiday.

And of course, this has got me really really wanting to go. I'd get a chance to see my brother Mark and his boyfriend Sim which would be great. Yes, I did see them in April in Phuket and will be seeing them at Christmas (they're flying to Sydney for xmas/NYE this year) but they're all the family that I have at the moment (well, that's speaking to me anyway). AND I'd get a chance to catch up with my favourite London bloggers as well!!! Yes, that's right - all you London bloggers (and that includes you retired bloggers too) - roll out the red carpet - Monty could be in a hemisphere near you very soon. I'll also be able to catch up with my lovely friend EIB who's in the process of moving from Budapest to London over the summer.

AND of course, I'll be able to introduce the very HOT McBrad to everyone!

Unfortunately, it'll only be a fairly quick trip - thinking of departing Sydney 11 July and returning 29th - so just over two weeks! Not half long enough, but that's all the time he can take off.

So, watch this space kids...

Monty's Thailand Tour II...

Well, here it is...my most revealing photo EVER! And yes, I AM wearing swimmers! ;-)

And here's us with our favourite Singapore Slings! Love 'em!

Anyway, I'm back in Sydney (cold, wet Sydney) and I do apologize for my lack of blogging...the internet connection at the resort was rather dismal.

But suffice to say, the last bit of the holiday was as good as the first - Mark chartered a huge 102 yr old yacht for his birthday and it was fabulous! A glorious day on the Andaman Sea, eating, drinking, swimming, feeding fish, snorkelling. Just magnificent! And we hit the Simon Cabaret for the biggest and most spectacular ladyboy show in Phuket as well. Lots of fun - these are some seriously female-looking former men - and the costumes alone must be responsible for a worldwide sequin shortage! Wow!

And although my Siamese sojourn had to come to an end after 8 short days, I still had one thing to look forward to...seeing McBrad again! It was a sensational holiday, but I still couldn't help but wish that he was there with me! But, I got the next best thing, when he turned up, at 6am Sunday morning to collect me from the airport! What a sweetie! Such a gorgeous man! Needless to say, it was a very happy return for this little black duck!

:-)

A Scottish thing...

Most people who know my surname would assume that it's of French derivation and so are consequently surprised when I tell them that's it's actually of Scottish origin. My surname is that of a small'ish clan that was based in the western highlands of Scotland and so, when I first travelled to the UK in 1996, I did a bit of a pilgrimage to where my family came from. It was rather exciting for me to visit the "family lands", having grown up in Australia, a country with barely 200 years of European/Anglo-saxon history. In Scotland, there's an old ruined castle which had been the seat of the clan for centuries, there was a new "castle" which replaced it, as well as lots of other related historical sites. And so, when I came over in 2006 to out myself to my brother Mark (and to embark on Monty's Shagging Tour of Europe), I took the opportunity to take Mark up to Scotland for a long weekend, to show him all the clan stuff and let him experience our family history.

So I've had an enduring attachment to all things Scottish - I think the country is lovely (if a little cold and wet), the history fascinating and the people really friendly, if a little hard to understand sometimes!

And so, last night I was pleasantly suprised to add another reason for my Scottish appreciation. I had gone out with Jacqui, her friend Lynne, and four other work colleagues to the Glass Brasserie at the Hilton Hotel for an Earth Hour dinner. It was a splendid evening I must say! To celebrate Earth Hour, the entire restaurant was decked out in candles (in Jorge Jensen candelabra) and the menu was completely organic (including the wine). It's one of Luke Mangan's restuarants and so the food was spectacular, wine was excellent and the company entertaining.

I have been chatting to a Scottish guy (ahh, now you see where we're going with this) for a couple of weeks - initially on Gaydar and then via MSN chat. I'd actually organized to have lunch with him today (Sunday) so that we could meet. He seemed like a friendly guy, his pics were good and given my Anglo- and Scoto-philia (is there such a word?), thought it'd would be worth a try. Anyway, early in the evening, he messaged me, to see what I was up to later in the evening. I had originally planned to meet up with some friends at Slide for a few drinks after dinner, however, after his sms, arranged to meet up with him.

What can I say - he's gorgeous!!! He's 40, very well built, lovely tan, handsome, and with a charming Scottish accent. A lovely guy, we had a couple of glasses of wine and got to know each other better. He actually admired my chest of all things - for which I gave a silent thankyou to my trainer Greg - which I couldn't really understand, as he's got a HOT body! But apparently, he thinks I'm not too bad on the eyes! At the end of the night, he asked me when I'd be available for a "real date" ie dinner etc. I was rather pleased at this turn of events and, playing cool, suggested next Friday night to which he agreed. I received an sms this morning - "I could make myself available tonight if you want to have dinner". Yippee - I quickly responded to him in the affirmative. I'd also actually mentioned to him last night that I had never seen the Harry Potter series of movies (which he owns on DVD) and so I received another sms from him - "If you want to see the HP movies, that will commit you to another 4 dates as well". No problems here! Happy to commit to another 14 dates actually!!! Not that I will, I hasten to add, as I'm trying to play this one cool. He's the one who's displaying the enthusiasm which I'm a big fan of!

So, who knows what will happen to this one. The good thing is...he is a permanent resident of Australia, has purchased a terrace in Surry Hills and so is not about to choof off overseas!!! A Big plus!!! :-)

Back in business...

Yep folks, I'm back! I actually arrived back on Saturday morning but life's been such a whirlwind since then that I've not had time to put digit to QWERTY and blog! And the silly thing is, there's about 45 potential blog posts in my head at the moment!

I do have to say first off, that it's fabulous to be back in Sydney! Everyone last week was warning me that it was cold and rainy in Sydney which I was not looking forward to. BUT arrived in Sydney at 7am Saturday and my friend Jacqui collected me from the airport and it was a lovely sunny morning! She stayed for a chat and then left me and I did my usual unpacking frenzy, washing, cleaning my apartment, getting myself sorted out etc. Grabbed some KFC for lunch (please don't judge me...I LOVE KFC) and read my paper! But, it was such a gorgeous day outside and I was dying to experience it! So, jumped in my car and went for a drive to say "hello, I'm back" to the Emerald City! Sim, Mark's boyfriend, gave me a couple of CD's that I had been playing to death while in London (it's the Soundtracks from UK Queer as Folk) and I whacked one on in my car. It's terribly camp dance music but I have to say, driving down the road, the sun was shining, it was 25 degrees celcius, my windows were down (you can't put airconditioning on when it's such pleasant weather), I was wearing shorts and T-shirt, the music was thumping and I was feeling HIGH!!! I was seriously euphoric! I wish I could've bottled how I was feeling because it felt good!!! Doubtless to say, I crashed that evening like there was no tomorrow! I hadn't slept properly in about 48 hrs and so I hit my bed hard!

Sunday was another magnificent day and so I battled through the traffic to Bondi Beach and did the Sculptures By the Sea - it's a walk between Bondi and Tamarama Beach and it was seriously jammed with people but I loved it none-the-less! It was just wonderful to be out in the sun!

You don't realize how much you miss the wide open blue skies of Australia until you've spent 5 weeks in either cold (and often cloudy) Europe or very polluted Cairo.

And to cap off Sunday, I spent a couple of lovely hours at the Commodore Hotel downing beers and chewing the fat with my mate Muzbot, which was excellent! This is the best thing about coming home...catching up with my wonderful friends!

It's my last evening in London...

...and so I decided that I would cook Mark and Sim dinner! I'm making them Monty's Famous Beer-Up-The-Bum Chicken with roast veges. Yummo! And I made them up a big bunch of flowers as well. So I've spent today pretty much inside...writing blogs, catching up on emails, internet banking, Facebook, grocery shopping and cooking. Very lazy! I've done everything I needed to do in London so these last couple of days are just a chance to relax!

I do have to say, Mark and Sim have been FANTASTIC! They've been very generous in hosting me for the past few weeks, particularly with my somewhat hectic schedule, late nights etc while they've been working and attempting to live a normal life. And this is in addition to Mark's friend Carter who's also been staying here! Mark works very hard, and as his new office is about 2 hrs travel from home, he normally gets home quite late each night and is up at the crack of dawn each day as well. So, his early to bed routine is quite understandable.

It has been lovely to spend time with them however, and this trip I feel like I've got to know Sim much better! We actually stayed up on Sunday night watching Kylie DVD's (he's the biggest fan of hers, which makes him a damn fine addition to my family), drinking G&T's (copious quantities apparently) and talking. We discussed my family situation and the concerns that he and Mark have for me. It was a real bonding moment for us...one on one as adults but also as people who are now connected via Mark - he's my brother-in-law effectively. And you know, Sim is my favourite of all of Mark's previous boyfriends (not that he's had many, he's a serial monogamist)...I think we are very similar in personality and tastes and although he is 10 yrs younger than I, it doesn't seem like it. In gay years, he is soooooo my senior, and so I'm really happy that we've become friends.

So tonight, we're going to have a lovely dinner, I've bought a couple of bottles of wine (a Viognier and a Chardy) and some good music and pleasant conversation...a perfect last night in London!