And, in a way, my flat too now sort of I guess. It's a small enough place, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and larger room that's the dining room and sitting room - but the fact that they're both together certainly makes it seem big enough. After we got back here yesterday (it's only a few minutes' walk from the train station) I was shown my room and ditched my stuff in there. It was first thing in the morning, pretty much, so we sat about chatting for a few hours, and although it was a bank holiday (Easter Monday) Britta had to go off to work, to feed her cancer cells apparently lest they die (the glamourous world of biochemistry). So after she went, eventually I worked up the energy to put the bathroom to good use and had a much-needed shower, brushed my teeth which was something I'd been dreaming fondly of since Los Angeles and washed my face.
Now that I felt somewhat fit to rejoin the human race, my mind turned to more pressing matters - specifically the crippling lack of Internet access that's been plaguing me. There seem to be some technical problems with Dizzy's computer, and although I spent rather a long time sorting out exactly such problems for a living, they didn't have a record of the necessary settings. So with a stroke of inspiration I figured we'd do a bit of what might be termed warwalking - roaming the streets of Sydney's CBD in search of unsecured wireless networks (or failing that seeing if Starbuck's have any, like they do in San Francisco). So myself and Dizzy got the train to the CBD and walked across the Harbour Bridge. Nice view of the Opera House and all that, and I guess compared to Irish bridges it's pretty big alright, but having just come from the town that has both the Golden Gate Bridge AND the Bay Bridge, the thought of paying over 100 Aussie-dollars to put on a daft set of overalls and climb up the stairs (secured by a gadget strapped onto your waist) to the top, which wasn't really very far away, to get a slightly better view seemed like quite a ludicrous waste of money. I've had it recommended to me, but I'm exceedingly dubious about it now.
And so it was that we wandered the streets of Sydney, checking every so often for wireless networks (I only found one, and couldn't access it, but it was fun anyway - Starbuck's was closed for the bank holiday, by the way) and going into interesting-looking shops. Dizzy has found himself part-time employment in a shop that sells military books and some roleplaying games, so he was reasonably familiar with the gaming shop scene in Sydney, so we checked out a couple of those. Eventually after getting rather lost for a while we took the train back to Chatswood, where I did some shopping and then we headed back to the apartment, where Britta was busily failing to get her sewing machine going in such a fashion as to not mangle itself, in the pursuit of curtains.
The prezzie I'd bought her in Japantown in San Francisco was soon put to good use, as she produced a vast and delicious feed of sushi, which we ate til it pretty much came out our eyes. There then followed some general sitting about the house before I retired.
So, now it's Day 2 in Sydney and time to start doing something constructive. First off I need to contact some office or another to get my passport stamped or something, that I may find work. Then I need to open a bank account because apparently you can't really get a job without one, and I need to put my vast stashes of lucre somewhere anyway. Then I need to find a job or two.
Tuesday, 22nd April 2003, 11:15 p.m. EST, Dizzy & Britta's flat in Chatswood, Sydney
So after reading a bit of the Lonely Planet guide to Australia so I'd know what Sydney's all about then, I fell asleep again. When I woke up myself and Dizzy located the most convenient office of the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and I set off, with a view to getting my passport stamped, opening a bank account and checking my mail in a Net cafe. The office turned out to be the wrong place, and I went to a Net cafe and checked my mail, for about an hour, and also found the address and opening hours of the correct office. But by the time I got out of the cafe it was nearly four o'clock, when the office closes. So I came home, and found the bank also closed at four.
Tomorrow we're going to the Sydney Easter Show, which apparently consists of overpriced fairground rides and insanity like wood chopping races and largest lemon contests and pigs doing tricks and such. But on Thursday! Oh yes, on Thursday I'll know exactly where to go to do all my constructive stuff, and maybe we can get a Net connection working from the apartment. I hope so, I'm going crazy without it. It's actually quite pathetic to see.