Thursday the 15th was one of the longest days of my life - well, my travelling life anyway. Rising with my alarm at the ever popular time of 5am I dragged myself into work for the breakfast shift in the hotel restaurant. There were three of us working that morning, shut in a cupboard to do the kind of dogsbody work that keeps us out of trouble, but also means we can have a lot of fun on our own.
We had two hours' break - time for a quick drink across the road - before we started our second shift of the day. That evening I was serving at a wine-tasting conference, and the phrase thrown in at the deep end seems entirely appropriate here. Besides dropping a tray of wine down myself and some of the hotel furniture nothing went too badly wrong, and I even got to finish early. At midnight.
Another traveller, Amanda and I went across the road again for a drink. It was here I met another of my occasional freaks. He had just arrived from LA, alone, and was keen to sit and buy us a drink, so we let him. Shortly after that Amanda looked down to see his hand in her bag, to which he commented: "I hope you don't think I'm trying to steal anything!" We both quite certainly did. We made excuses to go pretty quickly - he'd also said some other odd things too, and people like that are best when you're a long way away from them.
Before we left we warned the bouncers about him so I think he'd have been leaving very shortly after us. Do I meet a disproportionate number of oddballs or have other travellers found the same?
So I finally got home at 3am - approaching 24 hours after I left the house.
On Friday, I wasn't physically capable of doing anything. To give myself a sugar hit I bought an apple pie (up 'til now I've been comfortably living on hotel meals) and accidentally ate it all. I have a vague memory of dozing on and off and watching some of Toy Story before my evening shift.
The do was a charity auction and we were slammed (that's the technical word for being ridiculously busy). There were over 600 happy bidders just dying for me to give them more wine - this job at least makes you popular. One good point was the evening's entertainment, which was Ronnie Corbett. Fortunately we got to watch him. He was hilarious - several British-orientated jokes too, which I haven't heard for a while.
That evening, I found out my mum is coming to Sydney on the 28th of this month (see, I have mentioned you!), so soon there will be someone to give me another view on the city, and I'll have an excellent excuse to take some time off work.
I don't know why but, after the auction function I couldn't sleep well, and failed to wake with my alarm the next morning and so jolted awake 15 minutes before I was due to start work. Suffice to say I didn't make it on time. Still, it didn't really matter as the rest of my day was spent hosting. I have nothing good to say about it, so I won't.
That night me, Brian and two boys from my old hostel headed off to Homebush Bay (Olympic Park) to watch a double rugby game. Up to now I've had no interest in the sport, and I didn't know the rules, so the others spent a lot of the first game explaining what was going on. It's all to do with the six tackle rule. If that means something to you, excellent. If not go watch a match anyway - they're a lot of fun.
There were four local teams playing in two matches, and multi-coloured supporters in their thousands. In the first match, Paramatta Eels thrashed Penrith panthers, after which we were treated to an appallingly bad cheerleader show before the next match. The Sydney Roosters were playing in this, and I decided that since they were my local team I would support them - and realised how easy it is to get sucked in to the passion of sport.
The crowd were getting steadily drunker and we managed to get a Mexican wave flowing continuously round the stadium. Several fights broke out and I think by the end of the second game (Sydney won) more attention was being paid to these outbreaks than the game itself. Still, I really enjoyed my evening and would definitely recommend going to see a local sport if you're travelling - one of my few regrets from Canada was not watching an ice-hockey match.
Sunday morning I had to work after less than five hours sleep. I think the craziest thing was that this amount was more than any other staff member I spoke to had got. That evening Brian and I settled for sharing a chocolate cheesecake and a box of wine - they're just so fantastically cheap, how can you refuse?! I collapsed semi-conscious while trying to watch a video, but at least I had a good rest.
Monday I had a WHOLE day off! I indulged in one of my favourite hobbies - eating fresh fruit on the beach. I think maybe I was a bit excessive as I brought a whole pineapple, but there's just something great about it - in fact a group next to me got up and left saying "I fancy some pineapple." Brian and I went to Bondi to have a stab at a pub quiz without all the arguing you get in a big group. Unfortunately we were totally hopeless, but we did get given a jug of beer for no reason. Unfortunately Brian doesn't drink beer so you can imagine where that all went.
Whereas I described Thursday as my longest day, I think Tuesday could safely be my illest day. I looked like a walking zombie at work that morning, though miraculously I made it through without falling over or anything messier. Predictably I returned to my apartment that evening and collapsed until the next morning, which is absolutely necessary if I'm going to make it through that one. Wednesday involved a breakfast and lunch function. It was a total nightmare as I kept tripping over the closely squashed together tables, though nothing got thrown on the floor, which is a bonus.
The big buzz at the hotel was about a particular celebrity who's staying there, and it's bits of excitement like this that make me enjoy my job and think at least I'm seeing something new every day. And tomorrow is payday, which is perhaps another reason why I enjoy my job . . .
Until next week (when I'll see both famous faces and family faces)
Milly
PS Reading through your emails, I notice there is a bit of a developing war on the theme of "New Zealand: Time of your life or time to get wet and bored?" Anyone else got any comments?
