Variety is the spice of life.......

As a busy week draws towards an inevitable conclusion - Sunday at the League - I find myself reflecting on just how much you can pack into one week. I don't often talk about work on here, mainly because my main role has been as "Director of Leisure" for the family, a job I have taken seriously by testing and maintaining as many toys as possible! However, there is also the renovations on our home and the current project, renovating the Mother-in-Law's apartment. Dealing with builders and tradesmen in Australia has been a real eye opener. I have never experienced anything like it. All elements of construction and trades are significantly more expensive than in the UK, even though materials are no more costly. And as a customer, I feel like the builders are doing me a huge favour and that I should be grateful. Overall, it feels like I am being beaten up and at the same time, I should be thankful!

When it comes to our own house, having had a QS do the sums, it seems that if I act as an Owner/Builder, project managing the job myself, I will save the equivalent of 4 years salary (before tax). If I could get a builders licence over here, that is what I would do. 1 decent job a year would earn me more than I have ever earned in a single year!

3 trips to the apartment, dealing with all the issues, left me ready for a bit of R&R. It has been great to be able to catch up with an old friend who is in town. Hugh Styles is in town with the iShares VX40 he project manages and I was able to get close up and personal with one of these machines for the first time. And what beasts they are, all carbon, autoclaved and very sexy! The boat will be sailing in the harbour all of next week doing some corporate entertaining and promotion work for iShares. It should be a sight worth seeing.

On Thursday, we took the 18 out for a training session and what a good one it was. A 8-12 knot easterly in warm conditions and enough light to stay on the water until about 8.00pm saw some real progress. We were particularly fortunate to have Craig Ferris out in a coach boat and we made great progress. The boathandling went up another gear and having somebody looking at the rig from outside taught us a lot about how to set the rig. Hopefully, this will move us up another level and from my point of view, the session was the first time I thought we really felt like we deserve better results on the track. Now the problem is to take it to the race track and to get as slick in more breeze.

The week finished with a bang, literally. Last night I went to see My Chemical Romance in concert and they put on quite a show. A good honest band, with 4 guys dressed in black and thumping 0ut good guitar led thumping anthems, the young crowd entered into the spirit with some great slam dancing and crowd surfing down in the Mosh Pit. The stage show was a mix of a good old light show and a great display of....fire! It seemed like they had 10 burners from hot air balloons which, at suitable times, fired up in spectacular style. You could feel the heat instantly. The show ended with the biggest "bang" from some explosives that really rocked the house. My Chemical Romance delivered, continuing to enhance their reputation as one of the best bands of recent times.

One postscript to the concert was a reflection on the times we live in. Much of what went on at the gig could have happened any time from the 70's onwards. However, one thing has changed. When years ago we held up and waved lighters, today the illumination of choice is the mobile phone screen. My phone, which also took the picture above, ran out of battery, having forgotten the golden rule of concert goers - charge the phone fully!

Now I look forward to Sunday, although with some sense of impending doom. Scott is holding a big party at his new apartment and Jamie is going as well. They have promised to try to get some sleep before coming sailing and they hope to have sobered up, but my expectations are not high!