It's Sunday night and it's been an enjoyable weekend. The battleground seems to have cleared somewhat and Will has been happy most of the time. I'm not sure which one of us is taking a step back but either way I feel a bit more relaxed and less like the sky is going to fall in on me.

Started Saturday with a whirlwind tour of the supermarket, then Will's swimming lesson. He's been seperated from his swimming buddies Ella and Callum. Initially I was upset but it worked out well. Just that one lesson was much better because he was concentrating and not fooling around with his friends. Let's see how the rest of the terms goes but (as Big Kev would say) "I'm EXCITED!!!".

Saturday morning and afternoon I spent cooking. Sometimes I just love to spend the day in the kitchen cooking a few freezeable meals to take the weekday dinner pressure off. So yesterday I did a huge batch of Osso Bucco in the slow cooker... with lots of vegetables, tomotoes, Moroccon spices and a handful of red lentils to thicken the sauce... yummo! Then a pot of spag bol sauce which freezes so well and has 1001 uses... well at least three. I also pre-sliced heaps of chicken fillets for stir fries and generally got myself organised.

Then mum came over in preparation of babysitting the children while we buggered off for a night of Chinese food and Billy Connolly. It is sad for me that mum feels like a stranger in my house. Because we live "so far away" (about a 40 minute drive) she doesn't come over very often, with us making the trip to her place 20 times for each one of her visits. That's all fine but when she comes over and doesn't know where anything is or what's going on here, I feel kinda weird. I wish things were different... but as Jason would say "some people don't even have mothers!".

The night itself was good but odd. Our friends brought friends we don't really know. We all met up at a reasonably good Chinese restaurant (Golden Century Fox at the ex-Fox Studios, now EQ). The wife immediately got p'd off because it's called a "seafood" restaurant and she doesn't like the stuff. However, it's just a Chinese restaurant and serves pretty much any beast, fish or fowl (including pigeon and jellyfish). I was quite sure she wouldn't go hungry but before you could say "lobster sashimi" she was off crying in the toilets. Look we've all had our off days but it does put one off somewhat when a shiny, new night out (without the kids) (and a night out which in total is going to cost more than the gross national product of Ghana) is bathed in silly petulence within the first five minutes. The night went on, as did this woman's storming in and out, on and off crying into her serviette. Obviously there was more going on than an aversion to crustaceans and I do have some degree of sympathy for pissed off women but come on now, I'd really been looking forward to this night.

Anyway, dinner whimpered to an end and we all shuffled off to the less than ambient Hordern Pavilion for the gig. Now I've been to the Pav a few times to see the odd band, UB40 and The Black Crowes are two that spring to mind. It's basically a big barn of a place with very few memorable or redeeming features. It would have been way down (or not even on) my list of venues to host Mr Connolly. Having previously seen him at the Opera House and the gorgeous State Theatre I was used to a more convivial environment. This was a damn schamozle. We sat on folding frigging!!! chairs and the air conditioning was working at less than optimum capacity (on a bloody hot day). The seats were so uncomfortable I spent most of the night fidgeting and trying to find an adequate position in which to place my bottom. As the seats were those with the bottom bit cut out I kept kicking the poor woman in front of me every time I crossed my legs. She didn't complain but I felt really bad. I was also very hot and thirsty and at one point contemplated trecking down to the stage and asking Billy for a swig of his Perrier.

The man himself was his usual brilliant best. When they coined the phrase "laughed till I cried" they had Billy in mind. I don't know why I bother wearing mascara to these things, it all ends up smeared round my eyes, racoon style anyway. Needless to say he had the usual dig at John Howard and George Bush (what I wouldn't pay to hear a comedian poke fun at, gee, let's say an evil shithead like Saddam Hussein or Ossama). I mean Jesus *(&#ing Christ we get the picture, people. Obviously democracy just doesn't seem to be working for you Billy, so why don't you bugger off to live with more "liberated" folk like, say, in Lybia or the Sudan. They are full of like minded George Bush haters, you'd be right at home.

But I digress. Apart from these "to be expected, I'd be disappointed if you didn't mention it, isn't John Howard a dickhead" comedy routines he was also bloody funny. His bit on the uncontrollable oily discharge caused by "Fat Blaster" type diet pills was amazing and I loved his comments on all the British tv chefs, stuffing plums up the bottoms of trout, watched by millions of Brits (and citizens of other parts of the world I must confess) stuffing themselves with pizza. There was so much more, all good, all funny, and all almost enough to make me forget how bloody uncomfortable I was.

Then there was the exit strategy. Fox Studios, EQ, whatever the damned place is called, is fun in it's own insipid way but it just doesn't cope with large events when it comes to the parking situation. To cut a long and boring story short it took us over an hour to get out of the car park, time I could have spent sleeping. The show ended at 10:30 pm and, after dropping home our friends Claire and Simon, we walked in the door at home at 12:45 am. What the...? It's really more than my diminished parental powers of endurance can cope with these days.

Today has been a very relaxed day. Lazy morning followed by lunch at my dad's ex- (sort of, don't know what's going there, don't ask...) girlfriend's place for her birthday. Quite fun actually. Nice people to chat with, good food, not too far from home... all good. Then we signed Will up for Auskick (his career as a top ranking Swan's player in the year 2020 starts NOW).

Jason went off to see "Munich" (personally I'm quite comfortable with my level of hate towards the Palestinians, don't need to add any fuel to that fire) and I stayed home to do the nighttime routine. All went well, not too much screaming or weeping, and the kids were good too.

Well, that's me caught up on the humdrum nitty gritty of my so-called life. Adios amigos.