17th Dec - Manly - the beach only

Hoping for warmer weather we ventured out to Sydneys other famous beach Manly. It was a really nice day, how I expected Sydney to be, hot, very hot. This beach is a local favourite and much nice than Bondi, not so built up. Being sensible and hungry we went out of the midday sun (or maybe not all of it as here it's really between 11 - 4) and wandered around the shops looking for a few bargains. It makes you realise how expensive Britain really is.

At night Pauline and I ventured back out to Balmain without the protection of Mark. There were plenty of pubs to choose from all full with office Christmas Parties. It was really strange not being part of one this year. We played the who's the worst dancer in the room competition but had to give up cos there were just so many candidates. Old men really shouldn't be let loose, letching over the young things in their offices - it's not big and it's not clever.

We ended up in a bar with a live Jazz band playing and soon were being hit on by the local wierdos. Shane (could he be called anything else) seemed normal at first but wasn't. He did take a joke well, and didn't seem to mind us calling him the most repugnant human being that's ever walked the earth. At least he wasn't as scary as the Russian bloke who just stared then said 'hello' - time for a quick exit.

At least one part of our day was truly Manly.