I place the first plant, my friend the succulent

An optimistic but lonely fellow assumes the corner position.

And we wait ...

Insane in the Membane

As the comments below suggest my little Garden Party had the body corporate very concerned indeed. The Strata Manager letterboxed everyone saying my party was off and placed signs up - somoene also removed my signs the day before the event.

That was a bit mean i thought - especially when i made it clear i understood the issue regarding the membrane and that i had scaled back our gathering really to be a meeting of neighbours to discuss the issues and perhaps get to know eachother a little in the process. So i placed up a sign to this effect in the morning and found this one promptly torn down also.

At this stage i started to fee like this was becoming a bt ridiculous and given i'd invited people up t the roof in including Terry who can bareluy get out of the apartment anymore I was determined to meet my guests on the roof on Saturday ...

The Goon Squad

Well you can imagine my surprise when i popped up on the roof at midday to find not one but two security guards! Now i've seen enough Matrix movies to know how to handle them but really i didn't want to have to hurt the guys. Bobby and his mate were actually quite nice blokes and understood they were dealing with a dangerous little man who also had a mean looking succulent as backup so were open to a proper chat about things.

So after discussing their orders and my determination to stay on the roof  i decided to call the police just to clarify the fact that if they tried to remove me from the roof that i could call on the police to escort the lovely chaps (who in the end were just doing their job) off the building and into a paddy wagon.

Constable Smith (?) from Kings Cross police was incredibly patient and helpful and across a thirty minute phone convo between all parties concluded (a) Bobby and his mate couldn't (legally) physically touch me even if they wanted too (which they didnt) and (b) it was a civil matter until one of us actually did do something physical to the other.

So what we had was a mexican standoff (but no mexican food!). At that point my neighbour Raza joined us - he's actually on the body corporate and we talked through the issues as the sun broke through the clouds much to Bobby's delight. Raza was apologetic about the outcome and certainly wasnt into having security on the roof - but he also explained the situation from his perspective. It was a very constructive chat and really we ended the conversation better connected than before i think which is a cool outcome.

Unfortunately due to the bad weather and bad sportsmanship from the strata people the turn out wasnt quite what i'd hoped for, however my long suffering girlfriend Vaike soon arrived with a plate of food and we chatted for a while with the boys then headed downstairs for ...

A party in my apartment!

As it happened my friends next door Simon and Melinda - aka The Falls - had decided to also have a party to promote their Uncharted competition efforts (they are coming third from a field of thousands apparently). While they were intending to have it on the roof initially (unbeknown to me i swear!) after the kerfuffle i caused just trying to get a few neighbours up for a wee garden party they decided to have it in their apartment - and well the least i could do was open up mine for the party too!

So in the end we enjoyed an extraordinary afternoon listening to some seriously talented people playing live sets in our apartments! It was such a cool vibe and the crew such lovely people i was just a little sad for all the people in the building who missed out - though i was kind of glad we were all nice and warm in the apartments instead of on the roof as the rain bucketed down!

Highlights were many but music maestro Kent's rendition of Bruce Springstein's Dancing in the Dark on my Piano Accordian really made my day. Ohh and i was interviewed for MTV and managed to throw a plug in for live local so that was a nice bonus!