GOLD COAST AND BUTTERED TOAST What a view. We are staying on the 34th floor overlooking the beach and the sea. If you turn left far enough you hit Hawaii. It was gutting to leave Johnny behind though. We did our best to set things in motion in order to get him over to London before the end of the summer and it seems that will happen sooner rather than later. We watched old Charlton Heston movies and Slayer videos and had a grand old time. If you haven't seen Mr Heston trapped in a formica sub with only David Caradine, Ned Beatty and Stacy Keach to help him out then you know NOTHING about cinema. There is a great moment when David Caradine seems to be reenacting the rape scene from Deliverance on poor old Ned in a submersible. Johnny seems to have turned a corner and we couldn't be happier. This guy is too smart to stay in Perth hanging with speedfreaks. As soon as get home we can start preparing for his arrival. I wonder if you need permission to dock a U Boat in the Thames? Now we are in the hands of Frank. As soon as he picked us up at the airport the last couple of years were erased. Frank lived with us for a while after I found out we read the same books and listened to John Zorn. The drive from Brisbane to here passed in a blur of gibbering peppered with a few "Holy fucks!". Frank lives the Hunter S Thompson lifestyle. As soon as his girlfriend arrived he bundled us all into a bedroom and put on a Richard Kern video. His girlfriend, Casey, asked "Is this the 'pigfucker' one?" as we settled down for what passes as entertainment at Castle Frank. Damn, I've missed this guy. We watched one girl sew up another girl's pussy and then went for a meal with his parents... Frank is another pal who has turned his life around. The last time we saw him he was doing coke like Don Simpson and seemed to be in freefall towards a messy end. Maybe it was just London. Now he is drug free and doing weights and wrestling. Singing Black Flag and The Ramones as we sped towards the Gold Coast is already one of the best moments of the trip. Almost as good as watching Johnny lecture his kitchen hands on the importance of submarine warfare. Tomorrow Frank is ditching work to take us back into Brisbane and a tour of the weird places he thinks will appeal to us. Then all too soon we will be on our way to Tokyo. I'll try and post before we leave for there but things are certainly speeding up... Mike is blogging to: nothing