Graeme

Happy Birthday, Cole! :music: :music: May is a great month to be born in

Happy Birthday, Rob! :joe: :joe:

Happy Birthday, Myr! :wizard: :wizard:

Thank you! Neil's never had a chance to show what he's capable of when it comes to having friends. Now he is. He has his rough edges, but the decent guy at the heart is beginning to shine through.

Thank you! Just be careful hugging Patrick -- he's old and his bones may be a little brittle

Happy 21st Birthday! :music: :music: May is such a great month for birthdays

Thank you! Clarissa is a wonderful person, but she's not always right (unlike the brat who knows he's always right ). Whether her concerns about Neil seeing his parents are justified, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you! If you remember, Neil wanted a boyfriend for his birthday. It's a little late, but he got the present he wanted

Patrick O'Malley is an old-fashioned gentleman. While club loyalty is important, there are some things that go too far for him. Ty's father's behaviour is one of those things.

Ty glanced around Alex’s and Tony’s apartment as he was led to the lounge room. “Nice place!” Alex shrugged. “Small, but with only two of us, at least in theory, it’s all we need.” He grinned at Tony. “Any idea when you’re going to turn the theory back into fact? It gets lonely here sometimes. Ethan does his best to keep me company, but for some reason I’ve been missing your ugly mug.” Tony chuckled. “The brat has already passed on the request. I’ll see what I can do, but as I pointed out to h

Thank you, everyone! It's 7:30pm on Friday night here and I've just arrived home, as I've been away for work. However, the people I was working with secretly arranged for a birthday cake for me, and while Qantas wasn't able to upgrade me to business class for the flight home, they did give me a nice glass of sparkling wine and noise-reducing headphones from the business class section. They also put me in an exit row so I would have plenty of leg room. All in all, it's been a good day Tomorrow will be going out to see a movie with the family, and then going out for a birthday dinner (even though all I've had for the last couple of weeks have been restaurant meals). Iarwain, while I'd love to go see the Pride Cup (I enjoyed it last year), sadly I have to get back on a plane again on Sunday... Sandrewn, that video is absolutely brilliant. A fantastic collection of Australian birds Thanks again, everyone! I really appreciate all the kind words

Happy (belated) Birthday, Thorn! :joe: :joe:

Happy Birthday, Mark!

For the readers of Bill W's Castaway Hotel, this story will sound familiar: North Dakota Mum Raised 73 Children

Thank you! Liam's mother definitely appears supportive of their relationship. She's giving them a chance to get to know each other.

Thank you! I was able to contact Brock through a mutual acquaintance, Jason Ball, who is a significant part of the original inspiration for these stories. Jason is an openly gay football player who plays at the district level (the level below the VFL). I've met him once and exchanged a few emails.

Thank you! I've been trying hard to keep the amount of football in the story balanced, as I'm very much aware that most readers won't know much about the sport. However, it's a key part of what makes the characters who they are, so....

Thank you! Yes, there are things set up early in the story that don't come to fruition until much later. It's frustrating for the reader to wait while the story is being serialised, but eventually you'll be able to read it all the way through to catch those sort of details.

Please don't assume that Liam's mother and father have identical views on things. If you go back, you'll notice that most of the time, it's been Liam's father than has been imposing the restrictions. Beth has merely been supporting Bruce

Neil's meeting with his parents is the following weekend. I'll leave it to you to work out, based on past experience, if that's likely to be in the next chapter....

Thanks, Maarten! Liam and Neil are doing what they're doing for different reasons, but the effect is good. Liam is worried he'll scare off Neil, and Neil is cautious because everything is still very new to him. But they're trusting each other more and more, which is what couples should do.

While it's possible you're right about why Brock was chosen, the obvious reason is simply because he's one of the AFL's pro-gay campaigners. As for the rest, Jim certainly has the chance to show what he can do That opportunity may be enough to offset any ill-feeling that Ty may have in the future. Or it may not...

“Hello, Mrs. Bellweather,” Neil said with a hesitant smile as he and Liam passed through the kitchen. “Hi, Neil.” Liam’s mother gave the two guys a quizzical look. “What brings you here?” “I asked him along.” Liam’s expression was a little wooden. He hadn’t checked with his parents first before he had invited Neil home after school. Thursday was the only day he could do so, as Neil needed to get home to Lilydale at a reasonable time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays so he could go to the gym

Happy (belated) Birthday, Sasha!

Doug has a good side. Even Clarissa sees that: Clarissa pulled a face. “Much as I hate to say it, Doug can be a good guy, too. He’s got a lot of rough edges and a particularly severe nasty streak, but he’s extremely loyal. He makes a good friend and a formidable enemy.” The problem is how to make him your friend. If you manage that trick, you've got a very loyal friend on your side. Then the problem becomes one of how to make sure he doesn't go overboard in protecting you....