Aussie Chrissie
G’day mates! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It was a real pleasure to chat to all of the people who I phoned and who phoned me: you made my evening, and morning!
My Christmas, like all good Christmasses, started in a supermarket, with James and I running around trying to buy anything we could find that featured reindeer or santa while Hamish showed his age and followed us around like a disappointed parent. We eventually left with very few ridiculous purchases (although we did get some reindeer-adorned napkins) and a full Christmas dinner, along with plenty of wine, beer, and port.
On Christmas Eve we went out for a few quiet drinks in the city. We went to The Angel, our current favourite pub in Sydney. The Angel is a British-style pub with wooden furniture, cricket on the TV, and pint glasses. I’m all for absorbing the local culture, but believe me, the British have bars right, there’s just no point in anyone else even trying. On this particular night we were almost the only customers, so they closed early and we moved on to Slip Inn, a funky little bar where we ended up getting some stupidly cheap drinks thanks to our staff discounts. We were joined by a whole bunch of our friends and suddenly a club seemed like a good idea, so we got a taxi over to Kings Cross (Which isn’t just in London!) and wound up in some weird little club called Le Panic. We danced until we were too drunk to dance and headed over to our friends flat to keep drinking. James, Hamish, and I all woke up on the living room floor with no idea where we were. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast.
On Christmas day we went over to Hamish’s house to cook a massive lunch and watch Only Fools and Horses, as is the rule at Christmas. We were drunk by 2pm. We planned to spend the whole day in the flat pretending to be a family, but while Hamish was out smoking he met an Aussie called Eddie, who invited us to a party at his place. We grabbed some beer and headed out. On the way out, Eddie fell down the stairs. Then he couldn’t find his house. When we eventually made it to his place, the party seemed long gone and the house was deserted. We were scared. He made some calls and eventually led us to another place where there was a party going on, but it seemed like a bit of a hip-hop, gangsta, gonna-get-stabbed kind of a party so we stayed out in the garden and chatted to a few people who seemed nice. We phoned home and chatted to some of my friends (I’m so sorry for the incoherent babble you had to put up with), and when we ran out of beer there was no-one left in the garden, so we grabbed some spare bottles that were kicking around, figuring the party wouldn’t miss them, and headed back to Hamish’s. I collapsed on the sofa and slept very well indeed.
On Boxing Day we went out to Manly (The most masculine of Sydney suburbs) and went to a barbeque at Hamish’s cousin’s house. They had a decent sound system, an awesome barbeque, and a pool, so we had a lovely day in the sun splashing about and drinking a frankly disturbing amount of beer. We got a taxi back in the evening and crashed at Hamish’s house again.
The day after I’d planned to go home, but Hamish decided to drive to the beach, so James and I tagged along. We went to Dee Why (Yeah, that’s a real place) and lazed around a bit. In the evening we went to the girls house (a flat full of girls we know through various channels) for free wine and crisps. Once again I managed to fail to get home.
And then, finally, on Friday, I managed to get home. I slept. And then I went to work. And then I slept. And by god it was good sleep.
Roll on new year’s eve! Have a good one, folks.