Wednesday, December 19 2007, 23:28

Season's greetings and all that stuff

It seems that no matter where I am in the world, December is the busiest month of all. I'm sure I haven't been going to nearly as many parties as I would have back in London, but I've been kept so busy that I haven't blogged all month, and we're two thirds through already.

December started with me shaving my $1300-raising tache off - many thanks to everyone who coughed up for a good cause. Don't worry, my heart goes out to all of you with charity fatigue, I won't be doing it again next year ;) Since then, there's been a bit of partying, a bit of Christmas shopping, and a lot of planning our holiday: this Friday, John and I are off to New Zealand to spend our Christmas with the Kiwis, zipping all over the North Island in two weeks. Stay tuned to see how we fared with all that driving with John as my trusty (?) navigator!

Since we're not going to be here for the big day, we had our own little fake Christmas last weekend with Tim, Chris, Bryan, and Chris, who's moving in with us next year. We had the traditional butgusting meal (although cocktail sausages for pigs in blankets are very hard to find), followed by an alternative ice-cream xmas pud, lovingly/hastily wrapped gifts, and the inevitable game of Trivial Pursuit that was drawn out long past the length of our interest. There were cheesy xmas songs throughout, and garish foil garlands swinging overhead in the cool breeze of the air conditioning; the doors were tightly shut against the oven breath of summer outside - so a slight change from the norm there. There was no snow falling on the balcony, just mosquitoes flinging themselves intrepidly against the windows. And now it's past, I feel that annual post-Christmas anti-climax, which is just daft considering the decorations are still up everywhere and the songs are still playing in the supermarket, and there's still almost a week to go!

Since today is the first day I've had to catch my breath at the pc, here comes my annual Christmas e-card; apologies if you get it again by email ;) In keeping with tradition, it's a photo I took myself - this time at my office Christmas party - so you can see (if you're a northern hemisphere person) just how different Christmas is here. Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a great time, and that you start the New Year as you mean to go on. And I don't mean hung over...

Friday, December 21 2007, 10:11

We're all going on a summer holiday!

John and I returned triumphant from his office xmas pub quiz last night to our packing. Since John baldly stated that he couldn't possibly enjoy opening the larger xmas gifts until his packing (begun the day before) was complete because he would be 'too stressed', I set about checking my list of things to pack and leisurely assembling them on the bed.

This morning, everything went nicely into my case - so much so that a little imp of temptation, perched on my shoulder, whispered in my ear, "you can get another shirt or two in there", but really I'm sure I'll be able to make do with the two shirts, four tshirts, four singlets, two pairs of jeans, two jackets, and four pairs of shorts I have already ;) Eschewing public transport, I had to keep raising my eyes from my new copy of Tales of the City (thank you, Mrs Pickell!) to watch the taxi fare increment all too swiftly: somehow the traffic today just knew I had $12 in my wallet.

And here I am in the office, ticking things off, buying travel insurance (uncharacteristically last minute), printing maps, sorting out phone credit, and above all - clock watching!