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Published: January 15th 2008
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The first thing to say is, my mother didn't disappoint. Well, she never does, does she? The pressure was on for Mags Meade to pull out all the stops in a foreign country and with alien kitchen utensils and produce a feast of a dinner on Christmas Day. And a feast it was! The celebrations started about 24 hours earlier when Sabrina's boyfriend Paul arrived (no flight delays thank lord) on Christmas Eve morning. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, the happy couple reunited at last; sure twas lovely altogether. That night we all went to PJ O'Brien's in Southbank to toast the festive season. Now, I do not believe in the tradition of Irish people spending all their time watching GAA matches in GAA jerseys in Irish pubs for 12 months while supposedly spending a year away (honestly people save your money and STAY at home), however I do believe in the tradition of Christmas, and it would be rude not to join in on the celebrations!! Plus, the Aussies are a bit shite at the whole Christmas thing, so a bit of Irish mayhem was needed. There was a band, followed by a DJ, and no joke, he played Fairytale of New York about
57 times, and each time it was heralded with a cheer of delight from our corner. Shane Mc Gowan's croaky voice never gets old on December 24th. So we had a great night and a few blessed people (you know who you are!) were even lucky enough to receive a rather cheery phonecall from me late in the evening ;-)
Heads were a little muzzy in the Irish residence on Canning Street on Christmas morning, but me and Claud more than fulfilled our roles as festive fairies by running around the house and getting everybody up - we all had little Kris Kirngle gifts for each other, and then the rest of us spent about 45 minutes watching Sabrina unwrap a million presents from all the Sherlocks.....are mine still in the post or wha lads???????
When Sibs FINALLY finished we all got ourselves cleaned up for the main event - Mag's Crimbo Dinner! God, I waited seven months for this meal, and, oh lord, it was like a Marks n Sparks ad. ".....This isn't just turkey; this is a free range, cavier-fed turkey, who spent his life roaming the rich green fields of Western Victoria before offering himself forth for
the Meade family Christmas......" There are few things more pleasurable in life than roast potatoes and stuffing. Crispy golden chunks of stuffing. It was a beautiful experience. In fact, Sarah Mc nearly shed a tear. And that was before dessert was even served! Homemade (why do I even feel the need to include that word??) lemon cheesecake AND raspberry roulade. Food of the gods. We feasted outdoors where Dad and Paul had delicately hung some tinsle (bless!), and really just took it easy for the afternoon after all the amazing food. And no, there's no leftovers!
We headed off to Sydney on December 30th, but in between I had the unfortunate obligation to enter the "Quarter of a Century Club." Not a happy occasion. A group of us went out for dinner in my favourite Indian restaurant (Fitz Curry Cafe, I salute you) and then had a night out in the city - a great one despite it's depressing undertones!
So, on to Sydney, and what a difference a bit of sunlight makes. The last time we were in Sydney back in Spetember it was cold, wet and miserable, and George Bush was in town to ruin our visit. But
not this time! We spent our first afternoon strolling around the harbour, which could not have looked more beautiful. We had coffee overlooking the Opera House at Circular Quay, then headed round to Darling Harbour that evening for dinner.
The main reason we were back in Sydney was of course to ring in the New Year; there was just one concern - Sharleen! Shaz was due to fly in on December 31st at about 10 or 11am. We had decided we would go to Mrs Macquaries Point in the Botanic Gardens to watch the fireworks, but we all needed to get there as early as possible because once the park reaches capacity (22,000 people) it closes, with no exceptions, even if you have just flown in all the way from Dublin. By the time we joined the queue at 10am it was already the longest line of people I have ever seen.....Cue a string of frantic text messages urging Shaz to come straight from the airport and not worry about checking into her hostel. And did she make it? YES she did!! And as predicted she was the last one standing (along with my good self of course). L-E-G-E-N-D. As
we got in early we got a great spot; we met up with some of Claud's brother's friends from home so there was a good crowd of us. There was food and drink on sale all day, so we just flaked out in the sun (and the shade - thankfully we were beside a tree cos it was scorchio).
The first round of fireworks was at 9pm, followed by the main event at 12. There's a huge neon egg timer in the middle of the bridge which does a gradual countdown, and then with just 10 seconds to go a huge light display on one of the arches counts down the final few moments and then WHAAAAAA HEEEEEYYYYYY, HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The fireworks were absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere was fantastic. The park pretty much empties out straight afterwards, and all of our crew went home. All, that is, except for me and the aforementioned legend Sharleen Tuite, who stayed up dancing til 6am in (where else) Scruffy Murphy's. Just in case any former customers were wondering, yes it is still a rancid decrepit hole full of hairy-backed inbreds. But if you can't beat 'em..........
All we managed on the
first day of the new year was dinner in Manly, where Sharleen was staying - you have to hop on a ferry across the harbour to get there, and we had a gorgeous meal in an Italian place just across from the port. Me and the girls went to Bondi Beach the next day for some sun worshipping, but Sibs and Paul got up to a much more stenous pursuit.......a SKYDIVE. They both absolutely loved it, and weren't even too nervous by all accounts, so the pressure is on for Spuddy and myself to prove our stealth in New Zealand. Thanks Sib! We got back home to lovely Melbourne yesterday evening; Sharleen was very impressed with our little house even if it is a total sweatbox at the moment - rather unusually it has been much warmer in Melbourne than Sydney over the last week. In fact, it keeps on reaching 40 bloody degrees, at which temperate I officially begin to melt. Combine this with the fact that our house has no air conditioning, and almost no windows, and you've got a potentially fatal situation on your hands. Top of the to-do list: Buy a fan!
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Una
non-member comment
sounds like so much FUNSIES! Miss you. COME HOME xxx