Christmas eve and day, Down under

Christmas eve was planned that we would go over to Laurens house on the other side of the city for a few bottles of wine. We headed over about 9ish . All the buses are free around Melbourne around Christmas time which is really cool. We arrived at Laurens a little late so we didn't get to meet her house mate. We hung around for a few drink and mince pies which were nice and then Smithy and I headed off.

Lauren had said that Chapel street near her house would be a good laugh to go for a Christmas drink so Smithy and i headed off. When we finally got to Chapel street it was dead. Lauren had offered if we wanted to stay at hers we were more than welcome. I wanted to wake up in my own bed so i persuaded Smithy to head back to Collingwood to stay at ours. We got the taxi back to Brunswick street and had a walked down there convinced there would be somewhere open and the nightlife bouncing. Oh how round we could have been. Normally you can't see down the pavement because of all the people, tonight you could see all the way down the street. We wised up and walked back to the hostel and went to bed. I'd had a few too many by now so i slept like a baby.

I awoke Christmas morning feeling what only could be described as "death". I'd heard of a miracle cure that could make things a whole lot better or a whole lot worse, starting drinking again. So i got out of bed, climbed down the bunk ladder reached into the fridge and grabbed me a beer. It worked, the first few sips were like drinking water from the tawe. After that i felt great. I finished the first, the second and so on, by lunch time I'd had about 8 or so and was well on my way.

Paul the owner of the hostel had organised a BBQ for all those who were staying over Christmas so that was ready to eat by one o'clock. We had that and continued to drink. Smithy and i had drunk about 14 bottles each by about 5ish so we started on the wine. Again, i was plastered but it was all good. I rang the family and loved one. Grandparents, Popsicles, Mumma, Bondy and most importantly Bex. I only had emails for Christmas presents, the four or so i had of Rebecca made me really really miss home and her. I'll explain what i think of Christmas away from friends and family at the end.

I sat on balcony with all the Irish guys telling stories of Christmas past and Christmas cultures in Ireland. I think there biggest culture is you have to be hammered and watch the classic Christmas films. Much the same as home really.

I stayed up until about 12 drinking and went to bed because we had an early start the next day to go and watch the cricket in Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

My thoughts of Christmas in Australia.
If waking up in a room full of guys wasn't strange enough everyday, it being Christmas added to the mix made it worse. Hot Christmas's' are wrong, very wrong. A few things that make them so wrong are the fact that you don't have any desire to cuddle up to you blanket, walk around in your PJ's and slippers for a few hours. All you want to do i put on shorts and t-shirt and try and hide from the sun. Then you've got the added fact that you don't have your family ringing to wish you Merry Christmas and see what time your all planning on hooking up to have lunch.Arguments about the state of the economy and other political matters that really shouldn't be brought up on Christmas day (don't get me wrong, i love family Christmas day debates). Then there's the lack of the dinner. BBQ's aren't acceptable on Christmas day (apart from BBQing the Turkey because that rocks).

There are a few other things that make Christmas away from home wrong but i won't mention them because i don't want to seem ungrateful to all the people that are supporting this trip away. Oh, chocolate is one other thing i will mention. The lack of chocolate on a Christmas day is unacceptable.

Christmas is family time and i will appreciate it more next year when I'm home.