Hot hot hot...

Things are hotting up at the moment, in many ways. Firstly, the weather’s going crazy, with summer storms a-plenty; crashing thunder and torrential rain one minute, scorching hot sun and crazy ocean currents the next. Work’s also hotting up, with millions of things for me to get through before the Christmas break. And my social life is going crazy, with Chrimbo parties a-plenty and heaps of cultural activities booking up spaces in my diary. I’m been a bit demure about the party season and have not gone as wild as last year, but I feel that’s because I’m no longer new in town and so don’t have a burning imperative to go out until the wee hours every single night making as many friends as possible. Christina’s very happy about this, as we’re still managing to fit the odd night in with a few episodes of The West Wing.

Lifeguards on Bondi Beach keeping us all safe


Preparations are also underway for the imminent arrival of Queen Lizzy. She and Keith will be here for three weeks over Christmas and I’ve got loads of great things planned for us. It’ll be great to have a family Christmas in a different climate, although I’m not sure how mum will handle the flagrant disregard for tradition that a summer Christmas brings!

Ruth’s brother came over last week and ‘de-bugged’ the house (so we shouldn’t get any cockroaches – what a relief!). Bugs are still on the list of things I haven’t yet learnt how to deal with in Australia. Hmmmm.

The Canadian Film Festival has also been taking up lots of my time, and I enjoyed a range of great Canadian films at the Chauvel Cinema in the fest. Run by my friend Matt, it was a week-long celebration of new Canadian films, with guests from Canada and lots of free Canadian beer. My favourites included To Be Romeo and Juliet, a lovely film about three different productions of Romeo and Juliet: a summer camp production in Canada; an open-air theatre amateur production in Reading, UK, and a raunchy professional contemporary version in Chile. The way each version was juxtaposed highlighted so many insightful things about the people involved and the cultural differences, it was a wonderful film. I also enjoyed Monkey Warfare, a mad Godardian romp through suburban Toronto with a hippy couple and some great shots of cool looking girls on bicycles.

Kevin Rudd, our new PM, seems to be earning his stripes, with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol being one of his first acts after swearing in as Prime Minister. Huzzah.

And for those of you who don’t know already, my aunty Siobhan is taking a gap year, and has started a blog about it. Basically she’s in her 40s, has been a single mum for 18 years, and my cousin has just gone to uni, so Siobhan has decided to sell up, take a year off work, and go round the world with a backpack. For those of you who don’t know her, this is very uncharacteristic: she’s a Champagne-drinking Clarins-using woman who’s not used to ‘roughing it’, so I for one am dead excited to see how it all pans out. She arrived in Thailand a week ago on her first stop, and has already made loads of friends and is travelling round the islands. Here’s her blog for your amusement: Siobhan Gap Year.

Well, am very busy so should be working rather than blogging, but I’ll blog more regularly over the Christmas break and try to get in touch with everyone to say merry Chrimbo in person.

cx