Like millions of others across this sun-baked land, I am recovering from Australia Day. 26th January is a public holiday here, and traditionally it’s stinking hot (the mercury hit 40C yesterday), the cricket’s on the telly (the Aussies belting the Indians), the food, drink and merriment flow, and you tend to regret some of it the next morning.
And so it came to pass. This year, it also coincided with Chinese New Year, and as it was our turn to host, we had 30 people round to our place for the usual mountain of Chinese food. As has also become customary, the ladies were in the kitchen cooking up a storm talking excitedly to each other in ever increasing decibels. The kids, all dressed in their Chinese silks, looked very cute watching a Pixar DVD, and the guys took to outside (where it was crazy hot) starting on a few beers only to transgress into a little too much red wine. After lunch, the guys and the kids piled into the pool, while the ladies cleared away the dining table and raucous games of mahjong ensued. 7 hours after it all started, we all trudged off to a high vantage point to look down on the ‘Skyworks’ fireworks display over the city, where we were treated to a second fireworks display with a massive lighting storm to the north east. Half way through it chucked it down, so we trudged back like drowned rats.
Happy birthday Australia.
