'Tis that time of the year...

Two weeks of my vacation have already gone - really quickly. This year Rene and I are going away for just a couple of days, up to Mt Tambourine in the Gold Coast hinterland for a romantic get away to celebrate six years together (plus four years back here in Australia). We come back in time to go to a beautiful Japanese restaurant at Portside for the anniversary dinner on the 30th. The next day we are hosting a New Year's Eve party for around 25 friends.





This Tuesday we are going with some mates to see the new Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia' at the brand new Palace cinema at the Barracks in Paddington. Looking forward to both seeing the film and visiting the converted police barracks transformed into a new dining, shopping and residential precinct.

I can tell you that I quite liked Woody Allen's latest film but I'm getting a bit over his style. Hardly innovative, well acted (adored Penelope Cruz) and of course glimpses of Barcelona - one of my all time favourite cities - and the city of Oviedo, which is the birthplace of a Spanish Dutch neighbour of ours back in Utrecht (hi Aurea). The preview for Dendy Movie Club members included complimentary Christmas cake and wine - a very enjoyable night out.

Out of the blue last week came an email from my lovely Uncle Edwin in Coventry with an attached picture proving 1. he's still active, and 2. he's a very good golfer. Did I mention tall?

My closest friends know that both Rene and I positively loathe the current season. Lots of reasons, quite valid, and the attitude is not about to change. The last one I really enjoyed was in Copenhagen five years ago, and I was quite inebriated for all three days of Christmas in Denmark - they have First Christmas on the 24th, then Second and Third Christmases follow (and it was cold, it has to be freezing). Hi Pete (and your lovely mum).

I received this one below attached to an email from a very wicked friend of mine. Laughed my head off. I don't care if it is genuine or not, I just chuckled.

NB Mummy works in Bunnings (a hardware store) and she's selling a shovel.

The new Meriton Tower was announced last week and is part of my concerted campaign to be more positive this season of goodwill. Mind you, the amount of construction in the city is mind boggling. I'm sure I've never seen so many cranes on the skyline. Oh, I also filled my car up at 87.9c/L last week - a far cry from nearly 165.9c just five months ago. I truly never thought I'd ever see petrol below $1 a litre ever again.

The group below is part of the extended Langdale family assembled for a Christmas BBQ here at our home last Sunday. We only had one absentee, and he had a very good excuse. No, he didn't have a note from his mother, but we see him every week at trivia so he was missed but not forgotten.

Our deck just managed to cope with fourteen seated, including a small table hidden to the right. It was a very hot afternoon but i think the setting looks wonderful. I love our location overlooking the park and Kedron Brook.

Below are a couple of pictures from a birthday dinner we hosted for long time friend Di MacDonald on the 3rd. Some of you may remember we house sat for them when she and her husband Torquil went to teach in the UK for a year. I've known them for 34 years, my oldest best friends. Rene and I love entertaining in our house, and the deck is the favourite spot.

The Diamond Princess (116 000 tonnes) visited Brisbane week before last and I wanted to see it depart but unfortunately a horrible tropical storm blew up late in the afternoon and it was more prudent to stay home. It was on its way from China to Sydney. The largest cruise ship ever to berth in Brisbane.

My mother would have been 85 on December 10. Strange that I remembered the date for days leading up to the 10th, but on the actual day I forgot. Only the following day when I wrote the 11th on an email did I remember. I regret she never got to meet Rene. Six years on I'm happy she's with Dad and free of discomfort. You can't always have everything.

Anyway, on the 10th my friend Torquil and I visited Newstead House (1846) for Proclamation Day, the 149th anniversary of the arrival of the first governor of the colony of Queensland. It is a very grand homestead in the style of the mid 19th Century.

Q150 was launched in the evening at Newstead House. The sesquicentennial of Queensland as a colony will be celebrated all through 2009. B150 (Brisbane's 150th) and RC 150 (the Roman Catholic's 150th year in Queensland) will also be commemorated.

Whilst visiting Newstead House we also looked at the nearby Polish Roman Catholic church at Bowen Hills. Our Lady of Victories was built in 1927 as a memorial to fallen soldiers in WW1. It was in the Spanish style. After WW2 it was run by Polish Catholic nuns brought out to Australia by Archbishop (Sir James) Duhig.

And now for something completely different...

Had to admire an ad for condoms from I think Central America. Anyway, the message doesn't need words. World AIDS Day has been and gone, the problem remains.

Last Saturday I attended the 40th reunion of the Class of '68 from Harristown State High School in Toowoomba. I was dreading it, but it was actually quite OK. The venue was adequate (soulless trendy schmick restaurant/bar), the food was ordinary (for the price) and the old classmates were in varying degrees of preservation. A couple looked disgustingly wonderful after four decades, a few well worn, the remainder as one would expect. I wasn't the only bald one there, but I'm gobsmacked at the number of blokes who still had most of their hair. The bastards! (just jealous). A pleasant enough night never to be repeated in my lifetime.

OK, here's the scene. Rene and I plus our dinner hosts are sitting beside the pool at Lota on the bay last Monday evening waiting for two extra guests to arrive. Bernadette explains that one extra guest is coming, a last minute fly in from Qatar (where her husband is with Education Queensland in the UAE school system). She has flown over for her daughter's sudden wedding after several years with her partner - no, not shotgun (they wish) - they need to be married so they can start the adoption process, the sooner the better. I reckoned I'd heard this story a day or so before from someone else. Sure enough, my brother and sister in law had been to the wedding the day before the family Christmas BBQ at my house. My sister in law is deputy principal with this lady's daughter (also DP) at Redcliffe. What a small world Brisbane is - still over 1.5m population.

Finally, if you made it to the end you are an avid reader or a very good friend. Either way, I hope your holiday season is joyous and safe. Rene and I will spend Christmas Day at lunch in our favourite hotel in the city. We'll come home in the late afternoon and continue toasting our good fortune at being healthy and happy and having survived a busy year. Finally, thanks to all of you for the emails and cards. Keep safe.