I'm back to the old realisation that I am still too lazy to exercise more than twice a week or get out of bed until 20 minutes after I'm meant to leave the house, I'm still an unbrilliant writer with two unfinished and bizarre novels lying around, I still can't write song lyrics, or music for that matter, I still don't clean the floors as often as I should, I still can't stay focussed on one thing for more than 10 minutes, I still have bad skin and I still don't understand the fabric of the cosmos.
Who fancies a plunder of the old 2009 memory box, hmm? Hands up!
(Yes, my ego is such that I believe myself to be worthy of a 'review of the year', of the manner usually accorded to politics or the news)
January
Summer in January?? You better believe it, you filthy heathens!
It was hot, up to the late 30s (celsius) over the Australia Day holiday weekend. Mark's parents came to stay and thus sightseeing commenced, all over Sydney, foraying into the Blue Mountains and continuing into February.
We saw an epic Sydney Theatre Company production based on Shakespeare's War of the Roses plays, running over two evenings and starring Cate Blanchett. Also open-air productions of Cav and Pag as the Opera(s) in the Domain, ending the Sydney Festival.
February
February ambled past quite pleasantly, with little worth commenting on. It was hot, but not *quite* as hot as January. We endeavoured to save money...
March
We came back to life just in time for Sydney Mardi Gras! I hyperventilated over Russell's visit to Sydney.
The weather cooled down pleasantly as we headed into autumn.
April
We daytripped out to a Blue Mountains covered in mist over the Easter Weekend
The weather was iffy, fairly wet in parts which resulted in a fairly relaxed month of staying in.
May
We celebrated Mark's birthday with pizza followed by cocktails at Madam Fling Flong in Newtown.
Rainbow Lorikeets flocked to our garden in Meadowbank to eat the flowers.
June
Temperatures plummet. The night of my birthday hits 0 degrees, the record low recorded for Sydney. Sydneysiders are horrified by frost warnings. We REALLY miss central heating.
Fortunately things warm up again towards the end of the month - enough for a trip to the beach (with coats on!).
Goodness I do faff on about the weather don't I? You can tell I'm English.
July
Mark was away in Melbourne for a long while for conferences. I went to join him for a long weekend and oh my god it was SO MUCH FUN!!!
There was a great deal of riding on trams and not quite enough sleep.I decided I absolutely love Melbourne to the exclusion of all logic and rationale.
Also, back in Sydney at the end of the month saw the Flaming Lips gig at the Hordern which immediately became one of the best gigs of my life!
August
The Fellows arrived in Sydney!!! We did some sightseeing, and as it was an unseasonably mild August even managed to patronise the beach (with a cardigan on, of course). Did some old favourites such as the Aquarium and Manly, as well as some new delights, including the Sydney Tower and the Hyde Park Barracks.
So as to give the Fellows some summer on their summer holiday, we also jetted off up to tropical north Queensland for a week. It was the best holiday of my life! So stereotypically beautiful it was almost unreal....empty golden beaches, palm trees, sea as warm as a bath....it was incredible to see the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.
September
All quiet again after the departure of the Fellows. Mark works hard, I work hard and we try to save some money. We also start househunting with a view to moving further into the city, looking around Stanmore, Newtown, Erskineville and Redfern.
Sam and Georgina visit us in the final days of the month and we have some fun for a couple of days. Unfortunately torrential rain scuppers some of our plans, but we hope they can come back again soon!
October
The first week saw our move from Meadowbank to Erskineville and the interesting task of trying to cram the contents of a 3 bed house into a 2 bed flat.
The rest of the month is spent unpacking and sorting, and I go to see the musical Wicked!!
November
We have a housewarming! Following this, we try to relax as temperatures soar in one of the hottest Sydney Novembers on record.
Mostly by going to the coast.
December
We get to watch Patrick Wolf and Jarvis Cocker play in the same week. I think my life may be complete, at least for that week!
We get champagne to celebrate the birth of Joshua, Mark's nephew ! (and mine under Australian law since I am legally Mark's de facto wife)
Chesney the Erskineville Wombat comes to live with us on Christmas Day! We eat oysters.
After an intensely dry start to summer, rain is what everyone in outback NSW wants for Christmas. The newspapers show an aerial image of a herd of cows huddled around a tiny patch of green in a vast expanse of dust. In true English Bank Holiday style, it rains right through the Christmas break, but at least the cows have a drink at last!
Our final evening of 2009 is spent on Observatory Hill in The Rocks, drinking gin and watching fireworks!
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