The run up to Christmas

The last two days have been fairly quiet as the last minute preparations for Christmas take place. It is also the first two days of David and Zoe's holiday and there is the inevitable winding down that has to take place.
On Saturday we had a very quiet day and there was much discussion about whether or not we would go to an open air carol service called Carols in  the Domain. In the end we decided not to go and to watch the event on television , this proved to be a wise choice as apparently they were turning people away. We ended up watching the event on TV and all of us were very glad we didn't go. It was awful in its own crassness. In fact it was so bad we didn't even watch the end of  it. The co-hosts were almost amateurish  in their presentation and it was a bit like watching a second rate Eurovision contest, without Terry Wogan doing the commentary. We were all so tired that we went to bed before the end of the thing.
What is about Australia which makes you so tired? Is it the fresh air? Is it sitting around outside with the odd glass of wine? Who can say?
Sunday we took the dogs to the beach and Zoe took her paddle board. Rosemarie went in her swimming costume and very bravely had a go on the paddle board, ably assisted by Zoe. She managed to stand up and do about four or five strokes before she fell off, but it was a very brave effort and I was proud of her. She returned to the shore brimming with excitement and confidence, it was lovely to see, and yes before you ask, we do have photographic evidence of this voyage of discovery.
This along with the wrapping of Christmas presents and friends coming around for drinks took up the whole day.Drinks in the afternoon sun is avery civilised affair and is something we have difficulty organising in England due to the unpredictability of the weather, but here , due to severe thirst and a remarkably predictable weather pattern any day can almost be guaranteed to be fine  and therefore drinks outside is a given.