This blog really should be split into at least two or three entries with the number of bloggable events that have occurred in the last three months. For your ease of reading, they'll be grouped under the four headings above. If you're only interested in one or two events, feel free to just skip to them. Alternatively, if you want the whole story, they've been broken into manageable chapters for your reading pleasure. So... enjoy! Unfortunately, I couldn't upload any more than one photo, so for photos, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelwrathall.
1. Parties
The end of the year seems to be the time when sleeping patterns are thrown into disarray by the sheer number of social engagements that crowd a given November or December weekend. 2006 was no different, with its inevitable concoction of Christmas parties that every social club and his dog decide to throw together. Two particular parties stand out for me (probably because they're the only two I've got photos for)!
Peter's International Student Flat Parties have garnered an enviable reputation for their longevity, cultural diversity and personal space invasiveness. The latest fancy dress party in November had an 'h' theme, to incorporate Peter's mildly disturbing fascination with dressing up (or should it be down) as David Hasselhoff. Fellow flatmates Paul, Eilidh and Mira dressed up as convincing renditions of Hitler, the Queen of Hearts and a housewife, respectively. I went as Homer, of the Greek poet variety, and spent half the night rearranging my rapidly unravelling table cloth. When people began scaling the walls of the hall and fixing themselves near the ceiling, I knew it was almost time to get some sleep.
Some weeks later on the night before my birthday, Peter, Paul and I headed through to Edinburgh for a dinner and ceilidh, for which I'd been keenly anticipating. The night started slowly, and we left Glasgow almost 2 hours late. We arrived to finish off the scraps from dinner and eventually headed towards the ceilidh by 10:00pm. By the time we reached the entrance to the church, we soon realised that the £7 tickets we'd purchased were no more than a donation (to a good cause, I'm assured), because the band had already begun to pack up! We ended up seeing the night through back at the flat and celebrated my 27th with some wine and whisky in the wee hours of the morning.
My official party was a lunchtime affair on Sunday at my flat. No dressing up was required, although it would have been difficult to avoid embarrassment. We played party games... including pass the parcel, guess the number of lollies in the cheap plastic container, pin the cricket ball on the aussie cricketer, as well as the After Eight dinner mint challenge relay, where we raced to slide a chocolate mint from our foreheads to our mouths without using hands. There were plenty of laughs, melted cho
colate faces and leftover food!2. Biking
Having accumulated some additional holidays from work that needed to be claimed before the end of the year, my work colleague Mark and I decided to head down south and test our skills on some mountain bike trails. A few days before I was due to head back to Australia, we drove past Dumfries to the Mabie Phoenix trail: a 17km red-graded mix of natural and man-made trails in and around hilly pine forest. We couldn't have picked a better day - the sun was shining, the air was crisp and still, and we had the trails all to ourselves.
There were plenty of long climbs that certainly tested our lack of fitness, being desk-bound at work for hours on end. The views were beautiful and the fast single-tracks were well worth the climb. I came over the handle bars just once when my front wheel lost traction on a sweeping rocky bend, while Mark almost came unstuck after a steep decent into a fast flowing stream. We tested our skills on a couple o
f the black-graded options, but we failed to negotiate the slippery conditions on all bar one of the routes.At the end of the day, we had a couple of hours to investigate the double-diamond black run called the Dark Side, which has a reputation for its technical difficulty. It didn't take us long to realise we were way out of our depths. It was hundreds of metres of North Shore trails (raised wooden platforms) that got as thin as 10cm and weaved up and around the countryside at almost every conceivable angle. We were content with walking alongside. I couldn't even manage short, simple sections of it for fear that I'd come off the edge. It climaxed with the gap jump: about 3m high and at least a metre gap before the sloped landing platform... another option to which I happily conceded defeat.
3. Aussie Celebrations
On December 21, after spending a few days chilling out with my Aussie friend from Paris Natalie, we headed to Edinburgh where I attempted to jump on a plane to London Heathrow. Unfortunately, London had been shrouded in fog, and only long-haul departures were running from the airport. My flight from London to Sydney was due to leave that night; the problem was that I couldn't get to London in time. In the end, I flew out the next day, having stayed the night in London, but I missed out on Steve's bucks party. At least Christmas wasn't spent in transit and my body was saved from paintball-induced discolouration.
Christmas church services and Christmas Day lunch at home were all very enjoyable, being able to share some highlights of the year with friends and relatives. Will and I headed up north that night to visit my godparents in Copacabana, the Flatt family further north up the Central Coast, and our grandma at her farm near Taree. We enjoyed watching the Aussie cricketers embarrass the Poms, read books, cleared weeds in the back paddock, and played the obligatory game or two of backyard cricket. The slower pace of life and the natural wildlife, ranging from wallabies to ducklings and rosellas, was a refreshing change to the rush of the city.
For New Years Eve, Will and a group of friends headed down to Bradleys Head on Sydney Harbour, with direct views to the Harbour Bridge and the fireworks display. We parked ourselves in a sheltered spot for the day and were the most well fed, musical and celebratory group in our little area.
New Years Day involved a trip to Luna Park, for some good old fashioned fun wi
th Katrina's fiance and his friends and relatives. Unfortunately, the evening was soured by an accident on one of the rides that involved an ambulance being called in.For a couple of days, I visited the Scripture Union Family Mission (SUFM) down south in Gerringong, where I'd been a team member for the previous 4 years. It was like I'd never left, and it didn't take long to get involved in the activities. The talk I gave at the church service was directly relevant to at least one person there; a lady there has since given church another chance.
4. Wedding
The week leading up to the wedding went much more quickly than expected. I really loved catching up with friends, eating at outdoor cafes and soaking up the Aussie sun. The holiday lifestyle during an Australian summer is pretty hard to beat.
As part of the bridal party on wedding day, I had the onerous job of making sure I looked presentable before the cameras and smile at the right times. In the end, it was slightly more complex: the girls had choreographed a dance routine for us at the reception, and us guys had arranged a Matrix-style entrance to the wedding ceremony. The groomsman entrance was quite a nice touch (Steve's idea), and the minutes of practice throwing our sunglasses without looking really paid off...
The service was beautiful, and the bridesmaids in their electric blue dresses and the bride in a simple white wedding gown were stunning. I must confess, I shed a few tears when my sister Katrina walked down the aisle, much to Steve's disgust, who had been instructed specifically not to let any tears fall from his welling eyelids! It was a joyful occasion, and we were reminded from the Bible passage in 1 John 4 that we mirror God's undeserved love because he first loved us; not only in a romantic way, but sacrificially.
The reception at Cronulla RSL overlooked the beach on a sunny but blustery summer's day. The speeches were overwhelmingly positive, and it shows how right their dating relationship has been and how their marriage relationship has started in the best of circumstances. Steve committed the most humorous and obvious blunder of the day. When describing how he met Tash, he was previously keen on a girl whom one of his mates was also interested in. Instead of saying how inappropriate it would be for him to ask her out, he expressed how inappropriate it would be to ask HIM out. I'm impressed at Steve's boldness that he would leave it to his wedding day to finally publicise his gay phase...!
With Steve and Tash honeymooning on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, I flew out soon after for the slightly less exotic Glasgow winter. The memories and the suntan gained in those few weeks in Australia should hopefully last many moons.
