A Kookaburra Christmas

My first Christmas in the country!

The day began with a kookaburra chorus and ended with the same reprise after a meltingly hot day. After a Christmas Eve emotional meltdown (sorry Lydia, sorry Country Mouse) I managed to recover my equalibrium enough to move on and have a glorious day with the Country Mouse and his mouseketeers. I also got to play Santa handing out presents which was another first - and I lucked out with a great stash of pressies of my own.

With Keith Urban and Dixie Chicks filling the musical landscape the Country Mouse pointed out that this City Mouse loves country music and that this must mean something. On another note I was intrigued by a mention in Column 8 SMH that someone had decorated a headstone in East Maitland Cemetery with tinsel...hmmm....

On the 27th a quick visit to the Country Mouse's neighbours over the road turned into an impromptu pizza party in their garage. It's this kind of spontaneous get together I really cherish and miss in my own life, such 'let's have a party and let's have it now' is just a distant memory from my 20s.

Example....I recently had a theatre ticket to give away at short notice.  I was reminded yet again that to organise a social event with my city friends means booking people up way way way in advance. The ultimate comment was a friend who said she was first free "in about two weeks on a Tuesday night". When did all this start happening? When did the ability to just drop in unannounced become absolutely socially unacceptable?

In the country (or so it seems) happy hour is when it just naturally happens. You knock on a neighbour's door to see if they are free for a coffee or a chat. Or you just bowl on in and ask them when you are already in their lounge room. Amazing stuff.

Is the city answer: "Yes, but the country cousins aren't doing anything anyway, their lives are empty so they are always free. Our lives are full of cultural and social enrichment - hence the need for a social diary which is even more packed than a work one."

The Country Mouse scoffed: "How do my city cousins gain cultural and social enrichment parked in endless traffic nightmares for hours on end? While you are suffering in an unmoving car park we are already home, glass in hand, at our happy hour (that's our social enhancement)."

I don't dare tell him about the infamous Opera House carpark where exiting regularly takes longer than the show/concert/event you have just seen upstairs. And then there is the drive home...

The sense of belonging here happens on a street level. Communities are real social neighbourhoods, rather than just places you live.


Now the immediate task...find a beach in the Newcastle or Port Stephens areas to call my own (like my Bronte in Sydney). To do that the Country Mouse is taking me on a beach hunting tour starting today. Beach hunting on a blue blue sky day. Perfect. Any suggestions?