New Years fun

Today began at 5 am. I woke to DW's ridiculously loud and cheerful mexican-themed phone alarm, and gave him a shove because he, astoundingly, still lay sleeping. "I'll put it for nine more minutes on snooze," he mumbled, before rolling over and pulling all the sleeping bag with him in one move. Well, being cold and unable to get comfortable was an incentive to get out of bed after those nine minutes had passed.

It was DW's idea to leave the shack early, so as to catch the Southern Expressway before all the city-bound traffic clogged it up. When his suggestion was first met with a 'wha?" from me, he reminded me how nice it would be driving with the sun rising and all. True, the idea did have some romantic appeal. So this morning we chucked out all the old food from the fridge, packed the car, grumbled over the front door lock for some time (although the handle was technically locked, you could still actually push the door open. Shh.) and were gone soon after six. The shack doesn't have its own bin, and last year our group had made regular use of a dumpster in the shopping centre carpark. This year, the dumpsters were all in a locked area, so I hauled the bags from DWs boot into a council bin near a bus stop. Shh again. There was a sign on the bin warning of a $500 fine for doing just that, and DW conveniently stayed in the driver's seat while I carried out the leg work for our secret operation.

So, the house was barely stirring by the time I got home back to the red-barked gum trees of the North East. I've had a long and quiet day, filled with things like watching Greys Anatomy, reading Twilight and uploading photos to facebook.

And New Years Eve? New Years was fun. I, who had been momentarily concerned that we wouldn't have 'enough alcohol', rediscovered how easily I can get pissed. There was dancing in the shack, walking in the cold to the beach, H crying over her ex, me then getting sniffly to DW because I thought I had made her cry, peeing in the bushes, shouting greetings at everyone we passed, deciding that the beach was not the happening scene of last year, staggering back to the shack, collapsing on the bed with DW, being disturbed by the 18-year-old councillor flinging our door open to check on us (don't worry, he was an invite and not an enforcer of moral correctness), getting up again to socialise some more, hearing about the friend who decided to wade in the water and the other friend who freaked out thinking she had drowned, eventually dozing off, being stirred by DW for some bed-jiggling, becoming eventually weary of said shenanigans, realising it was now light, falling back asleep for a few hours and awakening with barely a hangover. DW couldn't say the same thing. Yay me for avoiding the tequila!

H's dad was arriving back from a trip a day earlier than planned, so she left with her full car of travellers on New Years Day. The other two friends (the issue-ridden beach-drowning pair) were staying at Goolwa and they also left. So, DW and I had the surprising bonus of a night to ourselves! Although DW had enjoyed himself and was indeed loud and extroverted with my buddies (especially his former work mate 'councillor Jones') I think he was very glad to wind down and have some peace and one-on-one company. We watched TV and cuddled, had a looong session of... shenanigans... and showered together afterward. Getting clean and dry after the shower gave me almost the same feeling that you have after the beach as a kid, that sense of being refreshed but worn out in a good way, unaware of the exercise that you'd been doing. I felt like going to the beach again in the evening, just to do it justice, you know? It was such a pretty coast and a nice night. DW was less keen, still feeling seedy and having little energy, but we went down there and ate at a fish and chip shop on the Esplanade, fulfilling my desire for beachside charm while avoiding the exertion of, you know, walking on the sand or anything. Then there was watching of game shows back at the shack (Temptation and Don't Forget the Lyrics), silly playfights over things like DWs persistent 'flub flub' noises, talking and cuddling and sleeping. And now we've done a circle from the beginning of the entry.

So, that was New Years. Overall pretty awesome, I'd say.