so that was christmas and what have you done?

Back at work now after summer holidays. Where did the time go? All I remember is the good bits, i.e. people and beauty (not usually combined). These were the people (and not a single deifheid among them):

We travelled with the visiting outlaws. A highlight was the chic Tasmanian restaurant toilet, where the urinal was a glass wall looking out onto the terrace. The one-way mirror lets you wee at the other diners. After the Australian trip they came back to New South Caledonia with us, and the male outlaw sportingly offered to help me with the DIY backlog. He made a lovely job of sanding the back door down to the bare wood, much better than I would have done.

Breaking the rule about business and pleasure, I had a good yarn (mostly listening) with a former client, an amusing guy with a wild past. He's an artist looking for new inspiration. When he told me the story of his brother riding a horse into an outback bar before being thrown out, I said "you've got to paint that!"

My old school chum passed through New South Caledonia, and after I got used again to his unique planning style, we had some good catch-ups - best of all was when I gatecrashed his hotel pool on the hottest day, and we had a long yap in the water and the sauna.

After he flew out, his brother arrived in town. Despite never having spoken to him in my life, and though the last time I saw him was at school, I introduced myself, and we met up for a delightful afternoon tea (we're the right demographic now). He and his partner are rehabilitated alcoholics, so I had the novel experience of being with people even soberer than me. The next part of their itinerary took them out on Sydney harbour with a boatload of Aussie drunks on Australia Day, surely the ultimate test of their sobriety.