Daz, Andy, me, Nicky, Sheldon, Paul at the Opera House bar
New Year’s Eve
The big day was here, I had been my usual far-too-organised self and printed reams of maps showing every possible place we could watch the fireworks from in Sydney, ferry and train timetables, road maps in case we had to walk home, a timetable of events from 1pm onwards - I knew every model of aeroplane that flew over and when to expect the Aboriginal boat to come past.
We decided that as we were in Sydney for New Year’s Eve, which doesn’t happen everyday, it was going to be special so we’d go for the big scramble to get to the Opera House as early as possible. After a hearty breakfast we made our way up the most painful hill in the world to get from our apartment to the tube station.
On the train Andy had one of those ‘it’s a small and surreal world’ incidents when we had stopped in a station along our journey to let some people on and off. A bloke with a pushchair was stood near the doors waiting for another train, he looked in and saw Andy, they had the few seconds processing who each other was, and then he said, “Alright Andy” just as the doors closed and off we went. He used to go to high school with Andy and they hadn’t seen each other for about 15 years!
I also had a surreal moment, but it was one I knew was going to happen. Two former colleagues of mine, Nicky and Sheldon, firstly surprised me in November by telling me they were now an item, and secondly informed me they were in Sydney on NYE if there was any chance I’d be there. So, here we are in Australia with Daz and Anna-Marie which we were still getting used to and then we met up with Nicky and Sheldon at Circular Quay on New Year’s Eve! Trying to find them at Circular Quay was one of those stupid moments where I was looking at people who looked absolutely nothing like them thinking, well that might be them, it’s been a year since I saw them… of course when we finally spotted each other it was quite obvious who they were! We all battled our way to the Opera House bar for drinks, having to be bag checked and pass through numerous security gates on the way – and this was only about 2pm. We had a great natter for a few hours and I managed to work my way past my first drink of lemonade swiftly on to champagne. It was really good to meet up with them both, along with their friend Paul, and catch up on what they had done during their holiday along with other gossip. We also found out after they had left that they had just got engaged at Uluru (Ayers Rock) a few days before we met them, but obviously wanted to tell their family before letting the news spread through the bush telegraph!
The big day was here, I had been my usual far-too-organised self and printed reams of maps showing every possible place we could watch the fireworks from in Sydney, ferry and train timetables, road maps in case we had to walk home, a timetable of events from 1pm onwards - I knew every model of aeroplane that flew over and when to expect the Aboriginal boat to come past.
We decided that as we were in Sydney for New Year’s Eve, which doesn’t happen everyday, it was going to be special so we’d go for the big scramble to get to the Opera House as early as possible. After a hearty breakfast we made our way up the most painful hill in the world to get from our apartment to the tube station.
On the train Andy had one of those ‘it’s a small and surreal world’ incidents when we had stopped in a station along our journey to let some people on and off. A bloke with a pushchair was stood near the doors waiting for another train, he looked in and saw Andy, they had the few seconds processing who each other was, and then he said, “Alright Andy” just as the doors closed and off we went. He used to go to high school with Andy and they hadn’t seen each other for about 15 years!
I also had a surreal moment, but it was one I knew was going to happen. Two former colleagues of mine, Nicky and Sheldon, firstly surprised me in November by telling me they were now an item, and secondly informed me they were in Sydney on NYE if there was any chance I’d be there. So, here we are in Australia with Daz and Anna-Marie which we were still getting used to and then we met up with Nicky and Sheldon at Circular Quay on New Year’s Eve! Trying to find them at Circular Quay was one of those stupid moments where I was looking at people who looked absolutely nothing like them thinking, well that might be them, it’s been a year since I saw them… of course when we finally spotted each other it was quite obvious who they were! We all battled our way to the Opera House bar for drinks, having to be bag checked and pass through numerous security gates on the way – and this was only about 2pm. We had a great natter for a few hours and I managed to work my way past my first drink of lemonade swiftly on to champagne. It was really good to meet up with them both, along with their friend Paul, and catch up on what they had done during their holiday along with other gossip. We also found out after they had left that they had just got engaged at Uluru (Ayers Rock) a few days before we met them, but obviously wanted to tell their family before letting the news spread through the bush telegraph!
Congratulations Nicky and Sheldon!!
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