Thursday, December 20, 2012

When it Rains, it Pours.

Carly and I tried desperately to go Christmas shopping in Brisbane. Desperately I mean because we bought nothing and because it was in the pouring rain, but we persevered. We walked for about half an hour in the rain until we got into the centre of the city, completely drenched, but unwavered. We wandered in and out of the shops before we decided we would be better off purchasing a drink. So we got out of the rain and sat down with the workers, who weren't working because it was raining (!??!) and enjoyed ourselves. Just as we were leaving, even though the sky was bright, it was heavily downpouring. We sighed and said, you know what happens when it rains? You get wet. 
Bar artwork.

It's really hard to feel like it's Christmas or get in the holiday spirit when it is sunny, 30 degrees CELCIUS, and feels like you are on a summer holiday. The tourist shops offering Australia memorabilia are filled with crap no one really wants. Most of the stores in the shopping arcades are over priced and the rest of them can be found at home. There aren't any Australian trends or anything particularly "Australian" to bring back as gifts. I found it incredibly difficult to not only to get in the mood but to find any motivation for buying worthwhile gifts. I sent some knick-knacks to Ireland to say, I'm thinking of you, wish I was there, I have some more time to buy you some proper gifts ie in the after-Christmas sales, but that mentality soon changed. I always thought that I didn't care where I was for Christmas as long as I was on the beach with a cocktail. But after traveling up the coast for a month and seeing beach after beach, I was over the beach idea. I wanted to go home. Home? I don't know where home is. I wanted to be with my family. 

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