Condensed new year bilge

All things must come to an end and so it is with my 2008 Australian odyssey. Mostly it has been good, although I could have done without being deliberately knocked off my bike. More on that later.

Christmas was excellent. A family affair with much feasting and festivity. Immediate family members L, P, M+P healthy and expecting (not all of them though). AJ has found a new role as ex-premier Bob Carr's research aide, which seems to involve informing him what various cool sounding Latin phrases mean. S+N are overseeing the growth of H+N, who appear to be doing just fine. NJ is scraping by on the smell of an oily rag after his employer went belly up. Other members of the family are slightly deafer but are still possessors of considerable intellect, making for interesting conversation.

Joneses, mostly
© Jeff Jones
A small child's perspective of Christmas
© Jeff Jones
Capturing the crucial post-flame pudding moment
© Jeff Jones
N vs H celebrity deathmatch
© Jeff Jones

On the other side of the Family, J+J are happily ensconced at Fingal, and J is determined to ride his bike again. M, also up at the Bay, is much better than she was at this time last year. J+L are tops and are gettin' married. J+K are good, although I needed to talk to them a bit more. J+N are overseeing the growth of Z+I, who are also doing just fine. D is currently car-less in Tassie, owing to a minor problem with the transmission.

Mains (some)
© Jeff Jones
N+Z+J
© Jeff Jones
An echelon of snags
© Jeff Jones
Mains and Joneses, mostly
© Jeff Jones

I also caught up with J, A, D+S and we had an aborted swim at one of Sydney's northern beaches. Bit choppy but. And it rained after 20min so we had to have F+C and listen to the travesty that was the second test. Still, the chicken curry was tres noice.

Swimming was much better the next day darn sarf with J, who actually went for a ride with me. It was also nice to catch up with JV, who is pulling up stumps and moving a long way sarf west. And JC down from oop norf (but not that far norf).

Actual names are left as an exercise for the reader. Did I leave anyone out? Compression necessary because of the sheer number of relatives/relatives I saw in such a short space of time.

I almost hit 20,000km for the year - 2000 more than last year but 12000(!) short of my '99 record - and would have done had I not been assaulted by a couple of idiots in a car on Tuesday. Princes Hwy at the Wolli Ck lights just before Cooks River (heading north). I'd pulled up at the lights, sitting in the left lane, but not the left turning lane, behind a couple of cars. As I set off I noticed the car behind me was very close, but it had plenty of room to pass.

That wasn't his intention. The driver slowly drew up beside me, still very close, and all of a sudden I felt the bike pushed hard left, presumably by someone in the passenger seat grabbing the seatpost, and I slid off onto my arse into the left turning lane. I had a bag on, which cushioned some of the fall, and got off relatively lightly, taking some bark off on my right hand side but not ending up too bruised. The bike was fine. Of course I had to get off the road and by the time I did, the arseholes who committed this brave deed were too far away to get a good look at the number plate or who did it. The traffic was solid but not heavy and of course no-one else stopped.

There was a girl waiting at the lights who saw me come off and I asked her if she'd seen what happened, but she hadn't. I rode home, very pissed off, in half a pair of shorts, patched myself up and reported it to the cops. All I could remember was that the car was black, looked more like a commodore than anything else, it had a black and yellow number plate possibly with 8 O in it. I knew they couldn't do anything much without a number plate but it may help if something like this happens again. And I'm sure with Sydney's yobbo car culture that it will.

I rode a couple of hours the next day, just to get things moving again, but I'm not relishing 32 hours in planes, airports and trains tomorrow. It'll be good to get back to a less yobbish place though.

Anyway, on a more positive note, 2008 has actually been an amazing year for me, so I can't complain too much. I hope it has been for the readers of this bilgespot. And if not, then may 2009 be a good 'un. Merry New Year.