Did you spend Xmas day on your own? I did. Or rather with the dogs in Victor Harbor. Suzanne was in Brisbane with family. We walked the beach at sunrise and the river bed in the evening. Who cares about car parks at Woolworths? That too would have been as empty as the one in Phoenix.

In the evening we sat on the balcony watching the sun and light wind in the trees. The poodles munched on their bones and I munched on nuts We listening to the birds and the waves, and I marveled at how quiet it all was. A rare moment.

Tomorrow the joint starts jumping. Everybody comes down to having fun in the sun in Victor Harbor after having done the big family Xmas thingy in Adelaide.

We drove past an empty carpark at our local mega mall on the way to the family Christmas gathering. We were strongly tempted to go and park in a space near the shops, just for the experience.

Gary, Yes my first xmas alone courtesy of the divorce and moving to a new city where I only have a few friends. Boxing Day is a non-entity in the US, so it is a work day for me.

Lyn, The malls with starbucks and movie theatres were still packed.

Flying solo on Xmas Day is quite pleasant. It has a different quality to it than spending time with the family gig. Me solo was a retreat from the commercialization and the consumer excess of Xmas.

Today, in Victor Harbor, as the dogs and I walked the beach in the sunrise the men and their boats were out around dawn. They go fishing off the southern coast. Victor Harbor is big on boats and 4 wheel drives needed to lug the boats around. Victor Harbor still doesn't have a marina, and so there's a fight going on between those who want a marina for their boats and those who detest the traffic and their desire for things to stay as they are.

The marina will come. It's all about tourism these days in Victor Harbor. The old rural town for the dairy farmers has long gone, and the old seaside town for old Adelaide money has given way to the mass housing of seachange.

Cam,
Boxing Day is a big custom--- it's where the Xmas hangover gives way to the shopping fever.It's pretty chaotic," David Jones' Melbourne city store manager Jason McVicar observes:

Christmas is about buying gifts but Boxing Day is more about shopping for yourself. It's a bit of a tradition — it's mostly women who come with their daughters.

The doors in the big department stores (Myers and David Jones) open at 7am and close at 11pm.

Cam, the mall we didn't park at houses the local cinema complex. Closed. It was like Sundays used to be.

Gary, our family has split since my father died. One half do the excessive commercialisation thing and the other half get together for a sausage on a bit of bread and backyard cricket.

families often split around Xmas when the parents die. The fracturing happened with Suzanne's family when her mother died. Mine has been permanently fractured, though that is now easing. Parents often hold the diverse strands together.

The contemporary family is a bit of a bricolage. Dad didn't hold us together at all. Three wives, half a dozen kids between them and he never remembered a birthday. He told great stories though.

Parents of a certain generation do seem to hold things together, but we're finding that new groups are forming that gather in a new bunch of honorary members, the odd neighbour, someone who doesn't like their own family. Maybe in your case someone whose dogs get along well with your dogs. It's an odd experience after a year of hearing about Australian working families.

Pam, Yeh. I am Australian but have been living in the US the last nine years or so - one of those diasporan people.

Boxing Day is the one I miss most from the Auian calendar. It was always a relaxing day with plenty of entertainment like the Sydney to Hobart and the Melbourne Test Match; plus the left overs from xmas. I always enjoyed it.

Gary,
I have a picture of you spending Xmas morning trying to balance party hats on the dogs heads for a photo and Cam sitting at a table with 3 cactus's with faces drawn on them eating Xmas lunch.

I had a Xmas in Melbourne once by myself so I put on old clothes and went to a shelter in the city and had a great feed and fun with all the homeless.
One of the friendliest ones I've had.

Les,
Dunno about Cam apart from his big hike up the mountain.

There was no party for me. The weather was great, but I was feeling rather poorly either from eating contaminated smoke salmon for lunch the day before or some sort of fever, as it has continued. (It's gastro). So the poodles made do with two large bones each---Kangaroo and beef neck--and kept the stroppy magpies at bay. No magpies (or crows) are allowed on the balcony or the lawn below. No scraps can be shared with magpies or crows--other birds yes.

I love your Melbourne Xmas---there would be the genuine Xmas feeling of warmth and support there.

Yes, I was quite fond of Melbourne in my early days. I remember disembarking from the number 42 tram at Kew Junction and having a couple of beers and a counter meal and a short stroll home was a regular event. That was in the mid eighties when there was still much manufacturing and the town was really a buzz and moving. I think after the stock market went bad in '86 it changed. Well perhaps I did too. Melbourne music will always be good though I think.

Les, Yeh no party for me either on xmas day and Boxing Day consisted of going over project schedules.

Les,
I also recoiled from the Melbourne of the 1980s. But it has changed again. The city is much more people friendly and the little lanes running up from Flinders Street Station to Bouke Street are abuzz with coffee shops and people. The little bars are everywhere.

Melbourne's CBD buzzes in contrast to the deadness of the CBD in car strangled Sydeny.

Whats the feeling like in the outer perimeter of the city?
Do you see many vacant shops in Smith st Fitzroy and places like that?

I really need a good reason to go to Sydney. I dislike the place.

Les !!! dislike Sydney !!! That is my home-home.

Cam,
That sounds a bit lonely for you. What was the reason for the breakdown of your marriage?

I suppose it may be different if you are brought up there and I don't mean that in a regurgitive way though it is humorous.
My experiences with the place have always been bad. Being hit on the head at a money machine on one visit and having the wheels stolen off my car while dining at a restaurant on another are the ones that I can mention here.
Some parts of Sydney I suggest need the soil completely turned over people included and started again.

Les, Boxing Day isn't a public holiday in the US, it is a standard working day.

Phoenix is pretty mild in the winter, so plenty of outdoor activity to consume the day. It is a fun city to live in. My favourite US city thus far.

Les
Melbourne is booming.

I'm glad!
Most places are in Oz. I predict that in February after the families send the kids back to school they will jump completely out of the retail market. They will adopt a "no new things" attitude and just spend on necessities.
That will start a slow decline to the boom. A pin in the balloon. Not necessarily a pop more like a slow leak. By July/August things will be starting to look bad.

I spent xmas day down at Bondi beach with my partner. It felt more like a normal public holiday, with tourists and a few locals enjoying the waves and a few beers with friends in the bars that were open. At Kings Cross the convenience stores and adult venues were open but the bars were closed. The homeless gathered in the parks.

The temperature went up for Boxing Day and there was barely a couple of meters of sand between sunbathers down on the beach. Alcohol was banned, so the environment was family friendly, although there were more buff 20-somethings showing off muscles than there were children parading new bikes.

Back in Canberra all is quiet as many have left for the coast or returned home to their city of birth. Those that stayed have taken down the xmas lights that adorned house exteriors.

"Those that stayed have taken down the xmas lights that adorned house exteriors."

I wonder if they're making preparations for easter. Eggs, hot cross buns and bunny footprint stickers on the floor are about due to turn up in our supermarkets any day now.

Kez,
Canberra must be a ghost town. My family had their Xmas there. My sister and husband have returned to Melbourne and my mother has gone back to New Zealand. My other sister, who lives in Canberra with her husband and children, has gone to the NSW coast for two weeks.

maybe Canberra will come alive on New Years Eve.

Gary, you are not far wrong. We didn't go into town for what i assume would have been a fireworks display around lake burley griffin - we were too exhausted from the hot weather - but even the shopping centers today are quieter than on a normal weekend. Most public servants won't return to work until next week, so the roads will be busy with returning holidayers.

The summernats car festival starts tomorrow. Apparently this is when Canberra really shows some life, probably because it's the only time of the year Canberra attracts outsiders looking for adventure and excitement.