I’ve never been much of a Christmas/New Year type of person, unlike my wife, for example, who goes positively ga-ga about the whole festive season thing. I do think that that is a by-product of her Scandinavian upbringing, by the way. But this Christmas was an especially nice one. It was only the second time that Helena has been totally responsible for the food and decoration side of things; in previous years her late mother took a lot of that on herself. But I have to say that the ham and the turkey was at least as nice as those that my wonderful mother-in-law used to cook and, in fact, the turkey was cooked even better (sorry, mum, if you’re reading this in heaven 🙂 )
As far as the New Year was concerned, this was the first year since 2009 where I was able to go out for New Year’s Eve and see the Wollongong fireworks. My accident in late 2010 severely restricted my ability to go up stairs so dinner at my favourite restaurant was out and the road closures around the eastern end of Wollongong’s CBD meant that the kilometre or so walk that you had to do to get to the vantage points where the fireworks could be seen was out of the question. So it was especially pleasing to be able to do both this NYE (albeit slowly)
The meal was great, the company excellent and the fireworks seem to get better every year. We even managed to get a park in our usual NYE spot behind the old Oxford Tavern. Bonus.
I’m not much of a party animal so, once the fireworks were concluded I was happy to wend our way home and watch the Sydney spectacular on telly. By about 20 past 12 I was in bed and was knocking out the zeds very shortly afterwards.
Of course, no night out can be perfect, but, with the right company, it can go close. I’m delighted to say that NYE went so close that I couldn’t perceive the difference. In this case the company was my brother and his wife and my wonderful wife to whom I will have been married for 40 years in May this year. Going out with her is always a delight but she topped the bill on Monday night.
So, 2013, eh? What will it bring? Great racing, I hope. The demise of the ridiculous CRT experiment in MotoGp, I hope, Marc Marquez winning at least a couple of Grands Prix, I hope, A Japanese bike winning the WSBK, I hope and, most of all, a new V4 Honda sports bike, my biggest hope of all (also my least likely to be fulfilled, but, hey)
This Saturday night I am commentating at Nowra Speedway for the running of the Australian Speedcar Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious stand-alone speedway events on the Australian speedway calendar. Run for the first time in 1938, it has been won by the very best of Australian and overseas drivers. Names like Bob Tattersall and A J Foyt adorn the trophy along with local legends like Ray Revell and Troy Jenkins. I am so looking forward to this meeting.
In a few weeks I head off to the 20th Annual Phillip Island Classic for Post-Classic bikes. I hope to be bending peoples’ ears for MotoPod again and also catching up with my good Stateside friends, Jimi Mac and Ed Haazer. I’m also looking forward immensely to meeting some of the other American riders who will be coming out to make up Team USA. Deano Swims et al.
Then, a couple of weeks later, it’s WSBK at PI. Less likelihood of me attending this year due to the considerable expense involved but I am still hopeful.
I hope your 2013 is great. If you ride, please do it safely and, in whatever you do, please remember that important adage, “It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice.”