Big Red Spot which is a complete waste of your time. And also quite funny.

when every tiny blade of grass sways together
with the no longer soft force of ten tonne
every particle of air from the breeze moving together
could blind our eyes with piercing tears

So it's the new year.

What is changing, what has changed?
In my little life here in Sydney?

The weather is always windy at the moment
it rings the small bell i bought back from Adelaide
brings me back to myself when it dings.

It seems that the year is full of the energy of change so far
I will be moving into a new place
I will be moving into a new job too

The first day of the year was a hallucinogenic 46 degrees
you can't tell me that didn't feel like being on a drug!
sluggish body complaining
fast mind with thin blood in the heat
however the hangover i had perhaps made it all weirder

We made it up to Pittwater, Church Point with Sarit and Stewart
in their car with little Myan the best behaved out of the lot of us
Air conditioning doing its level best, which was blowing air

Even by the water it was hot - no relief, just watching
a dry little shell of a cicada bug still attached to a pine post
what was inside it has transformed and flown away

The birds sat there kind of pathetically with beaks open
evaporative cooling from their breath
'cos their feathers certainly didn't cool 'em that day

It was like the sun parked itself right next door for the day
and the wind was trying to get away from it too just to cool down
we saw the smoke from the Gosford fires form clouds, North

Tinder everywhere, we were slightly aware the fire could turn
and we would have to jump in the water
I couldn't help think what was going up in the blaze

When we finally got on the water taxi, and some of that sea splashed
on our bodies, we started to laugh, we were on the way to our friends
and sanity we hoped in this intense heat-fight

But we had a 15 minute uphill walk with our gear to trek through first
In classic Eucalypt bush country in searing heat
Myan still seemed to enjoy the day, flowing with it better than me

Then the YHA loomed and we climbed the last of the hill
dumped our bags and got food into the struggling communal "fridge"
all our mates were in the water somewhere with kayaks as they should be

We flaked in the best sense of the word
drank light beer which never tasted so good!
discovered the hammocks and the joy of water spritzing

Time passed slowly, and the clouds from the fire
only moved if you looked hard, then you could see how fast they were
we smelled no smoke which was a blessing

All the liquid poured straight back out our pores
certainly i had not been to the loo all day long
moments in the hammock, so hot it was funny

Finally the intrepid kayakers returned and after the haul up the hill
were hot again! it was easy to convince them to get back to the water
At least the Wasim and Elf - water babies (Wasim learned to swim!)

Rafting up the kayaks in the shady water
danger wasn't quite over - three stingrays and a jellyfish
in the water, and the fire persisted in our peripheral

Ah, the sighs of relief though, the swim was blissful
heads under, underarms finally cool and heads too
ironically now Myan was too cold in the water and grizzly

We said good bye to S,S&M and continued to explore
I towed Celine hanging onto the back of the kayak
and she told me it was pure perfection

Finally it was time to head back and think about food
barbeque par excellence, New Years heatwave stylee
all the beer was warm and no one was drinking

But it was moods of optimism and fun pervading the day
Loving the company and where did all that food spring from
No relief from heat, any glass or metal was still boiling hot

Now when clouds drifted over Gosford we could see their red underbellies
still not abating, still not drifting us towards thank gawd
So we ate and thought about those with less

The night held gentleness and hilarious Texas Holdem hands
With Lib the dealer with the mostest calling the action or lack of it
Origami folders, alligators snappy, good looking big bets too

The game dedicated to the late high roller Kerry Packer
I lost buckets of money which was luckily only plastic chips
And Wasim took the game up to early leader Elf to scoop the pool

All in all an amazing new years day
finally around 11 the cool change started to crawl in proper
and we all slept like grateful babes...