‘Tis thè to bè

We love the holidays, it’s that time of the year when we think of nothing more strenuous than deciding whether to go to the beach or the park, or what sausages to grill on the barbie. It’s a time for reminiscing too, and while most of us have had fun family times, there have also been those hilarious and unique moments which are sometimes fondly remembered, sometimes best forgotten. A few of our contributors shared their merry, mad, memorable moments with Indian Link

Cracking ice at a Christmas party

There are possibly too many to choose just one! There was the time our new puppies decided to sniff out all of the edible presents under the Christmas tree and devour the lot, and then there are of course, the numerous stories associated with my famous (or infamous, depending on how you fared after drinking it) punch that I use to make, and that’s not even mentioning schoolies… But, I think that my most memorable silly season story by far is the time that my work colleagues and I decided to try to ice-skate (with our shoes) across a frozen fountain in London after a Christmas party. The ice appeared to be a good foot in thickness, but we soon learnt that our measurements were off by a considerable amount after the ice started to crack within seconds of us trying to slide across it. Needless to say we all ended up very cold that night, and rushed home to have hot baths. It just goes to show that Sydneysiders don’t really understand much about ice!

Lena Peacock

Being an international student in Sydney isn’t easy, being away from family, but recently the residence threw a party to celebrate the season. I was away, but the quiet, serious boyfriend got drunker than he has ever been. Some memorable texts appeared, like ‘To much. Live you’, which I assumed were declarations of love. Loud background music during a phone-call suggested there was dancing. If he and his friends got around to their original agenda, there was also a game of cards. When the texting stopped, I assumed he had fallen asleep. Next morning, my phone buzzed with his message, ‘I want to die’.

Sometime during the evening, he’d found a huge stuffed mushroom. At one point his friends thought he had gone to bed, but then they saw a man sitting contemplatively in the rain, holding the mushroom. Like the nice friends they are, they put him to bed; but the next thing he knew, he was out in the hall, wearing nothing but boxers, socks and his left shoe. Oh, and still holding the mushroom. His keys were inside the house, and he ended up sleeping outside his door before the coordinator let him in.

“I’m gone one day, and this happens,” I replied, after I nearly died laughing. “I won’t be drinking for a while,” was his sober reply. It’s too funny to let go though, so all week he’s been receiving texts from me saying, “I’m so mushed up, why would you abandon me, I mush you so much”. He’s pleading that I stop; this is one holiday he wants to forget. But not if I can help it!

kritika Rao

isolating. The Ridgeway Estate where I lived had only about 100 residents, with a single road leading into and out of the estate. The entry was off the main road to the coast from Canberra - the King’s Highway, which was notorious for its fast moving traffic. At the time, the single lane road was extremely poorly maintained.

As a young lad, my mates and I once ventured to the side of the highway having followed a dirt track that led, on the other side, down to the township of Queanbeyan. The cars and trucks passing us were moving scarily quickly, and in our youthful indignance we discussed how to gain safe passage across the road.