Australia Day - the aftermath

With the big party due to begin anytime soon, we had a lot to do. Woke up very early and was chatting with girl flatmate who asked if we heard gunshots at 6am. Boy flatmate also heard them. Because we are in the basement we are sheltered from outside noise, so we didn't hear anything.

We were on our merry way to get last minute things and get NB's costume together. We walk outside to see that one end of our street is roped off with police tape. Okaaaaaay, we will walk the other way then. We get to the next intersection where a police car is blocking the way. A policewoman got out of the car to inform us that if we left we wouldn't be able to come back, perhaps for several hours. So we walked home and I made the lamingtons (which were an absolute hit - go CWA!)

At midday we noticed the tape was down, so we went and got all required supplies. NB ended up getting a costume as that little gobshite Corey Delaney and I went as Kylie Mole, as planned. On the way back, I asked at the local off licence what had happened, because there were media crews everywhere, police information vans and the local "sandwich shop" had its windows blown out. I tell you what, that sandwich shop did a roaring trade. It was open 24/7 and people would go in and be out about a minute later. You could also get high on the dope smell that came out the front door as you walked past. I think they have pretty addictive sandwiches.

Turns out the police had a little raid on the abovementioned sandwich shop. The shots heard were the police using rubber bullets, which apparently pack quite a punch. We live in a pretty quiet area and this kind of thing is uncommon, so it had all the neighbours out for a squiz.

This was the minor news for the day. The major news was that our Australia Day party went off. Everyone had such a good time and the costumes were pretty funny. We managed to cram at least 40 people into our little flat. A good time had by all. We were also very patriotic, singing the national anthem at least 3 times.