You know how most men can grow a beard? Well, maybe not a complete bushranger-style beard, but at least something which “completes” their face?

Well, I’m not one of them.

After five days in Lismore, and six days of not shaving the most I can conjur up is what would be for most people a “three day growth”.

The decision not to shave wasn’t a conscious one. I got on my plane with just hand luggage, and thus without razors. And while I intended to buy some in Lismore I never quite got around to it. Thus, I never shaved.

In some ways I guess it was also symbolic of the “holiday mode” I’ve been in over the last few days. Not shaving, and wearing nothing but shorts and thongs was, I guess, a quasi-rebellion against my regular day to day life.

For my last day in Lismore we even managed to get some decent rain.

Not “proper rain” which I always associate with floods, but decent rainfall which is generally heavier than we get in Sydney.

For a while Pat and I stood out on the verandah this morning just enjoying the experience.

There’s nothing quite like the sound of rain falling heavily on a tin roof, especially first thing in the morning.

But here I am back in Sydney, unshaven, and thinking of work tomorrow.

Somehow this year’s Christmas Holiday seems a little “underdone”.

Still, a month off in March, and a trip to Sweden in early Spring is probably still going to feel like Christmas.