You know how they say “Oxford Street is dead”, these days? Well last night it certainly wasn’t with quite a few of the clubs heavily packed. I wouldn’t normally go out on a Saturday night, but we had a visitor from Melbourne who was keen to see a little of what Sydney had to offer in the way of gay venues. In what turned out to be a mini “pub crawl” we visited three venues, and walked past two others, all of which were very, very full.

Ten years ago this would have been a regular thing for me. But at this stage in my life, I’d much prefer to spend my Saturday night at home, cooking, watching a bit of television or reading. “It’s the same on Friday nights”, I told my friends I’d caught up with for Christmas Drinks. We’re all in the age range of 45-55, and all pretty much agreed that by the time Friday night comes around, we’re all pretty much too tired to consider anything else. Or maybe that’s just a justification for the complete lack of interest in spending Friday night in a loud, noisy environment with a bunch of strangers?

So for us, “Christmas Drinks” this year involved booking a small room at Souths Rugby League Club. A few of us were already members, and a few more of us became members because of the attractiveness of the membership package. In short, for $20 you get five years club membership which includes the benefits of cheaper drinks. The $20 you pay instantly goes onto a plastic card which you can then redeem for drinks. So effectively, membership is free.

They’ve also done a terrific job improving the decor of the venue over the last few years, with retro-style fittings, large screens which were ideal for cricket-watching, and those small booths. On top of that, the staff were all very kind and friendly. A shame there weren’t more customers, as the venue and the staff made it a really terrific place to catch up with some long-term friends for Christmas Drinks.

A few of us went on for dinner at Sydney’s legendary Lebanese restaurant, Abdul’s.

And then, of course, we had a few drinks on Oxford Street. The night ended at the fantastic dance venue, Palms, where they have absolutely “no shame” about the music played. Unlike a lot of bars on Oxford Street where the music is too cool for school, Palms will play virtually anything that’s been a hit in the last forty years, and thus, the dance floor is always full. They also had Christmas decorations around the DJ-Box and a very cool Christmassy lighting effect on the dance floor.

A good day and night was had.