Saturday 6:00 am
rise and shine for this is Marcus's 10th birthday.
As dawn breaks,
Frank and Marcus set off for Whites Hill to pick up a model aeroplane kit. Why
Whites Hill you may ask. Well there is a club who fly there and one of the
members runs a internet shop and the park is where one can take delivery. We
also went the week before to have a look and ask questions.
By 7:30 am we are
back at Oxley and loading the three younger ones into the wagon and off to
Swimming lessons at 8am. Wendy very kindly offered to take Daniel to keep her
son Steven entertained.
9:00 and we are
home from swimming. Change and pick up Marcus. 10:00 Drop Chris at his drum
lesson and the rest are off to Frank's work to find some tools to help put the
plane together. 10:30 pick up Chris and some wires and stuff from the church for
another job. This is like a puzzle to work out who is in the
car.
Back home for
morning tea of biscuits, cheese, tomato, avocado and so on.
Plane
construction starts and at the same time Chris is inspired and starts
manufacturing his own non flying model in the workshop out of scrap pine. We
discover a shortage of tools so plane construction halts.
Lunch and then
Marcus is encouraged to have a sleep. 2:30 and Frank is off to the church to
pick up a BBQ and trestle tables. Megan revs up for the final party
preparations. The eskies are loaded with drinks and cheese cakes and then onto
the ute. Bags and bags of lollies and stuff quickly follow and off goes the ute
with the station wagon following.
4:00pm the convoy
arrives at the Jindalee pool. Parents are co- opted to carry BBQ, tables, bags
of food.
The pool is hot
and the games begin. Various races and competitions. Piggy back fights being
the most popular. Tony and Kerry (God parents) make a surprise visit which
greatly impressed Marcus as all the other kids God parents live locally and he
hardly sees his.
6:30 and the
party winds up and the carrying out to the cars begins. 7:15 and we are back
home for a quick change. Then by 7:45 its back in the wagon and we are on our
way to the Gabba. One of Marcus's friends gave him two tickets to see the AFL
at the Gabba that night. So frank and Marcus are dropped off and in they
go.
AFL is a strange
game that we have sometimes noticed on TV but have no real knowledge of how to
play it. Marcus and I were not even sure if they are allowed to tackle. Soon
however we discovered that we were supporting the lions who in the greatest
traditions of corporate Australia actually formed by a merger Fitsroy of and the
Brisbane Bears. After the game, we decided that the queues for the busses were
too long and that we would walk with many others to South bank and catch a train
there. Once there we decided to walk across the good will bridge. This bridge
formed as a result of a merger between politics and tax dollars also functions
as a bridge. I am sure it has a function as bridge for someone too. Then we
walked down George St to Roma St. There we fortified ourselves with hot
chocolate from a vending machine and eventually caught a train at 11:08pm.
Megan was phoned and sleepily awoke and agreed to meet us at Oxley train
station.
Home and in bed
by midnight (I think). Are you exhausted?
A reflection on
AFL
Half time and one
may have expected fireworks or a band or scantily clad dancing girls but we got
a pep talk about the importance of parents and volunteers in the development of
talent and the future of the game. As this was coming over the speakers, a
number of mini AFL playing fields were set up on the oval and populated with
pint sized players. Parents with video cameras would rush out and point their
little jonnies and Jessica’s in the right direction and the slightest
distraction would cause the ball to be abandoned by both teams.
Apparently it is
a tradition, that at the end of the game, the crowd invades the pitch. Mind you
it is the most well behaved invasion you can imagine with the crowd obediently
waiting for the second hooter which is the signal to invade. At that time
thousands of people swarm onto the pitch and start kicking footballs in all
directions.
Frank
