Marcus 10th Birthday visit to the AFL

 

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