Oh Vivid!

It was Gabby and Manon's first year in Australia, so they hadn't experienced Vivid yet.  I really love Vivid, I remember the first year it was held, when it was nothing more than a few exhibitions and some pretty lights being projected onto the Opera House.  It's come so far since then and I think it's probably now my favourite event in Sydney.  Martin Place in particular is lovely during the time of year as it fills with lights, colours and people.  This year, they had set up a set of drums for people to play with, and at 5pm sharp everyday, we could hear the "boom, boom, boom" from our office.

Winter in Sydney is normally quite boring.  I've often said that this is a city that is made for the summer.  When it's not summer, most of the city just goes into a hibernation as it waits for better weather to return.  Vivid changes that whole atmosphere as the whole city and fills it with colour and music.

We went for a long walk around the city to try and see as many of the displays as possible.  The festival organisers had even created an app which made it easy to locate all the different spots to visit.

Manon and Gabby loved it all.  It was easy to understand why with all of the incredible lights and displays around the city.  The interactive displays were particularly fun this year and we spent lots of time playing with the various lights which responded to our actions.

It sounds like a cliche, but Sydney does feel a bit more magical around this time of year.  You walk around the familiar places you see everyday and they come alive in front of you.  The moving images and colours seem to make the buildings appear to be living entities, with feelings and a soul.

It's incredible to think that Vivid has become so big and popular in such a short amount of time.  I'm all for it.  Winters don't seem as boring in Sydney with this incredible festival to look forward to.

So much football

When I was young, I always dreamed of moving back to Melbourne when I grew up.  One of the things I hope to do was to live in the city and to be able to go to as many Aussie Rules games as I could.  At one point, I looked into moving to Melbourne for university, but that never happened.  The dream of being able to spend every weekend going from game to game remained sadly out of reach and I had to content myself with the occasional game in Sydney.

One weekend, I found myself in Melbourne and I thought I'd try and experience a little bit of what I had always wanted to try.  I called up my friends John and Marty and we arranged to do the double header.  The timing was perfect, the first game had the John's team the Saints playing and the second game had my team the Hawks playing.

In the early afternoon, we met near Southern Cross Station.  From there we walked over to Docklands Stadium.  All of us were AFL or club members in some form, so we walked into game without any additional cost.  Membership also gave us great seats.  We were seated near the 50m line and were close to where the teams ran out.  Sadly for John, the game didn't go well and the Saints lost to the Eagles.

We left the game and saw a food truck.  The day was cold, so we bought some hot jam donuts to warm us up.  Standing there in the cold eating the hot donuts, I thought back to when I was young and at Waverley Park with my brother and dad.  Waverley always seemed to be freezing and my memory of the place was that the weather was never good!  We had a bit of time before the next game started, so we went to a parmy place that was a favourite of John's.  This seemed to be a true Melbourne experience now, football and parmys.

After dinner, we walked to the MCG.  My team the Hawks were playing the Swans.  It was an incredible coincidence that John and I had both been able to see our teams play on the same day.  Sadly for me, the Hawks also lost.  I still enjoyed the game though.

We had watched a lot of football, and both our teams had lost.  The day could have ended better, but I was still happy with how it had gone.  How often do you get to overindulge in something you enjoy so much?

Goodbye Dave

I remember first discovering the Late Show when I was at university.  I was a simple undergrad who was staying up late, trying to convince myself to study, but usually doing very little of that.  I often found myself sitting in bed, watching TV trying to fall asleep.  Late at night, even in Australia, the Late Show with David Letterman would play.

I started watching because I was bored and had nothing to do.  After a while, it became a part of my routine.  I loved Letterman's sense of humour and his brutally sarcastic wit.  He managed to do it all with such style as well.  When he sauntered onto stage, he would always be immaculately dressed as he buttoned up his suit before launching into his opening monologue.  His treatment of his guests was "generally" good, but there were still hints of his famed older and harsher approach to guests.  I would watch the opening monologue, his jokes and random segments, I'd watch the top ten and listen in to his interview.  After this, I'd normally switch off as I wouldn't have too much interest in the musical guest.

Letterman's time on the Late Show was finished now.  He was retiring and so his time on my screen would be coming to an end.  It was strange that Letterman was finishing up.  Seeing him walk onto stage for the last time sent a rush of nostalgia through me as I thought back to those days in my college dorm.

As he waved one last time and the camera panned away, it felt like the very last of my links to those university days were finally gone.

Super angry

The day started out well enough.

I had gone to watch a game of football with Leon.  The weather was good.  The skies were blue.  Living in Sydney, we were also revelling in one of those rare weekends where we actually got to see our team playing.  On top of that, the Hawks were playing the GWS Giants, who were terrible.  What could possibly go wrong with our lovely day out?

 It turns out quite a lot could go wrong.

It didn't take long before we began to worry.  The Giants had been regularly crushed all season.  They were awful.  It wasn't all that surprising given they were a new team.  Most of their players were still young and they were slowly finding their feet.

This game was different though.  From the very start of the game, the Giants seemed to have a determination about them.  They weren't being pushed off the ball and they definitely seemed to be much faster than the Hawks.  As the game went on, every attack by the Hawks received a successful response.  We all assumed that the Hawks would eventually push the Giants over, but every attempt was met successfully.

As the fourth quarter started, the Giants really started to push ahead.  They started to take a lead and nothing the Hawks did seemed to make a difference.

The Hawks were going to lose to the Giants...

We were seated in the Hawk members area, and Leon was not enjoying himself.  There were a few Essendon fans seated in the crowd who were having a great time at our expense.  This infuriated Leon and he let fly with abuse after the game was over.

The joys of being a football fan...