Glory Glory to United. It’s not that I’m slack or getting too tired to write, not even a case of writer’s block, it’s more a case of candles being burnt at more than one end simultaneously and throwing my life over to that of gay abandonment. (That is OK. Gay used to be a word that one could comfortably use in such contexts without a need for all that snickering and intentional misinterpretation, which is precisely the manner in which it is being used here). You see, dear reader, friend, customer or interloper, my youngest unmarried daughter, Clare, gave me a ticket to see the Mighty Manchester United Football Club vs. a combined Sydney team at the ANZ Stadium on Saturday but two weekends ago, around about the time I would have written last week’s newsletter thingy. And then, because Clare was up from the Nation’s Capital, we hung out together a bit on Sunday as well. I don’t know if you know, but when the tickets first went on sale for the game they sold out in a Guinness Book of World Record time of 2 minutes! Tickets to the similar Liverpool event could still be purchased at the door. Clare was lucky enough to be in that 2 minutes and grabbed 3 tickets; one each for me, Stewart and herself. Unfortunately she was unable to get 3 together and we had a feeling that we were very lucky to get in in the first place. 83,127 people attended. We didn’t bother to go on line and check out just where our seats were and had decided that, as Clare was the common grounds of affection, Stu and I would take turns at the solo seat. Both Clare and Stu are Essendon supporters and it transpired that on that same day the Bombers were facing the GWS Giants just across the way at Skoda Stadium so we decided to make a day of it. Public transport fares were included in the MU ticket price, brilliant! So we jumped a train at Sutho, changed at Redfern and Lidcombe for Olympic Park in plenty of time for the start of the Giants Bombers match. And wasn’t the stadium packed!? No. They made an announcement in the second half that they had their 2nd largest attendance ever of just over 10,000. Yes and most of those were wearing Manchester United jerseys, who slightly outnumbered those wearing and Essendon gear and there were a mere handful of Giant’s supporters. The first quarter was all GWS but unfortunately that is all they had in them. They managed to hang on a bit in the 2nd quarter but failed to show anything the 2nd half. So, comfortably, convincingly Essendon won that one which gave us a little under 2 hours to eat something and find our seats for the proper game. It was like a huge carnival in at Sydney Olympic Park. Thousands of people, all ages wearing Manchester United clobber, some of which I had never seen before and other stuff I never thought you could get. We went to the International Hotel, looked at the menu and then lined up for McDonalds. We left the Macca’s line and just grabbed Hot Dogs and Lebanese wraps; much betterer. And then we and 83,000 others lined up to get our seats. We told 83,000 others to piss off and get their own seats. Clare and I for the first half sat half way up the 3rd tier around about the middle of the pitch; a great view of the game, but it was a good thing that the players had numbers and names on their backs elst-wise we would not have know who was who from up there. But just where was Stu? Well, if you were to run out onto the pitch as a player, there are two shelters/benches on either side as you run on; one for Manchester United and one for the Sydney Combined team. Stewart was, you are not going to believe this. In fact when talking to the people around us and explaining our situation, Clare was referring to him as her ex boyfriend when pointing him out. He was, in the front row, 3 seats away from the Man U bench. But guess what? Second half it was my turn. I mentioned the carnival atmosphere. You really had to be there. The air was simply electric. We had come to see our heroes play soccer. The score did not matter; just the game and the players. Manchester United this year are celebrating winning their 20th Premier League title which is 2 more than rivals Liverpool and 7 more than Arsenal; in fact midfielder Ryan Giggs has won 13 titles with Manchester United which is more titles than all but 2 of the teams in the competition. Giggsy, my hero, one of the all time greats of the game is 40 this year and still scoring goals! And the game? The crowd cheered when Manchester scored each of their first 2 goals and nearly brought the roof down when the home side slotted one in. You see it didn’t matter as long as our heroes were out there doing their thing. We cheered goals; we cheered corners; we cheered penalties; we cheered. After the game at least 40,000 elated fans all went straight to the station. Some, like us decided a cuppa and a bickie would go down whilst we hoped the crowd would as well; and yes they both did. We spoke to a couple of police officers who reported that they too had enjoyed the evening and the crowd with no incidents worth worrying about. We returned to the station which worked like this;- you entered through one of about 8 side gates; they only allowed enough people through each gate that would fit into a train carriage. As you were entering the station a full train was pulling out virtually being pushed out, as it were, by an empty train. There is no way they could that any better. Elves brownies and cakes The Shoe Maker had elves, cobblers. No it’s true, or at least that ‘s how the story goes. Well I have a little fairy, elf, nymph who, in collusion with her senile grandmother manufacture the most delightful little cakes and cookies. Did I tell you I like cakes and cookies? I am their official food taster and if her luck holds out, Rhonda gets a go too. I remember Rhonda’s first fairy made brownie. She looked it over and said “it’s a bit dry isn’t it.” then she tried it inhaled it more like. Dry it wasn’t. Young Jo (which is short for Jo Mackenzie) had made a perfectly moist and flavoursome confection which we both enjoyed. It seems that almost every time Jo visits I benefit by having to taste test her wares. I would like you to know, Jo Mackenzie that we, Rhonda and I, are both very much looking forward to your next visit. Australia Postal Service Australia Post will deliver anywhere, on time and in pieces. Years ago I reported to the local sorting station in Kirrawee somewhere that the “Postie” was cramming small packages, containing DVDs into the tiny excuse for a mail box often breaking them. It was also the same problem with magazines which they would have to tear as they were forced into the box and therefore could not be removed without rending them further. They chief officer at the time advised me thus:- seal up the letter box so that nothing could be put into it; put a notice on the outside to the affect that mail is to be delivered to the shop around the corner. He, in turn would place a notice at the sorting station that all mail for Top Video; 36/61-65 Glencoe St was to be hereafter delivered. There has since only really been 2 regular “Posties”; Dave and Maria. The problem only now arises when Maria, who we have had for over 5 years, goes on leave. Her temporary replacements can’t find the shop and apparently don’t have time to go looking. The long ago posted notice in the sorting room either never existed or no longer exists and no one wants to know about it. Complaints? Well Australia Post, Officially, doesn’t care about your mail. Their job is to deliver it to your mail box. It is your job to provide the appropriate receptacle. Legal documents, magazines and fragile items are simply not their problem. And do they wonder why more and more people are using alternatives, like the Parcel Point service we provide? No; they just don’t care.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:38:47 +0000
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