If you, dear reader, have missed my musings over recent weeks, please accept my apologies, for I seem to have been overloaded, both on the work and the home front, for many weeks…...
Luckily, while the pace of life has not dropped off, last week I was able to enjoy some of the tourist attractions of Melbourne, and all in the guise of work.
On Wednesday night, we hosted some colleagues for dinner at the iconic Young and Jackson’s Hotel on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in the city. Drinks in the upstairs bar, with the feminine charms of “Chloe”, displayed on the wall. It’s hard to see why, in 2007, that this painting created so much fuss in a bygone era, as she does not look in any way a hussy… Maybe, it was just the nudity in an outwardly “prudish” age. Dinner in the upstairs restaurant saw us enjoying the view of Flinders St Station, Federation Square and the bustle and hum of a busy city, and a lovely meal before heading home at a decent hour, with two days of conference in front of us.
Next day, we had lunch at One Fitzroy St, in St Kilda, as part of a team building exercise, with several tram rides during the afternoon, especially for the benefit of our Kiwi visitors, followed by dinner on the Restaurant Tram, which took us on a slow, but relaxing journey round the city and inner suburbs of Melbourne, while we ate and drank with our colleagues. One late starter (to the drinking) demonstrated his capability to catch up quickly with an attempt to cut his steak with the back of his knife.
An animated discussion on the chances of the All Blacks in this year’s World Cup Rugby about to commence in France, did not result in our Kiwi boss promising we could have the week off for celebrations should the All Blacks finally win the World Cup after being hot favourites for every event, but somehow finishing short of the line every time since their last World Cup in 1987.
What I really wanted was the excuse, should the All Blacks finally get over the line, to not turn up at work to hear the Kiwis crowing about a victory at last…As in all matters sporting, it all depends on performance in the games that count, not who they’ve managed to beat in the years between World Cup events. And as a pommy colleague crisply pointed out, that’s the one they really want to win and England is the current holder of the World Cup, an absolutely indisputable fact. So, I guess the crowing, if it comes, will be accompanied by many beverages, so maybe it won’t be soooooo bad….
So, after all of the merriment from these I had to admit defeat at 11.30 pm, and headed for the comfort of bed in a hotel on the edge of the city, while the more extroverted members of our party headed on to the casino for more drinks and frivolity. Clearly, I haven't had enough training in the art of partying on into the wee hours, then being able to present oneself in fine form for early morning sessions the next day, and I think it's too late now to start...!
