Brown & Gold Beats Navy & White

On Sat, I learnt two important things:

a. Footy has no rules.

b. The fun of footy is not necessarily in the game. The fun's in who you watch it with.

We don't follow the footy, but we got a chance to soak in the footy fever. Our friends the Hannemans invited us over to watch the final with their family and friends. They'd converted their garage into a home theatre room with a projector and white screen. The ceiling was draped in coloured crepe paper that represented the competing teams, and there were Brisbane Lions scarves and jerseys on the walls. Everyone brought their own deck chairs and snacks to share. 

Peter wrote down on a sheet of paper on the wall each visitor's prediction of what the scores would be at quarter time, half time, three quarter time and at the final whistle. 

Asked to root for Cats or Hawks, I said Hawks, just to be cheeky (and contradict CA). My preferred team is the Western Bulldogs, but they got knocked out by the Cats last Sunday. Pity, when I'd just finished memorizing the club song.

Asked about points difference, I vaguely plucked figures out of the air, saying the Hawks would beat the Cats by 10,8,6 and 4 points respectively at each quarter. 

Surprise surprise! I was declared the winner at three quarter time. My prize? A Cherry Ripe bar. 

The highlight must have been half time, when Trevor surprised his wife Mandy by walking in with a birthday cake baked by our friends' son Mark, the budding chef. The rest of us were in on the conspiracy, and it was lovely to see her expression (confused and then delighted and touched).

Because I'm not into sports, I'd brought a book to read (Streets Ahead by Richard & Monique Wakelin). I managed to finish most of it. The kids were in the house watching a video. J was coming and going a lot of the time. She would pop by the garage to smile at people or ask for a drink of water, then go across the yard into the house and rejoin the other kids. 

I watched her with a bit of anxiety at first, but she proved pretty adept at climbing steps, pushing aside the beaded curtain in the doorway and even pushing aside the glass sliding door. (At least she didn't walk into it or cry for help.)

Thanks to the Hannemann family for making us feel like we're one of them.

CA says it's just as well he didn't get to buy his Cats jersey before Sat's AFL Grand Final. Think we'll check out the AFL shop again this week. Who knows, Cats jerseys might be selling at $10. Now that'd be a bargain.