A Few Catch Up iPics

 At the footy one night at the MCG I passed a young bloke who looked familiar. He turned out to be an ex-Carine kid now living in Melbourne with his partner.

 Another ex-Carine kid was there that night: Mark Nicoski who plays for the Eagles. I coached Mark as a junior in the school team.

 At another footy game, this girl found a creative use for these inflatable hand giveaways.

 On the flight back from Queensland when I went to visit Pop I spotted a fellow Spurs fan. Admittedly he was hard to miss!

 I finally made it to an auction at Leskis a few months back where they were selling the first ever Brownlow medal, won by Geelong champion, E. G. Cargi Greeves in 1931. I thought about putting in an early bid just so I could say I'd bid on the original Brownlow but the starting price was $175,000 and there were only two bids! It sold for $200,000 to an anonymous buyer who has since given it back to Geelong FC to go on permanent display at Kardinia Park.

 This is the bloke who made the first bid but didn't go any higher. He did buy the other medal on sale though, won by Stan Judkins from Richmond, for a more modest price of $45,000. I talked to him afterwards and learned that he now has two Brownlows, having previously bought Len Thompson's medal.

 

An interesting attendee at the auction was iconic actor William McInnes. This picture was taken by his wife Sarah whom, I was very sad to learn, subsequently died of cancer just a couple of weeks ago.

 My mate Broady was in Melbourne recently for a TEAR conference and I went up to meet him. We took a trip out to see the old VFL/AFL Park at Waverley then had dinner at a little Chinese restaurant in the suburbs. To our surprise, there were autographed dinner plates on the wall from previous diners, Venus and Serena Williams and several other pro tennis players!

 One of the subtly decorated houses in Ocean Grove post-the Grand Final.

 Sport Boy on a "home-school excursion" with me. We went to the Immigration Museum in Flinders St, and then onto IKEA to buy picture frames. I entered some of my work in a recent art show in Ocean Grove. Sadly none of it sold.

 Attentive readers will know that I love personalised number plates. This one really took my fancy, especially with Pop in tow, taken in Dianella while we were in Perth for Bruce and Paula's wedding.

 I dropped something off for Cam while on my way to the airport but he wasn't home. Instead Louise and the girls were happy to receive it and say a quick g'day. Cam is at present visiting Phil & julie in Kabul. I wish I was there with him. One of my goals is to go to Afghanistan and visit Phil and his family.

 While walking down High St Northcote last week I spotted an older lady with what looked like her own anti-mugging device!

I went up to Northcote for the release of the 2011 Footy Almanac, edited by John Harms, pictured here with his baby daughter, and Paul Daffey. I am an avid fan of The Footy Almanac but my interest was personal this year: One of my pieces was published in this year's edition, a match report for the round 11 game between the Cats and the Bulldogs. My first piece of published writing! Woohoo!  Get your copy at a good bookstore or via the FA website. I met several other footy writers at the event which in turn stoked the fires under my modest writing ambitions. The other bonus is that John is a well-known Geelong fan!!