Except for a bit of a stuff-up over arrival times/car-hire with Pop everything else went well. The short story is he managed to get where he was going without my navigational skill. For the long story check out his post on Holtieshouse.As well as the recounting of his train travel tales on the trip back to Brisbane here.
At least I managed to arrive in plenty of time for the main event, Bruce & Paula's wedding, unlike his favourite daughter but more of that shortly.
As previewed last post, the trip to Perth lead to sleep deprivation and a three hour time zone shift so I was pretty wrecked when I got to Perth. The Heir picked me up from the airport and took me to his
I carefully picked my way through the debris and saying a prayer lay down to get some desperately needed sleep in what passes for Spike's bed, a mattress on the floor, despite there being a serviceable looking bed against the far wall as far as I could tell.
I spent the rest of the day looking around Fremantle and hunting for football books in op shops. You'll be delighted to hear that I found a copy of "Origin of the Speccies" by Nathan Jarvis which Cam has been recommending to me for a long time. He was right, it's a great book.
Returning to the slum I was greeted by an odd noise, the bleating of a sheep which the Heir informed me was destined for the BBQ at a school camp he was helping to run on the weekend. Spike tells me his big brother has become quite a "Bushman", which explained the red-dust encrusted ute he picked me up in.
Apparently the original plan involved teaching teenage boys the life-skill of killing and butchering a sheep. Was I the only one who wondered about the wisdom of arming troubled teenage boys with sharp knives? It seems not, as the revised plan, suggested by other staff, saw The Heir do the dirty work and deliver the carcass ready for the barbie. Meanwhile, on a Thursday night, in suburban Perth, an unhappy sheep presented other dilemmas. I only surmise it was unhappy because of the constant bleating, though perhaps it had a premonition of the fate that awaited it, I don't know, never-the-less I figured the neighbours would be less than impressed.
Leaving the boys to their sheep problem I took the train to Maylands to meet Hugh. From there we headed up to Broadie's place for dinner with The Breakfast Club. Just as well I sent Broadie a text half an hour before we got there otherwise not only would he have forgotten we were coming but would have had a mate round for a beer!! He was apologetic in the way only Broady can be, that is, making his complete stuff-up out to be someone else's (read my) fault. Further to his woeful ineptitude in hosting the first Breakfast Club meeting in a year, he had already had dinner! Hugh and I got takeaway from the local Thai restaurant and Broadie watched us eat. Then, in a further breaking of Breakfast Club "Rules & Traditions" Tammy came home, and joined in our discussion! Despite these set-backs we had a great time and talked long into the night before I took pity on Hugh, who tends to crash around 10pm, and we headed home to his place in Inglewood for the night.
On Friday I finally hooked up with Pop and relieved him of the driving duties. We did a few pre-wedding messages, cruised a few op shops, had messy Subway for lunch then arrived at Bruce and Paula's in the quaintly named "Hellfire Way", urban planners with a sense of humour perhaps!
Leaving Pop to learn exercises to help his Bells Palsy from the bride's mother I took the hire car and drove over to Letchy's for the 2nd biggest event on the program, the CFFL Winners Dinner! I'll spare you the detailed descriptions of the night, suffice to say that this year I and my FF team The Cat's Whiskers won the premiership so it was especially sweet for me.
While we are a bunch of blokes who love footy, the reality is we are a bunch of close mates and the footy gives us a vehicle/excuse to get together/stay in touch/talk/stir/joke and muck around. The fact we've been running the competition for 10 years means we now have a shared history and many many great stories which get trotted out, and added to, each year. It will be lost in translation but the funniest moment of the night came when Letchy declared that "It wouldn't have been a problem if Wazza hadn't violated my bus" prompting me to spray a mouthful of Coke all over the ground!
As I said, you had to be there, but for those of you who were and also read the blog, I'm sure you'll agree and smile at the memory!
Saturday dawned and the plan was that as custodian of the hire car and driver most familiar with Perth, I would pick up my sister Vicki from the airport at 10.40 and we would have plenty of time to get back to Bruce's, change into our wedding clothes, and get to the park where the ceremony was to be held at 2.30.
Perhaps you've spotted the flaw in these plans? No-one told the airline company how important it was that they deliver this particular passenger on time! An oil leak lead to everyone disembarking and a 2 1/2 hour delay before they finally took off.
Only once the ceremony had started was I jolted back to reality when the celebrant said my name and called me up to do the reading!!! I had completely forgotten about this particular responsibility! Not quite looking the part in my shorts and Geelong shirt, I tried to cover my embarrassment by saying "I was told it was casual dress!". Thankfully no-one cared what the bit part player looked like, they were there for the main attractions, Bruce and Paula, and it was a terrific service in a lovely setting.
The reception, at Gordo's on The Vines was equally good and I had the privilege and pleasure of making a speech in honour of the happy couple and proposing a toast to absent friends.
Bruce thanked me afterwards and said he concurred with everything I had said which was a nice affirmation to conclude the day's celebrations.
To be Continued
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