Cats Crush Crows

The Cats rolled on in their quest for consecutive premierships tonight with a 68 point win against the Crows at AAMI Stadium. Sport Boy and I went round to watch it at Dave's, even though Dave wasn't home. He went to Mandurah for the night but gave me a key this arvo so we could get in. "You and Mr S____ must be good friends for him to give you the keys to his house" said Sport Boy! True enough.

Geelong have won their last 8 interstate games and 32 of their last 34 games. They are starting to peak as we move toward the business end of the season.

I look forward to going to their next two games, in Geelong, especially the round 16 clash with the Western Bulldogs who are second on the ladder.

The school term is over, the holidays have begun!

The countdown to Tuesday is well and truly on now.

I rang Mum with a tempting offer this arvo. Virgin are offering return airfares from Perth to Los Angeles for $1234, the best price I've heard of in a long time! She was tempted but said it was unlikely given Walter's health at the moment.

I'm sorely tempted myself!! The fares are for travel in April-May next year. I've wanted to go back and visit some good friends in California for a long time. But, we've got financial commitments to deal with that mean we can't afford it at the moment.

Not unless we win Lotto, and considering I don't buy Lotto tickets, that's fairly unlikely.

Cats Nap

It was a day of two sleeps either side of a Cats victory.

With church now a regular Saturday night fixture, Sunday mornings are way more laid back, literally in this case. I slept in, only stirring in time to head round to Dave's place to watch Geelong play Port on Foxtel. He wasn't home when I arrived but had considerately left the door open and the TV on. There followed a couple of enjoyable hours watching the Cats thump Port despite Port's attempts to thump Gary Ablett at every opportunity. It didn't stop the little champ from probably notching up another 2 or 3 Brownlow votes as the Cats won by 10 goals.

I headed home and feeling tired headed back to bed for a nap! Ah the joys of the day of rest!

Up for dinner and a little family time and now.... back to bed!

The Drought is Over...The Cats are premiers

The long and painful wait finally came to an end today as Geelong won their first premiership in 44 years when they annihilated Port Adelaide by 119 points and sweetest of all, I was there to see it!

That's a whole post of it's own that will have to wait.

Meanwhile, a few pictures of the triumphant Cats, the team I have supported all my life, through the heartbreak of 5 Grand Final losses.

I've waited my whole life for this day, now I can die happy, Geelong are premiers.

Go Cats. Steve johnson, reformed character and star player, winner of the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the Grand Final.
Nathan Ablett had a great game and kicked three goals.
Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel was fantastic.
Gary Ablett is a genuine superstar, AFLPA MVP for 2007, Coaches Award Winner, ABC Footballer of the Year and son and namesake of legend Gary senior who never won a premiership. He was there today to share in and celebrate his son's joy and the Cats triumph.
The sight I've wanted to see my whole life, Geelong with the AFL premiership Cup.

You Beauty, Go Cats.

Disappointment but not Despair

My deal to buy a Grand Final ticket fell through today. The bloke gave me the run around for a while and left me hanging until tonight when he finally confirmed what I had begun to suspect all along: the ticket was gone, if it ever really existed!

So it's back to Plan B: which involves heading to the MCG tomorrow with a pocket full of cash and hoping to find someone with a ticket to sell.
I remain quite optimistic about my chances, I'm determined and prepared to keep looking until something comes up.

The Grand Final Parade was a brief and relatively quiet affair from our vantage point outside Flinders St Station, the hilight being when I called out to Andrew Mackie,
"Andrew" he turned and looked at me, "Sophie says hello" to which he smiled and waved.
The Sophie in question is not Favourite Daughter but Russell and Lucy's daughter Sophie who thinks Andrew Mackie is a spunk. She'll be pleased to know I passed on her greetings to her favourite Cat.

Carolyn and Fashion Boy spent the afternoon at the Queen Victoria Markets buying clothes and accessories while Sport Boy and I went to AFL World, the AFL's Hall of Fame and interactive museum. He had great fun with all the kicking and handballing games and we soaked up a bit of footy history in the Grand Final atmosphere.

Tonight we're at Gary and Christine's place at Doreen in outer Melbourne. Sport Boy has hit it off with Nathan and they've been running around playing all night, kicking the footy and sliding on the wood floor in their socks.

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I've been waiting 44 years for geelong to win an AFL premiership and this is the best chance they've had in all that time.
I've seen Geelong win and lose many times in my life but no game has been as big as the one they'll play tomorrow afternoon. For the first time they'll start as favourites. They've had a brilliant season and deserve to win. If they play to the same standard as they have throughout the season they'll definitely win. I believe that's what's going to happen and hopefully I'll be there to see it.

Go Cats

Got One!!!!

I'm 95% certain I've got a ticket to the Grand Final!

The only doubt is because I haven't got it yet and until I hand over the money and get it in my hot little hand I can't guarantee it, but I have no reason to doubt, the bloke seemed genuine.
I'm meeting him in the city tomorrow to do the deal.

We left Leongatha early this morning in order to get down to Kardinia Park to watch Geelong's last training run before the Grand Final.
There was a big crowd there watching giving the team a rowsing reception as they came on and went off and clapping every practise goal they kicked.

Sport Boy had a kick on the ground after they finished. The ground announcer had a good sense of theatre, he played a soundtrack of the following 4 songs while 100's of people had a kick: Love Cats, Cool for Cats, Stray Cat Strut and cats in the Cradle! I was surprised he didn't play Year of the Cat but it's a little more melancholy than the rest of the bunch.

We called in to see Carolyn's Mum and Dad for a little while and talked about the Grand Final.
Now we're visiting Alan and Lorna who were keen to see the kids, having had a good time with them when they came over to Busselton last year.

We're staying with Russell and Lucy tonight before going up to Melbourne tomorrow for the Grand Final Parade.

2 sleeps to go!

Go Cats

The Cats Win the Grand Final

The VFL Grand Final that is!

Sport Boy had a good day out at the footy in Melbourne watching Geelong beat Coburg to win the VFL flag, hopefully a good omen for next Saturday's much bigger and more important AFL Grand Final between Geelong and Port Adelaide.

There was one disappointing incident today, I lost my new Geelong tracksuit top when we left it on the train. Sport Boy had been using it as a pillow laying on the floor beneath the seats and we both forgot it when we got off. We went back for it but it was gone and wasn't handed in by the time we got back to Geelong. Rats.

We ran into a few more Big Footyites at the game, following the pre-prelim final get together at Shmik Bar on Friday night. Cam, aka Mooney d'King was there and Ablett 5, and on the train home we saw Big Drop Punt (All Big Footy Nicknames, mine is Western Cat).
People are keeping their ears open for tickets on my behalf although there's gonna be stacks in the same boat, the GFC Ticket ballot results are in and a couple of people I know have already found out they missed out.

I've budgeted a "large amount" of money for the cause of getting a ticket but even that's no guarantee, I have to fine someone with one to sell first!


It's been a bad couple of days for losing things, we went to the You Yangs yesterday and climbed to the top of Flinders Peak, a place I haven't been since I was about 10 years old, but later on when we got to Point lonsdale we realised we'd left the football somewhere, probably at the You Yangs. Sport Boy is devastated cause we've been kicking the footy together every day and at the game today he looked with envy at every kid holding a footy!
I ended up ringing Favourite Daughter and asking her to pick up another one from home (I've got several) and sending it to us by Express Post tomorrow. Hopefully it will turn up at Leongatha post office on Tuesday.

Other than that our day out on Sunday was great. It was fun to revisit the places we knew so well from our childhood, Carolyn and I both having grown up in Geelong. We watched some of the Port V Roos game at the pub in Queenscliff and then had fish and chips for tea while watching some big cargo ships passing through the heads. It also inspired us to take the ferry across to Sorrento on Monday when we head off to Gippsland. It will save us going via melbourne and will be a much prettier drive skirting around French and Phillip Ilsands.
We also went on a pilgrimage to Pearl Bay aka Barwon Heads, the seaside town where one of our favourite tv shows, Seachange, was filmed.
I also showed the family where the Banfiels used to live, along with our old house in Wiggs Rd Moolap and the school I went to in grades 5 & 6.

We've really enjoyed our time in Geelong and look forward to being back here later in the week when things start hotting up for the Grand Final.

Preliminary Final Day

Things have improved since yesterday.

We returned the car this morning and hopefully won't be penalised.

I picked up the remainder of the tickets for tonight's game and then hitched a lift into town with a bloke who knew someone who is looking for tickets and so I'm meeting him in half an hour to sell one of them.
Looking out for a blue Camry on the corner of Brougham and Moorabool Streets at 10 past 12 for the deal to go down! Just gotta get a brown paper bag first!!

We're heading for melbourne on the train about 3.00pm.

The game starts at 7.40.

Hopefully the celebrations will start about 3 hours after that!

Geelong

We arrived in Melbourne ok, got a car and drove to Geelong, found the Caravan Park and settled in to a very nice chalet, getting to bed about 2.00am.

Not much has gone right today though.

I discovered to my horror that yesterday was the only day to register for the Grand Final ticket ballot and I missed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disaster!!!!!!!!

There was only a limited chance of getting aticket via the ballot, but not being in it means no chance at all!!!

I'm not giving up (should Geelong make it) but it may mean trying to buy one from a scalper or some other source!!!

I'm determined to be there if at all possible!

Meanwhile the Ticketmaster debacle took a bizarre twist when I discovered that my "aborted" order yesterday morning was actually successful!
So, instead of 3 tickets to the preliminary final I now have 6!!!!!!
At least the three of us will be able to sit together but it leaves me with three extra tickets to dispose of.
Hopefully I'll find some fans still looking for tickets at the ground.

I was pretty stressed out by all this making things tense in the Holt Press world.
The stress leves rose higher when we tried to return the hire car and couldn't find the place to drop it off as the address was wrong on the form and the peak hour traffic was making driving difficult.
So, we still have the car and will have to drop it off first thing in the morning and hope we don't get penalised.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, and especially tomorrow night will give great cause for celebration.

Geelong

It always seems strange to me when I start the day on one side of the country and finish it on the other. Last night I dropped Carolyn and the boys at the airport then spent the night in Cameron's caravan in Belmont. It was warm and comfortable but the bed was significantly shorter than I'm used to. Thankfully the cupboard at the end of the bed is only half size, allowing me to stick my feet out and lie reasonably straight, leaving just the issue of keeping them warm to contend with! An extra blanket wrapped around them did the trick.
The early start, with the alarm going off at 5.50am was not pleasant but at least it ensured I got to the airport on time. Unfortunately for Carolyn, last night's flight was delayed by an hour, which was also bad news for Dad, who could have had an extra hour in bed this morning before picking them up if only he'd read his text message! For an accomplished blogger, his lack of conversance with sms'ing is a shame. They are all safely back home in Gympie although it's raining up there. The weather in Victoria however is lovely.

I took the skybus into the city then the train down to Geelong.
Allan Banfield picked me up which was a case of fortunate timing, he and Lorna had just returned from a 3 day trip to Echuca.
I'm staying with Russell and Lucy and their kids David and Sophie in Geelong. They used to live in Perth and we worked together for Fusion many years ago.
He is a fellow school chaplain now, working at Oberon High School. Despite living in Geelong for the last 10 years he remains a die-hard Collingwood fan but thankfully Sophie has not succumbed to the Magpie influence and is a firm Cats fan. I'll probably take her with me to see Geelong's last training run on Saturday morning prior to Sunday arvo's final against the Kangaroos at the MCG.
Tomorrow I'm going to visit Russell's school and in the afternoon accompany him to a new chaplain's commissioning at Colac. I'll be the second important visitor to the school this week, Leader of the Federal Opposition Kevin Rudd having been to the school on Monday!! David got to shake his hand and has already declared he's got his vote in the upcoming election.

Busy Saturday

The Cornerstone 10's Soccer Team 2007: Played 16, Won 14 Lost 2

I was awoken by a phone call from the guy at the Trophy Shop with wonderful news; despite being flat out he had managed to do the engraving on the trophies for tomorrow's soccer team wind-up, what a champ! Next time you're ordering trophies, let me recommend the trophy shop in Fig Tree Lane Busselton!
Today was the last game of the season and it was a beauty. The wind was quite strong and we were kicking into it in the first half. Despite a number of chances we were 1-0 down at half time but in the second half they showed how good they are by scoring 5 goals and winning 5-2. Sport Boy scored twice and was best on ground. A couple of the goals were sensational as the kids strung together a series of passes to cut through the opposition defense. All the parents and supporters were making heaps of noise and loving it and I was pretty excited too.

Tomorrow we'll introduce the team to the joys of Boat Soccer Squash, the game our family invented at the Boat Park in Bridgetown. There'll be trophies and a giant banana split along with a picnic BBQ lunch, it promises to be a great way to wind up what has been a fantastic season.

I only had a couple of hours after that before the start of my taxi shift (early start at 4pm). I tidied up the back patio and then we showed Sarah and Lisa through the house, explaining everything they'll need to know while they house-sit for us. Then Tina came round to pick up her painting. She told me she loves it which is very gratifying, and I loved the $300 she paid for it too!

It was a very quiet night in the cab so I finished quite early. There were the usual collection of drunks to take home safely and one bloke who loves Geelong about as much as I do so we were celebrating the Cats win over Brisbane tonight. When I told him I was going to Melbourne on Wednesday for the finals he threatened to kiss me!!! Thankfully I got him out of the cab before that unpleasant act could eventuate!!

Saturday Catch-Up

Just finished a 12 hour shift in the cab, and had my biggest night ever, collecting $718 in fares and clearing over $300 for the shift. The holiday fund continues to grow.

Another contribution will come from the sale of a painting I've just completed, a commission from one of Carolyn's friends, Tina. She came to see it today and gave it a BIG thumbs up which was both gratifying and a relief. Picture to follow.

Fashion Boy left for Perth on the bus this morning where he will be participating in the WA State Youth Parliament for the next three days as the representative for the electorate of Vasse. I was asleep when he left (post-taxi) but I left him a card with some words of encouragement and affirmation. He must have appreciated it because he left me a note saying he'd been feeling nervous and it had "really boosted his confidence". He has prepared a speech on an issue relevant to the area, the restoration of the Busselton Jetty, and I think he should do quite well. I went on special camps and events when I was at school and always had a great time. One of my best friends, Sally, and I met on a creative writing and drama camp when we were at school. It would be great if FB also made some good friends through the experience.

Sport Boy scored another goal this morning as Cornerstone reversed the result from our first game against Dunsborough. They beat us 3-2 early in the season but today we completely outplayed them and won 7-0, scoring a couple of cracking goals in the process.

I wish I wasn't so tired right now because Ian McNamara is broadcasting "Australia All Over" (ABC Radio Programme) from Bunbury this morning and I've always wanted to go to one of his outside broadcast shows. This is the closest I've ever been to one but I'm just too tired to drive to Bunbury again, having already been up there and back twice tonight in the taxi. Because of the time difference (WA is two hours behind the East coast) the show started at 4.00am our time. It has been a wild night in the region, very strong winds and heavy rain storms. Not ideal for standing around in the dark watching/listening to a radio show!
Hopefully I'll get another chance some other time.

Finally, on the topic of missed chances, I picked up a group in the cab tonight and we talked about the footy. On discovering I was a Geelong fan he said "We just buried my brother who was a staunch Geelong supporter. He dropped dead of a heart attack last week, aged .....47!!" That's one year older than me! I've said before if Geelong don't win a premiership in my lifetime I'll die a very unhappy man. This is our best chance in 44 years and this poor bloke droppped dead 6 weeks before it might finally happen! That's sad and sobering!

Talking of Geelong, their game starts in 7 hours so I need to get to bed and get some sleep in preparation.

Our friends Rolf and Nonna are coming down from Perth tomorrow arvo to stay for a night. It will be nice to have some guests in the house.

12 in a Row The Cats March On

Geelong just beat Fremantle by 68 points in another awesome display.

Blogging from Altona

Just called in to the thriving industrial suburb of Altona to find a computer and found I had to join the Altona Meadows Library in order to blog! The flight to melbourne and transfer to Trevor and Anne's place at Greensborough went smoothly although I rejected the first hire car they gave me because of the strong cigarette smell! I'm in a little blue Yaris so everything is familiar.

This morning I rendezvouzed with Irish Jayne, see blog roll on sidebar, and we hung out for an hour. I took her to see the best house in Melbourne, at 375 Clarke St Northcote, the house that belonged to my Nan and Pa for about 50 years and the holder of a veritable treasure trove of memories from my childhood. She seemed to enjoy hearing my stories and getting a glimpse of my childhood. The house has changed significantly, an extra storey has been added and to my horror the sleepout has been pulled down! The backyard has become pretty derelict and is guarded by a large but relatively docile dog. Further amazement that the house next door, a semi-detached or semi-attached to be more exact, has also been pulled down and removed.

I dropped Jayne back at her hotel in Collins St and am now meandering south to Geelong, my "spiritual home".

Saturday

Most things went to plan today.

The soccer team won (by a cricket score!) and Sport Boy achieved the goal I set him of passing the ball 20 times during the game. He even got excited when his passes lead to team-mates scoring goals, running over to the sideline to give me high 5's!

Geelong won, beating Sydney, and stretching their winning streak to 8 to stay a game clear on top of the ladder.

I got most things packed.

The other drivers kindly offered to cover for me so I didn't have to do the late shift and finish at 6am, in order that I can get a bit more sleep before heading to Perth with the Country Week team tomorrow lunchtime. It helped that one of the driver's daughters is in the team!

So, with blogging responsibilities taken care of, albeit briefly, I'm going to bed.

I don't know how much chance I'll have to blog next week or how much access I'll have to the net, but I'll be trying to keep up to date.

Oh When the Saints...

Geelong didn't even play this weekend but still managed to go further clear at the top of the ladder courtesy of the Eagles losing to St Kilda! Carn the Cats. Mum and Walter are here for the night, it's good to see them after their time away.

Holt Press All Sports Update

The Cats had another good win this afternoon, beating Brisbane by 50 points to stay top of the AFL ladder. Gotta be happy with that. Sport Boy and I went to the Esplanade to watch the second half over a lemon squash and dessert.
I then had to hurry in to the art gallery for my afternoon roster!In a couple of hours Aaron Baddeley will try and hold off the the biggest threat in golf, Tiger Woods on the final day of a major, and hang on to win the US Open. This time last year Geoff Ogilvy, another Aussie, came from nowhere to win his first Major. Back in the 80's and 90's I would always get up early to watch the Golf Majors in the hope of seeing The Shark, Greg Norman win. He seldom did and I'd feel disappointed. Hopefully Aaron will hold his nerve and triumph.
Tomorrow I'm going on an overnight hike on the Bibbulmun Track. It's pretty cold in the south-west at the moment so I'm trying to fit two sleeping bags in so I've got a better chance of not freezing tomorrow night!

The Cats are Number 1!

I know there's a few Holt Press readers who switch off when I start talking about football, in fact I know there's one who clicks Next Blog at the mere mention of anything about any sport at all, but I just have to say The Cats won their 6th game in a row today in a very hard-fought contest with the Adelaide Crows at Football Park in Adelaide and now sit at the top of the AFL Ladder at the half-way mark of the season.
That is good, I'm a happy little blogger!

I went driving with Favourite Daughter this afternoon and she clocked up another 3 1/2 hours in her log book. (She needs 25 in total of supervised driving). We went down Caves Road and discovered a beautiful place called Karriview Lodge, somewhere to go if you win Lotto. I don't play Lotto so it's unlikely I'll get there, but it was nice to see a glimpse of how the other half live. Next stop was Moses Rock where I confused a tourist by asking which way the McDonalds was? She looked genuinely confused!

A funny thing happened in Dunsborough on the way home. We pulled up outside the Big Pig Pizza Shop and as FD turned the engine off, all the lights in Dunsborough went off! I'm not suggesting there was a connection but it was certainly strange to be plunged into the darkness of a blackout at the very moment she turned the key off.

But wait, there's more, the strangeness did not end there.

We adjourned to the public toilets for a necessary break then returned to the car, forgoing the idea of pizza which I was fairly sure could not be cooked by torch light. FD got in the car, turned the key to start the motor, and I kid you not, all the lights in Dunsborough came back on!!
True story!

So, we got out of the car and ordered a couple of pizzas while our luck held!

Long Day

I've just finished a 7 hour shift in the taxi, which followed an 8 hour day working for Dave at the glass factory! I've done 2 days for Dave so far, helping him out with a staff shortage. He's got lots of work and no workers so I offered to give him a hand, he has contemplated closing the business down because of the difficulty in finding employees so I figured I could lend him a hand for a few days. I've been assembling windows. More work with my hands! I know! Hard to believe!
The frames are all cut and ready, I just have to measure and cut the glass, then put them together. I'm getting the hang of it and I think I finished about 10-12 today. Cutting the glass is fun although handling the big sheets is tricky and a little nerve wracking. Hopefully I'll get as far as assembling some doors tomorrow, with toughened glass, for showers and bathrooms.

I don't normally drive a cab on Wednesday nights but Gavin rang yesterday and asked if I could fill in. The money is handy so I said yes. It was a steady but quiet shift. The real drama happened outside the pub while we were waiting for fares. Two big fat drunks had a punch up in the middle of the road. It was pretty nasty and a mob of blokes got involved, mostlry trying to pull them apart and stop it but at one stage I thought an all-in-brawl was about to erupt so I called 000 to alert the cops. Next time I drove past the pub it had quietened down, not sure if the police made it or not.

Final piece of good news for the night is that I've managed to get the DVD Dave did for me of the Geelong v Carlton game from the weekend to work, on the computer, so I'll be able to watch and enjoy the game. I'll invite Stu round to watch it too, he can deliver my Vanilla Diet Coke and Easter Egg at the same time!!

A Good Day

The wedding was lovely. Not without it's disappointments but considering all the factors it went well. Familys are very difficult animals at times!
I just finished my painting by the time we had to leave, and even did a few little touch ups once we were at the wedding to finish it properly.
Afterwards we had dinner at a pub and I was able to watch the frst half of the Geelong game on Foxtel. I listened to the rest on the radio as we drove home and back at the unit and got very excited as Geelong first snatched a draw then again came from behind to win in extra time against Port.
We leave for Wudinna early in the morning then onto WA. Should be home tomorrow night all going well.