leisurely livin'....

yay - i'm on holidays for 2 weeks... i tell you what, last friday the working day seemed to take forever to end - it seems like i applied for these holidays so very long ago and they didn't feel like they were ever going to get here... but finally it was time to forget about work and think about relaxing and enjoying the next couple of weeks... leading up to the holidays though i did catch up with larry the librarian on my day off last monday - we spent a lovely couple of hours chatting, smoking, sharing food and a bottle of vino... a very enjoyable time...

saturday i had irene and the malmsbury mob down for a visit - they had to come down to drop off my wee louie who's staying with me for 10 days, so there'll be a lot of strolling the streets in the next week and a bit... i had thought about getting up to malmsbury for a few days but it's just not going to happen - my brother would come and stay with allie and shadow, but it's way too much to expect someone else to clean up after my old incontinent girl - and he just doesn't get the idea of getting her outside as soon as she starts moving about - he's not 'attuned' to her and forgets she's blind and deaf too - and there is a lot of picking up and carrying involved in living with a blind, deaf and incontinent dog - it's just too hard for someone else to deal with (and for me 'kids' to deal with someone else!)... so home is very much my 'holiday destination' for the next fortnight...

having visitors meant i missed the grand final though - having grown up in st kilda i can't help but have a soft spot for the sainters - me mum, me brother and me, we all followed the saints - me dad was the odd one out, with north melbourne being his team...

st kilda formed in 1873 and was originally a  victorian football association team... with widespread player dissatisfaction with the association, they shifted support to the newly formed victorian football league, becoming one of the foundation clubs of the vfl in 1897 (which became the afl in 1990)...

footy was the be-all end-all where sport was concerned for working class folk here in victoria in the 50s and 60s - it definitely took precedence at school - we (the whole school) were all packed off on footy days to watch the boys play - basketball, the 'girls' school sport, came a very poor second (just the teams went to these matches - no cheering fan club for us!) - and NO, it wasn't called netball then - i was a goalie and we played basketball (and it was still basketball up until i left school in 1970!!!) so the name-change didn't happen in victoria (centre of my universe, but i'm not sure about the rest of australia) until some time during the 70s when american national league basketball became popular in 'the colonies' after showcasing the talents of the harlem globetrotters  in exhibition games - i was lucky enough to see them a couple of times - they were amazing - totally mesmerising!!!

in 1911 footy made the move from amateur status to a 'professional sport' with the league setting a limit of 30 'bob' per week to be paid to some players (but few teams actually introduced this remuneration until years later) - this had risen (for some) to around 3 'quid' by the 50s... there was plenty of loyalty and a lot of action on the field - for many there was nothing more exciting than watching a melee (okay, all in brawl - of course that often 'provoked' more brawling amongst the more 'exuberant' spectators) - there was no such thing as the blood rule then (nor any oh&s)!!!!... it's definitely changed over the years - it's better for player health and conditions these days but there's way too much money involved... the culture is really fucked with many players seeing themselves (as do some fans) as demi-gods with entitlement to do as they like, to get away with atrocious - often criminal and often sexually abusive - behaviour... it's a sport for fuck sake - unfortunately really big money became involved and that changes everything...

i'm not a big footy fan now, but i will watch the saints playing when they're on telly - it's a sentimental thing - and because i didn't get to see the game on saturday i don't mind that it was a draw, because now  i'll be able to watch the grand final next weekend - and having won only one grand final in over a century of playing (that win over collingwood in 1966 by 1 point - that's barry breen about to kick the winning point - i was 11 and remember it vividly!) - what would be sweeter than another grand final victory over the much hated 'pies'??? GO SAINTERS!!!!

i've brought heaps of books and dvds home for the holidays - so i've got plenty of leisure activities to fill in my 'leisure time'... i made a start today - me and the gang (louie and allie on either side of me with shadow on the knee!!) watched 4 episodes of the 3rd season of true blood - now that's not a series you can just watch 1 episode of i've found - i'll probably finish that in the next couple of days - and i've got some interesting books to read and talking books to listen to - so my next couple of weeks are looking good - really relaxing...

oooh, i might even get some blogging done...