Melbourne... four seasons in one day.

As many of my avid readers may be aware, or not, I am currently back home with my fam and Embo in Melbourne (or check this out). And after a decent stint in Colombo (I like Sri Lanka, but Colombo's a whole different story), I can officially say it's good to be back home! The old addage of "four seasons in one day" still holds true - you need to wear boardshorts under your jeans, and a t-shirt, jumper and jacket.. because you may leave the house and it is beautiful and sunny, and despite the huge drought it could be raining by lunch time! Though the great thing about Melbourne at the moment is definately the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the beginning of the Australian Rules Football (a.k.a. Footy) season. I saw a comic the other day, and here is one of his jokes (mainly for Aussies I think).

Australians, sorry Aussies, like to shorten everything. When I first arrived, I said to a guy that I was going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and he goes "Nah mate, we call it the MCG". When speaking to another bloke, he goes "Nah mate, it's just the Gee". Soon it's going to be known as the G. Ever thought about buying a Vowel!?

The sad thing is, however, that Aussies really aren't getting in to the cricket this world cup. And for those who saw some of my obsession in Sri Lanka, they would understand the significant life change I have gone through and the huge void in time it has created. Part of the reason is that ti is not on free to air TV (except the Australian matches). Last night I saw one of few matches, which was Sri Lanka beating New Zealand. But because it starts at 12:30am, the pub I was at (which had cable TV) closed at 3:00am and I was forced into early retirement only seeing three quarters of the Sri Lankan batting innings. 24 hour watering holes are few and far between, with the Casino prolly being the only one and that's still 10km away from my house.. so yeah. Go Cricinfo.com! Tonight is Australia v South Africa in the semis, I'll be trying my darndest to stay awake for that!

One thing before I go. Sri Lanka made the Aussie papers the other day, I think for the first time in the past two weeks. It was in the "odd spot" of my local newspaper, which is a random funny event from around the world they publish each day to appease the lowest common denominators. I enjoy it. Here it is:

Saturday April 21, 2007
Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry is trying to convince children to open their piggy banks to help ease coin shortages. The scheme aims to bring up to 4 per cent of Sri Lanka's coins back into circulation to help avoid the cost of minting new ones.

I thoguht this was hilarious.. the piggy banks of the children of Sri Lanka is going to fund the next Kfir jet! I think if we tried this in Australia, we might finally get enough money to actually buy a vowel!

On a side note, a drunken guy in the pub last night (who was interrupting my viewing of the Sri Lanka cricket destroyers!) tried to convince me if I melt down a 50c coin, the nickel in the coin would be worth around $1.20 at current prices. So I gave him two 50c coins and asked him to buy me a beer at $2.40 - he wasn't none too impressed. For the curious, the 50c coin is made of 75% copper and only 25% nickel - so his calculations are way out. They used to be made up of 80% silver, but because so many people melted the coins down in 1966 they changed (go WIkipedia!)

Take care all, and hope to catch up with you soon ont he flipside.

Peace, Love and Shirt-Fronting Ball Ups,

B.

P.S. Yeah, my camera hasn't moved far since I got back... maybe next time.