Educational Experiences

Long weekends are to be enjoyed. Take, par example, the long weekend that I have just enjoyed, or perhaps more aptly, experienced. Let me take you interested folks on a journey, a journey into sound...

Ok, no sound actually, but I was just having an 80's/90's music flashback. I will resume normal broadcasting.

This weekend involved a few traditions. The first was watching the Grand Final (the AFL, aka the important one) at a couple of friends' place. They borrow a wide screen tv so they have 2 set up in their lounge room, and about 30 people play musical chairs and drink a lot. This was a fun afternoon, but somewhat bittersweet for obvious reasons. The close loss also meant that most of us were still sober enough to watch Doctor Who at 7.30. This was the highlight of the day, as the episode featured not only cybermen but the hint of daleks to come. Sadly, there was more cheering when the inevitable daleks appeared in the teaser for next week's season finale than there was in the first half of the Grand Final, but I shall let sleeping dogs lie on that one...

Sunday was my mate Gary's Oktoberfest party. This is an annual affair, and is a veritable feast of smallgoods and cabbage. To be more specific, Gary makes pilgrimages to obtain Weisswurst and other nobles sausages of German descent, and delicacies such as rollmops, sauerkraut and something that involves cooking cabbage and pork knuckle, which he yesterday confirmed is called "Cabbage and Pork Knuckle". Entry is by way of a bottle of schnapps. For those of you who have dabbled in the complex world of schnapps (and who among us have not, let's be honest), you will know that this opens up a plethora of opportunities for finding the most vile and rank alcoholic beverages imaginable.

The afternoon begins calmly enough, with around 30 or so friends sitting around enjoying the sun, drinking beer (preferably German, of course) and partaking of the wurst. As the oldie but goodie goes, it is on these days that one sees one's friends at their best and their wurst. Thank you, no really. Things do take something of a turn for the wurst (thanks again) when one's small, cute black pug does something to offend a mastiff also at the party (something like, I dunno, breathing) and gets literally shoved down about 8 stone stairs but aforementioned mastiff. Pug now has bruised eyes and suspected concussion. I kid you not.

It is later when the sun gets lower in the sky that the first trays of assorted schnapps start being passed around. this is easy enough, as the chocolate, banana, and several others are easily identified and can be avoided or snapped up readily enough. Later when the plum starts looking like the butterscotch, and the clear ones all look like each other, one can find oneself drinking potato or melon by mistake, which is a grave error. it is only when people decide to start layering shots that it gets ugly. That and when the Gletcher eis (for the uninitiated, this is a clear blue liquid with the colour, consistency and taste of blue Listerine, but with the added advantage of getting you very drunk) comes out.

Things have really taken a turn for the worst when said mad professors of mixology decide to start being 'inventive' (read: start trying to poison their friends). It may well be time to take you and your pugs home when you shoot a 'surprise' that turns out to be Gletcher Eis and champagne, and your stomach sends an express message to your brain along the lines of "Do that again, and I will make you vomit on yourself in front of your friends. A number of times. Don't say I didn't warn you."

A third tradition is the 'Day After', in this case playing Scrabble with a few slow moving friends who were at the prior days' events. Among the highlights of this non-thinking day were "Toque" and "cinema" but lowlights included "Oo", which I can reliably confirm is a Scottish derived word for wool. Hey, I got rid of one of those 6 vowels I was holding at the time.

What did you crazy kids get up to?