At the soccer

Andrew and Lynne headed off to the footy following the birthday cake and Michele and I took Nick and Kate back home- they could have gone to the footy but they end up bored even before quarter time 9and they call themselves Australian!- they are only 9 and 11 but still).
So Saturday night saw Michele and I baby-sitting and having a relatively early night. But I needed my sleep because today was the day I was going to see Nick play soccer.
Up at "sparrows f**t " dressed and packed and ready to leave for the Balcombe Reserve in Beaumaris. Not out of the way, in fact close to Maddy's place but anytime before 8am on a Sunday is early.




So Andrew Nick and I bundled in to Paul and James' car and were chauffeured to the soccer match. We didn't bring an umbrella- one of the side effects of a country in drought is that you forget how to prepare for outdoor events in winter. We were lucky enough that there was plenty of ti-tree around that formed a kind of natural umbrella that we could huddle under when it spattered rain.
Andrew went and collected Maddy and set up a chair for her. She was still relatively tired from the "party" but was happy to sit and watch Nick play soccer.
When she arrived she said she hadn't realized that it was as cool as it was.
Andrew had brought a jacket that I could wear in the rain so I gave her my red leather coat and she wrapped her shawl around her head hence the Italian grandma look.

The soccer itself had many highlights not the least of which were the spectators.
The coach for the Beaumaris side could see his "sheep station" slipping away at one stage and was screaming very unpleasantly with all the parents from the Carrum team (Nick's team) all tut-tutting about his bad grace. Beaumaris won 3-2 but the boys from Carrum certainly didn't disgrace themselves. They played really well and had a good time which is the whole point of it really.

Nick is such a wiry little thing and really enjoys playing the game but enjoys being with his friends just as much. He didn't do his skipping around in excitement as he did when I saw him play Aussie rules but he did spend some time discussing with his fellow players how the ball bounced off his head when he did his head butt.
Another highlight from the spectators point of view was when a boy from the Beaumaris team arrived with his Golden Retriever- at least the Golden Retriever arrived with the boy in tow. They headed over to the sidelines and then reappeared across the ground when a man presumably the boy's father walked towards the group. The dog, prancing and with its tongue lolling, was pulling the boy who was running at full speed, arm being yanked from its socket as he headed towards the man saying "Dad you gotta take her she's acting crazy!" It got a laugh from all of us watching them.
As to the soccer being played- Nick did a grand job and kicked the ball a number of times as well as setting up a goal for one of his team members. He also did quite a bit of rolling on the ground. His friend James kicked a goal and then ran around like a European soccer star arms akimbo and terribly excited. As were we!
Possibly the greatest highlight was when the game was over and Maddy asked Andrew which was the boy named Carrum. We told her it's the name of Nick's team- she did laugh and say that is one thing she won't live down! She's right.