16 July 2007 - As one door closes..

On the Saturday before we left Marc kindly paid for us to go to another of those AFL matches. This time it was against Essendon. It was an evening match kicking off at 7.10. We were joined by Marc's pals Mike and Brad and their girlfriends. We gave Ron and Chris a call to see if they were going-Ron's a big Essendon Fan. But they weren't going-a wise decision as it transpired-Western Bulldogs won the match! Matt tried to inject a bit of English style 'enthusiasm' into the Doggie fans with some chanting but it didn't catch on.. (Both 'Doggie Doggie Doggie, WOOF WOOF WOOF' and 'How much is that Doggie in the window' went down badly)

Anyways afterwards we went to a party in the city which was hosted by a friend of a friend of a friend. It was a really Australian/American affair with loads of surfery blond chaps talking their local colloquial rubbish which neither of us could make head nor tail of. There was also a bird there who absolutely hated pommies beyond all reason-so much so she wouldn't even come near us, but we both gave her an earful at the end!

It was a great night..

The next day we inquired a little more about the acoustic night we found on the net and then decided we would go. Marc was well up for it and a couple of his friends who were at the party the night before also seemed keen. We had to fly out of Australia the next day and had to be up at 5am to go to the airport. Marc's housemate's girlfriend had kindly offered to give us a lift.. We arrived at Sagi Food and Wine bar in a place called Northcote about 10 mins from Marc's place for the Open Mic Night. It was a pretty swanky joint. Matt was able to use the house guitar and played a 10 strong set which lasted about half hour. Towards the end performed a cover of the Missy Higgins track 'Steer' which he dedicated to an ecstatic Marc (This song has kinda been the soundtrack to our time in Melbourne). Unfortunately no record executives rushed to sign Matt up after the set but it was a fantastic evening none the less. We got a cab back afterwards which was surely the funniest cab ride ever.. The driver-Johnny Pumpkin was a Greek chap with the deepest voice of all time!!! We were all in hysterics the whole way home..There was a strange smell in the taxi the whole way which Marc swears blind was laughing gas which Mr.Pumpkin was pumping into the vehicle to encourage some kind of tip perhaps. Its an unusual theory but comical all the same.

Anywayz..we went to bed that night at about 1am with the alarm set for 4...ouch!