Where's Vic?: August already?

August started with a weekend trip to Townsville to see my pal Rebecca again. It was great to see her again and amazing to see how much her daughter Eleni had changed in just a few months. On the Friday we ate Kangaroo burgers (you can just buy them from the supermarket!).

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Magnetic Island again and hung out at the beach. Being true to our nationalities, I swam in what I considered to be a warmish sea (in the stinger nets of course) while Rebecca, a true north Queenslander (where the temp doesn't dip below 16c), watched in a thick jumper. We then had a few margaritas, before heading home for many bedtime stories with Eleni. To mix it up, and because we find this type of thing funny, Rebecca was calling out Harry Potter characters for me to impersonate while reading. Not sure if Eleni appriciated The Hungry Caterpillar read by Voldermort, but we were having a great time...

Sunday was a stroll along the strand, looking at the sand sculptures and hanging out at the sea pool lagoon.

It was still very much world cup season in Australia. Naturally I had planned my life around the England games, as we were definitely getting into the final, right?

The following Saturday was an absolute corker. I played football in the morning, then headed to the pub for 7 hours of watching football. First up was Australia vs France, climaxing in the longest penalty shoot out in world cup history (both women's and men's). I was watching with my football friends, who were mainly south American (more on that later) but very much supporting Australia. The atmosphere was electric, and, without seeming condecending, I was warmed to see a pub full of Aussies experience their country in a world cup penalty shoot out for the first time. Next up was England vs Columbia, where I was very outnumbered! After all the adrenalin of the last game, this one was practically a sedative, with England sailing through. Finally, it was the opening game of the Premier League, so myself and my mate Shali (also a Gooner!) went upstairs to join the official Arsenal supporters club of Australia to watch Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest. And yes, there were more than 2 of us (I'd say 100 people or so). It was about 1am by the time it wrapped up and I was well and truly footballed out.

Later that week, it was England vs Australia for the semi final! Myself and the head of Arsenal Australia, Tony, had made a pact to get a little corner of the pub and make it the England bit, in a non threatening way. I was a bit worried about there being some aminosity, but Aussies are so chilled out, it was ok, even when England won.

The following morning, I walked into the office at work and my manager Veronica asked me where I was watching the final, and if I could get myself to Sydney for Sunday, then there was a ticket for me! So 48hours later I found myself on my way to a world cup final! It was also great as I was able to squeeze in a brunch with my pal Hannah on the Sat and Abbie on the Sunday.

My ticket holder (boss's partner's friend's friend) had had some app trouble, and the tickets were app only, so it was a nervy wait to see if we could sort it out before the game at the stadium. Thankfully it worked and there I was, watching England, in person, at a world cup final. What an absolute dream come true. I was behind the England goal in the first half, about 20 rows back and under a huge screen. The stadium was odd as it wasn't raked particularly steeply, and at my end, there was only about 40 rows. As it was mainly used for athletics, you were about 20m from the pitch, even on the front row. So the view wasn't amazing for football (not that I am complaining at all!!). In the crowd, I'd say it was about 30% English, 20% Spanish and 50 % Australians, so the atmosphere wasn't as crazy as you might imagine and far less singing Sweet Caroline than you'd imagine. It was a shame England lost, but Spain were the better team on the day. The second half was so stop start too, including a streaker on the pitch, and it stopped any momentum we might have had.

Once the game had finished, most the Aussies/neutrals left before the trophy had been lifted, which I found crazy. I made my way down to the pitch side barriers and screamed like a teenage fan girl when England did their lap of honour, I swear Lucy Bronze looked at me. What she might have thought of this strange 31 year old squealing and jumping up and down, even though we had lost. I hung around for ages afterwards, hoping they might come out and sign some autographs and got talking to some actual teenagers who were Australian and had all sat down and picked teams to support once they knew the wwc was coming to Australia. They'd started playing too as a result and I could've cried. It's so cool what hosting a competition can do to a country.

The next morning, I was on a flight back to Melbourne and at my desk by 10am.

August also bought with it a work trip to Bendigo, which I was quite excited about as I hadn't seen much of rural Victoria. As with any work trip, you don't really have time to see much of a place. It actually reminded me of a quiter version of Lancaster town centre... It also meant I got to get behind the wheel again in Aus, with the wise words of wisdom that if a Kangaroo was to jump out in front of me, I just needed to "cop it" and not swerve. This is not something covered in my UK driving test, so was glad to have a plan. Luckily, no roos were hurt under my watch.