Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the 20th Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne. The day started off with some fantastic weather so I met up with an old friend from uni, Lee "Spuffer" Dore, and had a stereotypical Australian BBQ with Steaks, Shrimps and pretty much the full works. Spuffer has lived in Melbourne for the past 9 months and now knows the area quite well. This has been a real god send for Rory and myself. He has taught us how to navigate the city, introduced us to a few of his friends and has pretty much been our guide for the past week. One of his main warnings about the Melbourne GP was that the price of everything within Albert park gets inflated 10 fold. A small can of beer was selling for around £10 and a portion of chips was around £5, in my current financial situation that was just not an realistic option. He also advised that we could not take our own drinks into the arena, which was even more frustrating.
This called for emergency action, so I devised the newly patented "bottle of whisky in a loaf of bread" trick and it worked brilliantly. So for around the price of 2 x F1 beers, Spuffer and myself were fully set for the days proceeding with plenty of liquor and a freshly baked crusty snack for when we got hungry. To make things even more exciting, British driver Jenson Button qualified in pole and stood a fairly good chance of winning the race. I obviously jumped straight on the bandwagon and was now the biggest Jenson Button fan in the whole of Australia. The race itself was very exciting with plenty of incidents. Even Lewis Hamilton managed to grab himself 4th after starting 15th and there were a few good crashes (He has since been promoted to 3rd due to disqualification of 3rd place). As soon as the GP finished we climbed the fence and ran to watch the winners ceremony and the spraying of champagne above the pit lane. Jenson inevitably won so we got to hear the British national anthem whilst standing on the finishing straight. This was all very exciting and made for a great day out, especially for a Brit.
Just as a little bonus, the GP ticket included entry to The Who's gig after the race. So, as soon as we had finished climbing fences and hunting for F1 memorabilia, we made our way to the concert arena and got ourselves as close to the stage as possible. On route we bumped into ex-Westlife singer Brian McFadden and his Australian girlfriend, Delta Goodrem, but they didn't really want to speak. Apparently we weren't supposed to be the VIP area in the first place, so we were soon ushered out despite my strong "I'm famous in Wymondham, Norfolk" argument. Seeing The Who live was an experience in itself. Witnessing Roger Doltrey and Pete Townsend rocking away in their sixties is something quite astonishing. With their lifestyle choices I'm surprised they can still talk let alone sing and play complex guitar solos.
Sadly, I'm still in the market for a job and in desperate need of employment. But on the bright side, yesterday's activities highlighted a new potential career path that I had previously neglected. I could be quite a good secret agent if I put my mind to it. I've got Foreign associates, smuggling contraband experience, I've infiltrated multiple restricted areas and to top it off my first name is James. Her Majesties Secret Service here I come.
