The Clock is a huge bar over 2 floors and was a pretty cool venue and even though there was a big crowd of us we still ended up speaking to lots of random locals and the few hours we had in place flew by. The bar shut at 12 so again another venue conversation was had and a bar called "Fringe" seemed to be the winner......however, there was a mix up in communication and so 1 cab ended up at Fringe and the other cabs ended up across town at Kings Cross, which is a well known bar street. I was 1 of the group that ended up at Fringe and decided to stay put and make the most of the place. Even though we had been split up it was a great night seeing some new places and met some really cool new people!
Due to the heavy Friday night, Saturday was a slow start, but we couldnt feel sorry for ourselves too much as we had tickets to the afternoon AFL game at the SCG to watch the Sydney Swans play the East Coast Eagles. Lee opted out of the AFL, feeling Fridays effects pretty badly, and so Me, Nick, Kerryn and our friends Mike and Renee went to the game and had a nice relaxing time slowly drinking beer and watching the Swans to a comfortable win. Nobody really fancied a big night so after the game we headed to a local 10 pin bowling alley for a game (I came 2nd) and then went home. Nick decided to stay at Kerryns and as Lee headed out to watch the Man Utd Vs Tottenham game I was home alone on a saturday night watching TV with a Pizza.......and couldnt have been happier.
On Sunday Nick came over around lunch time and picked me and Lee up and we then headed to a pub in Balmain, picking Kerryn up on the way. The main reason for going to this pub on the Sunday was due to the fact that its well known on ANZAC day to be a great place to play the traditional Ozzie WW1 soldier (aka Diggers) game of Two-Up! Two-Up is played by tossing 3 coins into the air and betting on how they land, either heads (all heads or 2 heads 1 tail) or Tails (all tails or 2 tails 1 head) and is only allowed to be played outside of casinos once a year on ANZAC day! I didnt quite see the appeal before arriving but once I saw the commotion and just how many people were playing it was hard to understand why it isnt played all the time. There was a 6ft square hardboard "area" in the middle of the room with around 150/200 people gathered around it on different tiered levels. Only 3 people stood in the central area. 1 guy all mic'd up to announce the result of the toss, his mate who for all intense and purposes didnt do much except drink but did try to keep the spectators off of the area and then the 3rd person was a random spectator picked from the crowd to do the tossing. The 3 coins were placed heads down on small wooden plank (basically a ruler) and then on the callers command the chosen spectator tossed the coins above his/her head and then the crowd scrambled for a look to see the result before the caller shouts the results. All very simple.......and the betting on it is even simpler. Everyone in the room can bet with each other, so, if you believe the toss will lands predominantly heads then you hold however much you want to bet in your hand while tapping your head with it and shouting what bet you want, for example $20 heads!! If someone else wants to take your bet, they shout $20 Tails to match your bet, and once eye contact is made you both work out the deal, the person who bets Tails keeps hold of the money and then you both wait on the result thats shouted out and however wins keeps the cash!! Being there and playing was a combination of east end dog pit fighting, mixed with a busy trading floor in a small roman colosseum!! The room was roasting hot, drink and money flying all over the place and the noise was electrifying (especially when a bad toss was done and so didnt count and a huge BOOOOOOOOOOOOing would ensue) and it was amazing!! Me and Lee instantly shoved our way through the crowd to the edge of the main area and after a few test runs we both started to bet!! Its a 50/50 game and we both won and lost our fair share and had a great time playing, however Lee had a better time and walked away $70 up while I ended up $50 down. The good thing was though, I didnt care! It was such a good laugh playing I wish we could do it every weekend, but I guess thats why everyone gets into it so much as it is only a once a year thing, and also if I played it more than that I dont think my savings would last much longer. The game has to finish once the sun has set so after a couple more pints we headed to a different bar to party the night away, and it was a good end to a great day!
Monday was a nice quiet chilled out day, and was well needed after the last few days and nights! We were supposed to all be going away camping over the weekend but it never got arranged, and im quite glad it didnt as the spontaneous things we got up to were brilliant!
This week has seen me back on the job hunt.........and the good news is, I got 1!!! I start this Friday at 9am in the city centre (known as the CBD, Central Business District) at Bankwest as support on a new 8 week project. The role will involve lots of data management and analysis and seems right up my street! Not sure if Friday will be a a full day or just a meet and greet and get used to my surroundings day, but 1 thing I do know is that me, Lee and Nick will be going out for a few celebratory drinks Friday night as Lee also picked up work this week too. Its only for 2 weeks at an events company but its a step in the right direction and may lead to bigger and better things!
1 thing though about getting this job means my planned trip to Melbourne on Wednesday next week until the following Monday will have to be scrapped. So thats another $80 plus my $50 loss at Two-Up to add to the money down the drain fund!! Im not bitter though, I'll earn that all back over the next few weeks!!
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