The Friday after I got the boot (for my broken foot) Steve called and invited me to the fireman's comp the next day, since it was the closest one to Melbourne left in the season. Mindful of the strong chastising I had received from my Kzoo gal pals when I looked for a place to live rather than attending a comp with Steve in December, I said "OK" despite the fact that I was leaving for Manila in 6 days and the semester was starting in 2 weeks. Oh, and it was supposed to be in the 90s and I was wearing a moon boot.
I was surprised by how much of a family event a fireman's comp is. The morning is the junior's comp, kids (boys and girls) aged 11-15 doing similar events to the seniors. We arrived in time to catch just the last few junior events. Lots of parents and aunts and uncles around, who stayed on for the seniors events where the dads and uncles and some of the older juniors participated. The kids hang around to watch. The younger firemen's wives and wee babies are there. They make the best sausages on the grill of all time for $3.50 - by far the cheapest meal I've had since moving to Melbourne. (I was telling Mom and Dad they should plan to come for one of these next fall and Dad basically said, "You had me at best brats ever.")
It's basically a bring-a-cooler-(they call them "eskis")-tent-lawnchair-and-stay-all-day activity. I did not bring an eski or a tent; Steve brought me a lawnchair. We did stay all day. By early afternoon, Steve had found me a family with a tent and an eski to hang out with so I could be out of the sun. The dad also had a moon boot. Birds of a feather. The mom had a dog who hated me for the first two hours after we met, but then decided she loved me. "It's because you're so tall when you stand up" the mom informed me.
Early in the day, I was trying to figure out why all the kids had the same numbers on their jerseys. "It's the team number," Steve informed me. Assigned in order from the first brigade formed to the most recent. His team, Drouin/Bunyip is C01 because they were the first combined brigade.
Speaking of teams, here's a list of the brigades that competed. Pronunciations in parentheses if the name isn't said the way I expected. Moe took me most of the day to figure out. (I don't understand where Australians get all the extra vowels.) Teams competing: Narre (Nary) Warren - Moe (Mooey) - Drouin/Bunyip - Pakenham - Hallam - Belgrave - Koo Wee Rup - Dandenong. Whenever I see the word "Dandenong" I hear the voice of the GPS lady, due to our scenic route back from Philip Island when Jean was here. But that's a story for another day. Anyway, I spent most of the day chuckling about team names announced over the loudspeaker.
The senior comp involves a lot of events with ladders, hydrants, hoses, carts and yes, water. It's all quite technical. Here's Steve prepping the hydrant for one of the first senior events while the juniors wrap up their awards ceremony.
"Prepping the hydrant" involves a lot of rubber bands so all the bits of the hydrant stay arranged just so, which means that whoever is running with it at full tilt can slide it right into the coupling and get on with whatever is next... Like turning on the water so that they can shoot a target or two... and spray the passle of kids on the other side of the target. There was a lot of giggling and squealing and splashing as a side event to anything that involved a hose and water. It was hot enough I thought about taking the boot out there for a soak, but decided against it.
Here's Steve doing his best event, the ladder race, which he won. You can watch by following this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lpjq6pn01em4ql5/MVI_1053.MOV
Sorry the video is sideways. I'm sparing you my first attempts where I turned the camera. Trust me that this is the better option. Steve is in the blue, yellow, and maroon for Drouin/Bunyip.
Steve also won the hydrant race, which you can watch by following this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0nr9fjsy7s1gud6/MVI_1057.MOV
if I knew how to edit out the first part and the last part of that, I would have done it!
The next couple are of one of the team events. The videos are the same race but a couple different teams doing it. I can't remember what it's called... but it's fun to watch.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oowxnooe05fq12d/MVI_1071.MOV
https://www.dropbox.com/s/awgzplbaffybup1/MVI_1072.MOV
https://www.dropbox.com/s/baoaxtkzplhkydh/MVI_1073.MOV
The teams that are really slick can hook and unhook hoses while the water is coming out full blast. It was pretty amazing. And I'd also like to thank whoever thought that the uniforms should include white pants. :)
fascinating. does anybody cheer?
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of cheering when teams raced each other. I suspect there's more cheering when it's not so hot. The fans were not overly energetic - me included.
ReplyDelete