Sometimes being patriotic is tough and that was certainly the case this year.
The first battle was fought before my head even left the pillow. After days of sticky 40 degree heat and only three hours sleep, my body longed to remain prostrate meanwhile my bladder screamed impending doom if I did….the bladder won.
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© The Ponder Room
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As I ate breakfast I pondered what others would be doing to mark this significant day.
I felt sure that any new year’s resolutions involving an inch of movement would already have been broken. Bootcamp workouts, 2k runs and even a casual stroll along the beach were just too much to contemplate in this heat.
Clearly it was a day to spend with family hibernating in the afternoon in front of the TV or with a good book.
A quick glance at the TV guide provided two opportunities to combine both patriotism and slothing – the Australia Day Test and the Australian Tennis Open. It almost seemed unAustralian not to partake in at least one of these, but which one? Like Grand Final day family lines were drawn.
Boasting Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal it was hard to go past the men’s semi final.
As the day drew on, the match continued and the clock got closer to that other great tradition, Lottery West’s Australia Day fireworks on the Perth foreshore. If the decision wasn’t hard enough the weather gods decided to throw in a thunderstorm.
As the clouds darkened news presenters came onscreen helpfully stating that there were lots of spaces left on the foreshore. I pondered that throughout the suburbs parents were trying to explain to overexcited children why they were reneging on the fireworks, even though the kids had been angelic all day.
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© The Ponder Room
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Just as we contemplated heading off to the foreshore a key stroke was played and the tennis got infinitely more exciting.
Twenty minutes later we were still watching the tennis when the thunderstorm began. It took a while to realise that every second crack of thunder was actually the explosion of the initial fireworks.
A quick look out the window revealed the top of the fireworks. If we left now we could make it to a good vantage point in two minutes. So the final battle began … tennis, fireworks, tennis, fireworks.
Finally with the rain pelting down, the sliding doors had to be closed to stop the rain hitting the TV, and the winner of the Great Australia Day Battle 2012 was announced ….lethargy.
After that all that was left to do was ponder the true heroes of the day … those who ignored the heat, wiped away the rain, laughed at the lightning strikes and donned superman flags … thank god for the youth of the nation.
