Drei Sparren
Rookie
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2011
- Posts
- 34
- Reaction score
- 71
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
Last Monday, after six months of planning and shuffling my leave to match work commitments, my wife and I were set for a month of driving and sightseeing in South Australia. I was pretty pissed at the prospect of missing our home final but things had just worked out badly and I needed a break regardless. I had been so bloody nice to her for so long it had been making me sick, but on Sunday night she agreed that we would drive straight past Adelaide and on to Geelong. My face nearly split in two as I logged on to Ticketmaster on Monday and snapped up two prized tickets. the plan was in motion and I packed the car with a spring in my step. As the bags went in, I marvelled at the progress my bride has made over the last 20 years in reducing the amount of crap she needs to take away which now allowed me to pack my push bike so I could continue my cycle training.
We set out at lunchtime to drive to Merredin with the next two days seeing us scheduled for Balladonia and Ceduna. My plan for tomorrow was to be unpacking my bike somewhere on the Great Ocean Road and riding the last 160kms into Geelong. Everything was just fantastic as we cruised down Great Eastern Highway through the wheatbelt.
When we stopped I checked my emails and saw one which asked if I was in the office. Obviously I replied that I was driving to Geelong. "What, driving to the East coast?" came the reply. The mails stopped and I put work aside again. As we sat down for dinner in the Commercial Hotel my phone rang. All my plans were thrown out of the window as I was needed back in the office for some critical meetings. My job is very specialised and, a bit like Mick Malthouse and the Carlton boys, my plans for a casual September were thrown into a mess by the actions of others that I had no control over. My wife went ballistic, much to the delight of the other patrons. I was screwed.
Besides having a stuffed up holiday I also had tickets to a game I really wanted to go to. What should I do? The company suggested that I should fly over and watch the game, but there were two issues: firstly, we had just put off a heap of people and I thought it wouldn't be a good look spending the best part of $4,000 getting me and my other half to Geelong and back. Secondly, I reckon that me swapping a footy weekend for a month of sightseeing would have tipped my bride over the edge of ballistic into psychopathic and I didn't want that.
In the end after much consideration in the small hours of the night I contacted Seppo and asked him to find a worthy couple of Freo fans who would stand in for me. I didn't want payment, but if they could make a donation to my Ride to Conquer Cancer I would be really happy. Being the great bloke that he is Seppo made a donation himself and set to work contacting the Freo media team.
This morning I was riding to work with less enthusiasm than normal when I felt my phone buzz at the traffic lights. I had got an email from Seppo to say that a young lad, Harri, who has had a pretty horrific battle with cancer would be using my tickets. His mum had booked accommodation in Geelong but missed out on tickets to the game. I was stoked but tears formed in my eyes. The lights went green and I just sat there re-reading his story with drivers giving me weird looks as I hadn't moved other than to wipe my eyes a little. Hopefully they just thought it was hay fever or something.
If any of you are sitting near to Harri and his mum do say hello and help him bring Freo home.
As for me, at lunchtime on Saturday I will be sitting on my couch in front of the big screen yelling with the best of you. Then I will be first in line when tickets go on sale for our home game in a couple of weeks' time.
Of course, if you want to donate to a great cause please visit my blog and donation page at the following link - http://pr13.conquercancer.org.au/site/TR/Events/Perth2013?px=1310261&pg=personal&fr_id=1112
We set out at lunchtime to drive to Merredin with the next two days seeing us scheduled for Balladonia and Ceduna. My plan for tomorrow was to be unpacking my bike somewhere on the Great Ocean Road and riding the last 160kms into Geelong. Everything was just fantastic as we cruised down Great Eastern Highway through the wheatbelt.
When we stopped I checked my emails and saw one which asked if I was in the office. Obviously I replied that I was driving to Geelong. "What, driving to the East coast?" came the reply. The mails stopped and I put work aside again. As we sat down for dinner in the Commercial Hotel my phone rang. All my plans were thrown out of the window as I was needed back in the office for some critical meetings. My job is very specialised and, a bit like Mick Malthouse and the Carlton boys, my plans for a casual September were thrown into a mess by the actions of others that I had no control over. My wife went ballistic, much to the delight of the other patrons. I was screwed.
Besides having a stuffed up holiday I also had tickets to a game I really wanted to go to. What should I do? The company suggested that I should fly over and watch the game, but there were two issues: firstly, we had just put off a heap of people and I thought it wouldn't be a good look spending the best part of $4,000 getting me and my other half to Geelong and back. Secondly, I reckon that me swapping a footy weekend for a month of sightseeing would have tipped my bride over the edge of ballistic into psychopathic and I didn't want that.
In the end after much consideration in the small hours of the night I contacted Seppo and asked him to find a worthy couple of Freo fans who would stand in for me. I didn't want payment, but if they could make a donation to my Ride to Conquer Cancer I would be really happy. Being the great bloke that he is Seppo made a donation himself and set to work contacting the Freo media team.
This morning I was riding to work with less enthusiasm than normal when I felt my phone buzz at the traffic lights. I had got an email from Seppo to say that a young lad, Harri, who has had a pretty horrific battle with cancer would be using my tickets. His mum had booked accommodation in Geelong but missed out on tickets to the game. I was stoked but tears formed in my eyes. The lights went green and I just sat there re-reading his story with drivers giving me weird looks as I hadn't moved other than to wipe my eyes a little. Hopefully they just thought it was hay fever or something.
If any of you are sitting near to Harri and his mum do say hello and help him bring Freo home.
As for me, at lunchtime on Saturday I will be sitting on my couch in front of the big screen yelling with the best of you. Then I will be first in line when tickets go on sale for our home game in a couple of weeks' time.
Of course, if you want to donate to a great cause please visit my blog and donation page at the following link - http://pr13.conquercancer.org.au/site/TR/Events/Perth2013?px=1310261&pg=personal&fr_id=1112
