7th May – Day 26 Sunday
Another day of bizarre fun ahead, I am meeting Gareth and his mate Pat for the annual May Day Fireman’s Union march through Sydney.
I meet Gareth and Pat at the Union head Quarters where our ‘brothers’ are preparing for the day. I am invited to join in and am kitted out with a huge Union Flag and tee shirt – watch out Mr Howard the Scots are here, (the Right Dishonourable Howard is trying to screw the Firemen – well what do you expect he is a Tory..!).
I am now an official Howard Hater.
We head up to Hyde Park where there are a number of Unions congregating, Teachers, Miners, Sparky’s, Trotsky’s, Communists, general Anti War party’s, you name it they are represented including the little known ‘Fair Dinkum’ and ‘Do you want to stroke me beard’ Unions.
The march starts and every union is vying for the best position in the march, that’s just behind the nurses union – the Firemen Win….(its an art thing Fran – honest). So we leave to a big fanfare of Bag Pipes, Police Oppression and a glorious sunny day to cause chaos on the streets of Sydney – closed just for us.
It’s a scream and very good natured, with the Nurses getting most of the male crowd attention and the firemen the female adoration. We march for about an hour and then head back to Hyde Park for a cool down. Next we hit my flat so I can put on some shorts before we head to the Edinburgh Castle function rooms for an afternoon of free beer, food and beer. I am a true ‘Bruva’ now, as I realise that no one has a name in the union – we are all called Brothers, and I didn’t realise that I came from such a big family. The speeches are passionate and everybody is stirred by them – best just to say that Thatcher wouldn’t have been welcome.
By 6 we are more than jolly and decide to continue our Union Celebrations in the pubs of Sydney, first its Scruffy Murphy’s, a dive that pretends to be Irish, but it does have live music and well priced ale. Then we try the RSL club but we are evicted for being Bruva’s…well actually not – its cos the mad Scotsman is wearing shorts in ‘Winter’, (a joke in itself), so we hit a couple of other places before ending up in The Three Wise Monkeys, highlights include a reasonable live band and bizarrely a Columbian 21 year old called Melody who wanted to take me home, (Pat put her into a Taxi to hospital as he claimed she was suffering from a mental condition for liking an aging old man – personally I just think she was just very very drunk).
At 11ish I headed back to the flat to phone home, I thought that I had pulled it off until I spoke to Fran ho rumbled me immediately – she knows when her husband is drunk - even when he is 12Kmiles away. The next thing I knew it was 2am and Gareth was on the phone to tell me that they were heading home – me, well, I was comatose, lying on the sofa cuddling the phone – bed time I thinks…..
I meet Gareth and Pat at the Union head Quarters where our ‘brothers’ are preparing for the day. I am invited to join in and am kitted out with a huge Union Flag and tee shirt – watch out Mr Howard the Scots are here, (the Right Dishonourable Howard is trying to screw the Firemen – well what do you expect he is a Tory..!).
I am now an official Howard Hater.
We head up to Hyde Park where there are a number of Unions congregating, Teachers, Miners, Sparky’s, Trotsky’s, Communists, general Anti War party’s, you name it they are represented including the little known ‘Fair Dinkum’ and ‘Do you want to stroke me beard’ Unions.
The march starts and every union is vying for the best position in the march, that’s just behind the nurses union – the Firemen Win….(its an art thing Fran – honest). So we leave to a big fanfare of Bag Pipes, Police Oppression and a glorious sunny day to cause chaos on the streets of Sydney – closed just for us.
It’s a scream and very good natured, with the Nurses getting most of the male crowd attention and the firemen the female adoration. We march for about an hour and then head back to Hyde Park for a cool down. Next we hit my flat so I can put on some shorts before we head to the Edinburgh Castle function rooms for an afternoon of free beer, food and beer. I am a true ‘Bruva’ now, as I realise that no one has a name in the union – we are all called Brothers, and I didn’t realise that I came from such a big family. The speeches are passionate and everybody is stirred by them – best just to say that Thatcher wouldn’t have been welcome.
By 6 we are more than jolly and decide to continue our Union Celebrations in the pubs of Sydney, first its Scruffy Murphy’s, a dive that pretends to be Irish, but it does have live music and well priced ale. Then we try the RSL club but we are evicted for being Bruva’s…well actually not – its cos the mad Scotsman is wearing shorts in ‘Winter’, (a joke in itself), so we hit a couple of other places before ending up in The Three Wise Monkeys, highlights include a reasonable live band and bizarrely a Columbian 21 year old called Melody who wanted to take me home, (Pat put her into a Taxi to hospital as he claimed she was suffering from a mental condition for liking an aging old man – personally I just think she was just very very drunk).
At 11ish I headed back to the flat to phone home, I thought that I had pulled it off until I spoke to Fran ho rumbled me immediately – she knows when her husband is drunk - even when he is 12Kmiles away. The next thing I knew it was 2am and Gareth was on the phone to tell me that they were heading home – me, well, I was comatose, lying on the sofa cuddling the phone – bed time I thinks…..
posted by Oz Doy at 4:16 PM
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