The rat tail is alive and well in Melbourne.

Melbourne seems like a great town, but all towns have their shortcomings. NYC is the capital of the world, and the best place to live on the planet. Still, waiting for the subway in August when it is 104 underground can disguise some of the city’s charm. At press time, your faithful Courtneyspondent had counted 17 shameless adult rattails in Melbourne since noticing the phenomena and beginning a tail-counter on Friday. I’ve only begun to research this occurrence, and I can’t begin to explain it. Needless to say it is not encouraging.

Apologies for the blogging gap this weekend. I will have DSL at home soon, but at this point I do not have any internet connection at 301, so I could not provide any updates this weekend.

On Friday after work I went to a barbeque at the house where the 3 captains for Team Box reside. It was a great time. It was a short tram ride away, though I could have walked it. They have a nice house with big living areas and a good space outside. The party was well attended and there were people from all three women’s teams here (Team Box, Honey and Ishtar) as well as two men’s teams (Heads of State and Chilly). Everyone seems to get along well despite the natural adversarial position. There was much grilling, beer and salads. I met a ton of people and explained to them all that retaining David Hicks in Gitmo with no trial and no rights was pretty much my idea, and they better be nice to me or I’d have them locked up too. I also explained how my vision for Iraq has almost completely been realized. On my way home from the party I saw some of Melbourne’s loathed bat colony. I think bats are cool, especially since I don’t like mosquitoes, but for some reason Melbourners seem to universally dislike them.

On my way to the barbeque I learned a cool nuance about the tram service from a nice 7-11 clerk. You can buy an unlimited pass for A$6 or a 2 hour pass for A$2. The clock stops after 6PM for the trams, so you can pretty much ride unlimited after 6PM on the A$2 pass. This is the type of info that makes me feel like a local.

Saturday involved brunch, some work, a long run, some errands, setting up of 301 and some work on my window flower boxes (pulling out the long-dead previous residents.) Brunch was okay, but not a full success. I had a good omelet and toast and a great cappuccino. I cannot find anything that resembles a bloody mary in this town. I may have to make them myself beforehand and bring them in a little thermos. (Lynn, does this signify dependency?)

Sunday I slept late, called Mom & Dad, watched rugby and cricket on TV and went to practice. Practice was great and we scrimmaged another women's team at the end (Honey) and won. We worked on a new verticle offense and a play that remind me of the Cherry Bomb. After practice we went to a Belgian beer hall for, you guessed it, Belgian beer. I also had some fries. It was a good time.