The Final: Brazil v France from Santo Angelo
Our bus from Santo Tome arrived in Santo Angelo at 6pm. We originally intended to take an overnight bus to Porto Alegre, but our discussions with our (non English speaking) bus ticket agent had persuaded us that it would be impossible to reach Porto Alegre before Brazil’s match at 4pm the next day. Now, our discussions with our (non English speaking) bus conductor were confusing the issue.
The bus conductor alighted with us at Santo Angelo. Having already gleaned that we would like to ultimately go to Porto Alegre, he took us to the counter and started booking tickets on our [...]
Argentina v Germany from Santo Tome
Sao Borja was good to us. We replenished ourselves on healthy lunches at Hotel Brazil and explored the town without language or a map to help us out. There seemed nothing to do there but eat, sleep and hang around the hotel – three of my four favourite things and best done, in combination, with the fourth.
Studying the dining hall’s Mundial chart, I realised that we faced another round of back-to-back Argentina and Brazil matches. There would be only twenty-eight hours between kick offs. We decided to go back to nearby Santo Tome in Argentina in the morning to watch [...]
Brazil v Ghana from Sao Borja (I think)
Check out time at the Hotel Recidencial Misiones in Posadas was at the unholy hour of 10am. Despite our best plans to achieve much in the morning, while our packs were secure in our room, we only just made it out in time to beat the knock on the door.
The World Cup was starting to look tougher. We thought we were reasonably close to the Brazilian border, but the previous day had been a wash out with rain and so we had now only 26 hours to cross the border and settle down before a Brazilian TV. I had also [...]
Argentina v Mexico from Posadas
Brazil’s defeat of Japan gave rise to some drunken loose plans for us to travel to Corrientes or Resistencia to watch the match between Argentina and Mexico. With the World Cup slowing down, we figured we would now be able to move greater distances and at a more relaxed pace. I went to bed looking forward to catching up on some sleep, my writing and possibly even a little clothes washing!
The next morning, my mind wailed with the shrill realisation that Argentina’s match was at 4pm tomorrow. We would need to travel today! I broke the news to Sal who [...]
Brazil v Japan from Parque Nacional do Igacu
It was a beautiful sunny day in Brazil! Sally and I were thrilled to be visiting the Igacu waterfalls again, but this time from Brazil’s side of the Rio Igacu. We had been assured there would be a restaurant and bar at the top of the falls with a giant television and comfortable seats for us to watch the match between Brazil and Japan. We would not face the frustration and indignation of trying to follow the match through a radio again. Of course, we still needed to make it there on time and with kick off at 4pm, we [...]
Argentina v The Netherlands from Igacu Nacional Parque
When I had gone to bed, at about 4am, the weather was dry. At 10:30am, when I awoke in our deliciously dark room, I could hear heavy rain. ‘Good’ I thought. It would be an excuse to call the day off. Then Sal came into the room, perky, wearing her Argentine top.
“It’s raining outside, I said. “I was thinking, perhaps we could call the day off: on account of the rain?
“What? said Sal. “You want to call the day off?
Her reaction surprised me a bit. I thought she might conspire with me and allow a quiet couple enclosure to develop [...]
Paraguay v Trinidad & Tobago from a little town near Itaipu
It was a cloudy hot day for Paraguay’s last match in the Cup. I woke worried and paranoid, feeling trouble in the air. We had heard more and more about crime in Paraguay and I was still a little nervous following our minor scare after Brazil’s match with Australia. We’d just changed rooms in our hostel and learned that the previous tenants had taken the keys and so, for the moment, we could not lock our room. It added to my sense of insecurity. I implemented my usual risk management plan of securing everything inside (and to) a cupboard with [...]
2006: A World Cup Odyssey – Brazil v Australia from Foz do Igacu
We were so excited in the morning! Oh, what to wear!? We still had our Brazil tops from Sao Paulo, but felt unsure about dressing up to support what, for the first time, would be the ‘other’ team. We decided to wear the tops anyway for the spirit of the day. We had an Australian flag so we could show our true allegiances when the time came.
My cold felt much better. My back didn’t hurt. Five hours sleep now seemed plenty enough! Marching down the street, we felt like emissaries sent to Brazil in times of international war. We would [...]
Argentina v Serbia & Montenegro from Puerto Igacu
My calculations showed that kick off would happen at 8am local time. I had set my alarm for 5am. I made it out of bed at 6:45. Desperate for more sleep, I spent 10 minutes on the Internet rechecking my calculations in light of knowledge of time zones gained the day prior in Paraguay. It still came out as an 8am start.
I asked the front desk what time the Argentina World Cup match started. They told me buses would start leaving for Argentina at 7am. I decided to give up on seeking any more information and that we should leave [...]
Paraguay v Sweden from Ciudad el Este
Sally and I farewelled our friends in Sao Paulo, enjoyed an easy cab ride to the airport, checked in early and sat drinking good coffee in a sunny patch in the airport.
Our flight would take us to a little town called Foz do Iguacu. This destination had been picked out for us by our Brazilian friend Camilla who had conspired to keep us inside her home country, but just near the borders of Argentina and Paraguay. We shared laughs about strolling over borders from now on!
Sally and I boarded our flight collecting a bundle of free newspapers with glee. I [...]
Brazil v Croatia from Sao Paulo
We arrived in Sao Paulo on the 11th of June, the day before Brazil’s Valentine’s day and two days before Brazil’s first World Cup match.
The trip to Sao Paulo was a twelve-hour affair. LAN Chile first took us west, over snow topped mountains, and into Santiago before back east again to arrive at Sao Paulo. ‘The old Pepe and Fru Lemon Chello’ help ease our plane pain.
Immigration at Sao Paulo took maybe an hour. Casually dressed, kind and young staff, did their best to help us fill in forms and work our way through, but the immigration officials at the [...]
Argentina v Ivory Coast from Buenos Aires
Waiting at the airport at Quito, we felt sombre, sobering up, drinking coffee, waiting for our flight to leave. All in the small airport lounge quiet, save for one American fellow ‘ half Irish, half Ecuadorian he said. He was diminutive with thick black hair and a stagger and a plastic bag under his arm.
“Where you guys going?”
“Buenos Aires,” I said freely thinking there would be no chance.
“Oh great! That’s where I’m going! See you half way for a Jack Daniels he said winking and patting his bag.
“I’ll drink your bourbon, but we need to work, I said truthfully, but [...]
Ecuador v Poland from Quito
Four years should have been enough time to prepare. Enough time to plan a route, learn the language, buy the equipment and work out how to use it. But no. only four weeks out from the Cup, we started booking our tickets.
And the night before out departure, we sat in our flat with boxes of unopened, untested, technology galore. The rush of it was awful, but we took comfort from anticipation of one luxury – membership at the Qantas Club. Its something I find hard to reconcile or explain, but lawyers, it seems, get free counselling and home loans and [...]
Writing »
Gonzo Journalism – Turkey Business
Last Christmas, I was poisoned by my mother-in-law. It was nothing personal. She poisoned her heavily pregnant daughter as well.
“Urgh!” announced my better half from the bathroom. “That’s the first spew of my pregnancy.”
“I blame the turkey,” I said pushing past for a turn at the bowl.
“But you didn’t even eat the turkey.”
“Exactly,” I said with a splatter. “That’s how bad it was.”
But I had no idea how bad it was until, this silly season, I went to see some turkeys.
“There must be quite a build up of stock for Christmas,” I said to my animal liberationist guide, Emma, as [...]
Video »
Satire – Golden Gavel 2010
My speech in the NSW Young Lawyer’s Golden Gavel public speaking competition in 2010.
Competitors are assigned a topic at random less than 24 hours before the event. My topic was ‘Barristers – without solicitors they’re really just fluff and stuffing’. 500+ lawyers watch the event.
This was the last year I am ‘young’ enough to compete so I went for broke and tried to put on a real show. I also took the opportunity to made fun of: the President of Young Lawyers, the President of the Lawyer Society and the Honourable Justice Bergin Chief Judge in Equity of [...]
Audio »
Guerilla Law – complaints about police
I set up my ‘free legal advice’ stall in Glebe. Two young men sat down and said they were sick of being hassled by the police. I told them that the best thing to do would be to avoid the police in question. I also told them how to make a complaint about the police.
I recorded the conversation and it was broadcast on 2SER’s law show ‘Radio Atticus’. You can listen below:
See Radio Atticus at 2SER for the full show.
Media »
Satire – engineers beat lawyers
As the team of lawyers were quick to point out, 11 of the 27 prime ministers of this country have practised law. So how did a team of engineers convince an audience that they, rather than lawyers, would make better politicians, when even Gillard and Abbott both have law degrees?
Try this argument from the engineers’ second speaker, Andrew Pratley: “Australia had only one choice at the election, and that was to elect a lawyer. And what did we do? We rejected them both.”
The inaugural debate between Young Engineers Australia Sydney Division and the Law Society of NSW Young Lawyers was [...]
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Satire – What Makes a Man Bare All?
Anthony’s 2004 Adelaide Fringe debut takes us on a journey that bares all. With musical support from Gary and Rob (and constant interruptions by Michael Hicks), the show features such unusual explorations as:
• why spotted ties send the wrong message
• the rejection letter poem
• the army, cocaine, grenades and me
• why thinking about work can actually increase arousal
• losing your virginity; beware the dark blue ring
• hard up at the puppetry of the penis auditions
• the brighter side of breaking your penis
• a long weekend sleeping out with the homeless
If there is a place in hell for you [...]
