Close

It’s all getting close now, Mandy needs a walking frame in the mornings, a long sleep in the afternoon and a massage every night. Bless her.

Despite her handicaps she is a little battler and looks very good with her unfeasibly large belly, I might even go so far as to say she is blooming.

This happy demeanour is helped in no small part by finishing work a whole six weeks before the due date! Even hobbling around the house in the manner of an aged donkey, it is difficult to wipe the little grin from her face. Knowing she has no patients to moan about and a full programme of daytime TV ahead of makes her very happy.

So I guess things are moving into the ‘anytime now’ phase, a shame in some ways because March is potty in Adelaide. For 31 days we are transformed from a drought stricken backwater to the cultural hub of Australia. While this is not necessarily a stellar accolade, it is a proud time with something for everyone.

Within the square mile of the city in the month of March we have so far managed to host an international music festival in the botanic gardens, a film festival across the dozens of cinemas we have, (no idea how they all stay open), our own Fringe with loads of international comedians, a V8 ‘supercar’ race through the city streets and now, this week, the World Police and Fire Games.

The city is reeling! Normally Adelaide is a place in which people mind their own business while sipping quiet glasses of wine and quietly moaning about the neighbours. But in March a whole new world of noise envelopes the city.

If it’s not African drummers echoing across the parks through the night, it’s the throaty, beer lubricated voice of the V8 fan, his/her face decked in a huge ZZ Top style beard a fistful of hot dogs.

Every red blooded Aussie bloke wants a V8 and every red blooded Sheila wants to ride shotgun. And you must be a poof if you don’t want one! There is only one thing better than a V8 saloon…a V8 ute. This pinnacle of Aussie driving should ideally come complete with roll bars which double as a rest for your rifle as you go out looking for rabbits or kangaroos with your mates and a carton of stubbies.

Anyway, the parrots are starting to return to the parks now the cars have gone and we have the wonderful spectacle of the World Police and Fire Games which started today.

This is a massive event, bigger than the Commonwealth Games, which must be Adelaide’s biggest international event ever. Over the last couple of days there have been many many lost looking policemen wearing Polizei Berlin and bright orange Fire Amsterdam t shirts.

They all seem very happy to be here, particularly the guys from Cologne who were having their photo taken outside the police station on Wakefield Street. We can’t wait for the Japanese contingent to arrive to have their pictures taken by speed cameras and outside night clubs at closing time.

If today is anything to go by, the next few weeks will see every pub, (and there are a few), heaving with officers who managed to convince their superintendent that they were pretty handy at snooker or darts. The PSNI contingent were more than noticeable in the Irish pub on St Patrick’s Day; athletic was not a word that leapt to mind.

These games are undoubtedly a fantastic institution but at the same time I am sure the publicans of Adelaide will always look back on this time with a tear of fondness in heir eye.

Before I go, well done to John McGarty who has just bought his first house and managed to put together an IKEA bed, a pat on the back for me for beating some Aussies at golf and a big cheer for Mandy who has it tough but keep smiling.

Hope all is well

M&W