Headlines

Collingwood won the Grand Final. 

I thought I'd just lead with that, since yesterday's game takes up the top four headlines on the Australian Broadcasting News site this morning. (And then three or four more further down the page.) Friday was a state holiday, in anticipation of the Australian Football League Grand Final on Saturday. This year the teams in the final were the Collingwood magpies versus the Brisbane lions. The stadium was packed, completely sold out -- all 110K+ seats. No, we didn't have tickets. Tim sat on a wait list to no avail for a couple of other games in the playoffs, but didn't even try for Grand Final tickets. Even so, with that kind of crowd, we can hear stadium noise from our house if we listen. But we weren't listening, because we were watching the game on television. 

Tim was barracking from Brisbane. Jonathan and I were barracking for the 'Pies. 'Barrack' is an Australian word. You don't root for the team, like you do in the US, because that has a very rude sexual connotations. Ew. You 'barrack'. I looked up the word to make sure I was spelling it correctly. Apparently in England, when you barrack you jeer loudly at someone who is performing public speaking, to express disapproval. Whereas in Australia and New Zealand, if you barrack you are showing support. Take that, England. 

The next two headlines concern Dan Andrews, who was the premier of the state of Victoria during the covid lockdowns. He resigned. Tuesday he called a presser (press conference), and announced that effective Wednesday 5pm he was done. Because it is time to finish when it is time. So we have a new premier now, Jacinta Allan. So that's exciting. 

Way down in the small print on the far right, with a tiny photo, there is something about the US and some sort of government shutdown. Again, I guess. 

It is nice to live in a world where it is just spring, and the sun is shining, and we switched to summer time this morning, and there is a new, enthusiastic premier, and the magpies won the Grand Final. 

The above photo is called "sunrise from my window", and the title is both literal and figurative.