Friday Night Frolics

You learn a whole lot at a Quiz Night you know? For instance, last night I learned that there are 3 movies which tie for the record of 11 Academy Awards apiece. Do you know what they are? Don't go googling now....just think about it and have a guess. Answers tomorrow.

Also, I learned that Santiago is the capital of Chile, Frodo Baggins was the son of Drogo Baggins (not Bilbo you sillies, that was his uncle), Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman starred together in 'Notorious' (not 'To Catch a Thief', that was Grace Kelly), there have been 16 Popes named Benedict (not 14...sorry Kindergarten Friend...I should have listened to the Catholic on the table), the Federal Minister for Health is Nicola Roxson, the largest country in the world with a single time zone is China and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a child with Cystic Fibrosis.

I share all this with you in case you are similarly inclined to trivia and need to stock up.

I am pleased to report that our table came a very creditable 4th (out of 17?) by about 3 points.
(If only I'd listened to you Kindergarten Friend! Of COURSE you would know how many Benedicts there've been!!!)













"Now count with me people, there were ten by 1058
(but we don't mention him as he was an anti-pope)
and I am what number again?...."



We had a lovely lively table, made up of friends from current and past work as well as Kindergarten Friend and the Bestie's lovely Mum and Dad. Poor Bestie's Mum was under the weather in a big way, suffering from the same cold we have all had over the past three weeks (I blame the BA, she had it first). She was not, however, too ill to recognise the well toned torso with the blacked out face in the 'Who Am I' section of our Table Quiz Sheet. "Oh, that's Hugh," she chirruped,"I have a copy of that picture in my scrapbook." We were the only table to get that question right. I think we were also one of the only tables to get 'Frodo son of Drogo' too as Bestie's Dad reads the LOTR on an annual basis.

The Baby Angel was again roped into helping sell 'raffle tickets', this time in the form of playing cards. I watched ever so proudly as she stood up to the microphone on the stage and announced confidently,
"And the winning card is, the Ace of Hearts. The black Ace of Hearts."
Mother's heart flutters. Ohmigod. She means the Ace of Spades. Someone tell her it's the ace of Spades. Ohmigod how embarrassing, she should know the suits, we play cards for goodnesssakes.....

At this point there was a flurry of conversation and card shuffling but then my lovely, clever and perfectly in control of the situation daughter leaned towards the microphone and showed us the back of the playing card. It had a black pattern. Of course! there were two packs sold, one red and one black so like raffle tickets, you needed to know the colour of the card as well. Oh mother! Have more faith in your offspring.

Oh, and the other thing I was going to tell you about was the reaction we all had to the location for the night. St Privileged School* in Adelaide is a church based boys boarding school. Here is the Memorial Hall where the Quiz Night was held. The school is apparently the oldest in Adelaide and occupies 32 ha of prime, city centre real estate. It is so big that we got lost trying to find the Hall. It is so big there is a nearby suburb which is smaller. You can almost smell the money in the air. It is slightly obscene. Check out a website of a similar school if you would like to see how the other half live. If you are the other half, make a big donation to charity whydon'tcha....

But the thing which stood out for Kindergarten Friend and I was the lawn. Luxuriant, green, freshly mowed. And there's a drought on!!!

KF: (in faux upper class twit accent) Oh but we only use 'bore' water on our grounds.
Me: how appropriate.

And as KF says, bore water is a SHARED resource guys! It comes from the aquifer which should, strictly speaking be available to all! (Just weigh in here KF and explain that better please)

Nah, sorry. I am unimpressed. Schools like this make me vaguely uneasy. I know they produce many brilliant men; national athletes, Nobel Laureates and Rhodes Scholars but they also breed an air of 'elite-ism', of 'other-ness' which takes many young men down a slippery slope. Too many boys from schools such as this have been taught to 'take what they want'. Hell, these places defined 'The Entitlement Generation' before it became a widespread thing. Many of the things they 'took' were taken at the expense of others; jobs, bought for them by other 'old boys'; promotions and positions in the public eye; women.....whether the women wanted to be taken or not. And for those who could not succeed, who did not live up to the expectations set for them, there is shame, despair and the 'cover-up'.

I am assured by people who ought to know that it is changing; that moves are in place to build decent citizens shaped with a notion of service to their communities rather than 'little gods' who look to the community to provide what their wealth and status can purchase for them. I sincerely hope this is the case. If it is, it demonstrates the old Dr Suess 'Sneetches' principle beautifully. Just as the rest of the world was beginning to emulate their 'entitlement' mentality they cast if off in favour of self-less philanthropy. Damn. I want a star on my belly!!!

Anyway, that was our Friday night. How was yours?

image credits:
pope
oscar
school