BurbleChaz

The Formula 1 season kicked off here in Melbourne this weekend. Unlike every other sporting event here, it wasn't cheap. Tickets for the race started at $100 and went up from there. We decided to spend that cash in the pub instead.

I went out shopping before the qualifying session yesterday. My carefully scheduled plans were disrupted by a bunch of lefties, pinkoes, commies, hippies and other assorted soap-dodgers who had decided to shamble down Lonsdale Street waving poorly-produced and mis-spelled placards. This impeded the progress of my gas-guzzler to the extent that I missed seeing the first ten minutes of the qualifying session. Not Pleased.

The Honda team this year have painted their cars blue and green, and are trying to raise awareness of environmental issues. This is either a very expensive, very subtle joke, or someone in marketing needs the stronger tablets. During a Grand prix weekend, the Honda team will burn over 500 litres of fuel.

This morning we were treated to a series of displays by military aircraft, all desperate to distract attention from their recent attempt to poison the Prime Minister in Iraq (really - I'm not making this up). The aerobatic team were impressive. The helicopters were, um, helicoptery. The FA-18 was wonderfully loud. The show was then stolen by Qantas, who flew a 747 over at about 1000 feet and full throttle. Pictures of all this will, no doubt, appear in the usual place.

We could hear the cars screaming round the track from our apartment as we watched the race. I was surprised by how entertaining it was. Some cars actually overtook others. David Coulthard almost killed himself and another by driving over (yes, over) another car at high speed. The new tyres for this season seem to make the cars handle badly under braking, which led to some highly amusing spins. Some crashes, some mechanical failures and no deaths. A good weekend.

Then I took my bike out and rode the whole Capital City Trail in 90 minutes. Justification for beer this evening.