Tonight was the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games. It was pretty intersting, with flying trams, fishy fountains on the Yarra, ballerinas and motorcyclists, and a rousing early Happy Birthday song for the Queen, with 8 bars of "God save the Queen" at the end of it (which, of course, is "My Country tis of Thee" in my head).
The Commonwealth Games is basically a summer olympics that includes only the nations of the British Commonwealth.
I had no idea these games existed, having lived in a country that decided quite strongly to remove itself from British reign about 230 years ago. Thus, I am fascinated by the games. I had no idea that there were so many countries in the Commonwealth (71, to be exact).
It's a giant thing here, the excitement in the air is tangible. Eleven days of massive sports, and also the Melbourne Festival featuring free music, dancing, and circus events from all the host countries.
There is so much happening in the city in the next 11 days, my diary is chockers with plans.
Tomorrow I am going to the only sports event for which I bought tickets: the Rugby 7s*!
I have never seen Rugby live before, it should be quite exciting!
*Rugby 7s is an abbreviated game of Rugby. There are only 7 players on each side and each half of the game lasts only 7 minutes. I will see about 10 games played tomorrow night.
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