Working for the weekend

After being cancelled last weekend just as I was shoving the very last heavy table into a packed van, Summer Series (a huge free outdoor concert all day in Albert Park) was rescheduled for Sunday. It was great to finally have it happen, since it has been quite the time getting all of the prep work sorted. All things said, it ran incredibly smoothly--well apart from the fact that the "compound" for the University that we had planned on being occupied by university students was quickly over run by gaggles of small children screaming, crashing, and wiping unknown sticky stuff onto our legs. Who would have thought that having games like "sack race," "egg in spoon race," "dress up in cardboard boxes and fight each other," and having a giant inflatable "Human Fly Wall" where you can bounce and throw yourself onto a giant Velcro wall while wearing a Velcro suit would lead to hordes of kids? I have to say that while you may not be too shocked, we had planned these activities for uni students, especially with the knowledge of the day long repeal of the liquor ban. At least later in the day we pulled in a small number of at least slightly drunk uni students to have a turn on the human fly. It was also awesome to score cheap as food courtesy of the MEAT club and the Harri Krishnas. But, most importantly of all, we were reminded of the fact that even the simplest thing can be turned into a toy that will amuse a child for hours-- as we saw when countless children ripped up our carefully placed string lanes or wandered off with cones on their heads. Actually, wait, no--more important--we were also reminded that while senior citizens appear to be nice and dear, they too have thieving tendencies and will slightly wander off with a giant inflatable chair. Also, small children will flock towards you to have themselves covered with free tattoos from the radio station and gladly accept their role of mini billboards for the day. So really, with all this learning, how was it not a university event after all?