Melbourne's streets had a taste of F1 yesterday as the Aussie contingent (Paul Stoddard's Minardi and Mark Webber) drove up and down Swanston St and St Kilda Road. Figured I'd go down early and try and get a good spot. 11.30am, an hour before the preverbial kick off, and the whole of the Flinders St intersection was packed. Ended up wandering about a bit and eventually found a spot of spare fencing on the bridge over the Yarra.

An hour's wait, slowly cooking in the sun and eventually the cars came, though not after a safety car had done a lap of it's own. Paul Stoddard and new driver Christijan Albers both drove Minardis while Antonio Pizzonia and Mark Webber shot round in the Williams-BMWs. Add in a couple of V8 supercars and Webber in an open-top BMW and all in all a good hour's entertainment.

Spent the evening in a couple of bars in Fitzroy with Will, Georgie and a friend of theirs. Had a few too many Jim'n'Cokes before eating but didn't feel the effects this morning.

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