Grand Final day is here! It’s a pretty exciting time even for the trainee assistant water boy. The boys have been well prepared on a varied, challenging and interesting training diet prepared by the very savvy Gary Powell. They are all fit and well, and looked sharp and ready to go at training during the week.

The players bus departs the Jacaranda Hotel at 12pm,along with two supporters buses. There will be a Grand Final breakfast held at the Jacca from 10.30am, everyone is welcome to come along and wish rhe team well. A few items of 2006 model supporters gear remain available and can be purchased at the Jacca on Saturday.

Mrs Spratty, CC girl and I were welcomed into another wonderful Grafton home for yet another social gathering last weekend. It was a fantastic night and we were all spoilt rotten with hospitality (again). Reflecting on the generous servings of the good stuff taken onboard, there are two major differences to our old life in the city.

Three really, to be honest I was too knackered from the travelling to do much socialising, firstly the big difference between a house and a home, houses are pretty much a commodity in the bigsmoke and their relative values the major topic of conversation, whereas Graftonians are unabashed homemakers who quite literally pour themselves into their homes with entertaining in mind and have been for a number of generations, the only changes being the changes in style and taste marked by the passage of time. It really is a feature of the extremely civilised provincial lifestyle enjoyed in the Valley.

The other difference is the manner of handling the transient nature of modern life, the demands of most occupations are such that progression often requires relocation. While this no doubt causes enormous disappointment to those left behind, more so in the bush, where the relocation is more than simply a few suburbs, Graftonians remain pretty philosophical, and in my experience no less open to newcomers. I hope I can be as accommodating when it’s my turn to confront the occupational herdy gerdy.

On the work front I have been a little distracted this week, did I mention the football? Thankfully the crew were better focussed, we are looking forward our first shipment of Wallaby gear arriving around now, it will go well with the snappy range of Ford gear we sell in surprisingly large doses.

The slight downturn in new cars in recent months has enabled us obtain huge bonuses on most new cars in our Ford and Hyundai ranges. I don’t know quite how Rob Connell does it , the pricing in some cases is simply remarkable, pop in and try him out..you will be pleasantly surprised.

Finally the brothers Blanch, our NRMA roadside contingent report a slight increase of callouts due to the change in seasons, a few more lockouts, flat batteries and general maintenance related issues. Might be time to call into our Fitzroy Street service centre for a checkup?

Happy motoring,

Spratty