June 1. Day 152. All's Fair

If you were to meet your teacher on a Sunday afternoon knowing he was grading your exam that night would you
a) be extremely polite, helpful and perhaps even suck up just a little?
or
b) grab a sponge, soak it in water, take aim and let him have it?
A smart person would, of course, answer A. But how dull is that? Let's face it, all fair's in love and at the school fair. You pay your $1 for the right and Year 7 teacher Mr Sainsbury is fair game, literally.
So it was this afternoon at the West End State School annual fete. With sponge throwing being just one of the highlights of the afternoon, it's little wonder most of the school community seemed to have gathered on the school oval for the festivities. The weather on the first day of what Queensland laughingly call winter doubtless contributed to big turn out. When it's 26 degrees and sunny with barely a breeze, taking a sponge full of water in the face is not such a bad way to lose an hour on a Sunday afternoon. But should any of my students read this and think the take-home message is that an assault with a wet sponge is the best path to a fine grade, think again. I was at the fete lured by the prospect of a marinated lamb and haloumi wrap and the realisation that spending a day like today inside bonding with exam papers would be just plain wrong. The wet sponge will come tonight when I battle to stay awake and finally face those papers. Let's just call that fair's fare.