Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I support free food freedom

One of the things I love about this university is the amount of random free food around the place. Just about every week for one reason or another (and often for no discernable reason at all) there is a free BBQ in the central courtyard.

So most students have got in the habit of joining whatever queue they spot anywhere on campus in the hope that there are free sausages at the front of it (your choice of kosher, halal, vegetarian or rabid meat lovers'). This does have the disadvantage of near-rioting occuring whenever someone has the audacity to try and actually raise money by selling sausages and burgers (the bastards).

But yesterday some sort of record was broken, even for this uni. On walking through the courtyard at lunch time, I not only spotted a free BBQ, but was approached by random people offering around giant platters of tropical fruit, and I kept nearly tripping over enormous vats of rice crackers that had were not-so-surreptitiously scattered around in the middle of the lawn. It turns out this was all in aid of something called Harmony Day, which as far as I can tell involves lots of orange balloons and a small band of tambourine-playing Hare Krishnas.

Better yet, as I got closer to the library, I found all the peace-love-and-harmony type student groups were giving away samples of various types of Foreign Muck, presumably in an attempt to make Australians associate immigrants with such delights as baklava, spring rolls, marinated olives, dimsims and various unidentifiable Asian sweets.

All of which I sampled happily. Because I am a whole-hearted supporter of peace, love, harmony and free lunches for all. Known for it, I am.