At work the other day, and I saw one of my workmates with a Cancer Council coffee cup. The Cancer Council is an Australian charity dedicated to eradicating cancer and supporting people through cancer.

I then remembered Daffodil Day 2005. Daffodil Day is the Cancer Council’s main fund raising day.

That day I was a volunteer and had been billeted in front of Australia Square in Sydney.

We were selling badges (which some people collect) and other items. The generosity of people was amazing. Quite a few people didn’t buy but donated money instead.
Often they said it was due to another person’s cancer experience.

But today’s top seller were mini soccer balls (about the size of a small grapefruit or Sputnik). We sold enough to ensure a lot of office disruption (all in the name of charity).

We ran out of supplies twice and the supervisor (my girlfriend) called for more.

The couriers arrived and dropped a couple of boxes at her feet. She was at one end of four trestle tables and I’m at the other end. We had the Australia Square fountain behind us.

She decided on a quick distribution to my end of the table. She started throwing the balls at me. Three at a time. And I’m catching them. But I wanted to slow her down a little. So I started throwing one or two back. I’m spinning them, tossing them high in the air and making them curve. She did not drop one. None. And still throwing them at me with dead-eye accuracy. So much for her claim was that she had no sporting talent.

Eventually the inevitable happened. It wasn’t her! It was me! I dropped one and it started bouncing and I couldn’t get to it in time. These little soccer balls float well, you know.

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• Don’t forget Daffodil Day! (timguyking.com)
• It’s Daffodil Day Time (lovinglismore.com)
• Daffodil Day 2013 (stromlohs.wordpress.com)