ANZAC Day

April 25th, last Saturday, was ANZAC Day. It's probably Australia's most important national occasion. Originally it marked the anniversary of the landings by the ANZAC forces at Gallipoli in World War I. Today, it is a day of national remembrance for all Australian and New Zealand soldiers killed in action.

We all went to the memorial service organised by the Australian Association of Bahrain. In all, there were about a hundred attendees - a huge turnout, although the offer of free bacon and egg butties and BD 200 (about GBP 400) behind the bar after the service could have had something to do with it.

Later in the bar I witnessed my first game of two up, a game traditionally played by the ANZAC soldiers. Later, it was only allowed to be played in public on special occasions such as ANZAC Day as it involves................gambling.

The rules are as follows: two coins are placed on a flat board (a kip or paddle). A recruit from the increasingly inebriated crowd is called to be the spinner. Bets are taken on showings of 2 heads or 2 tails. The spinner then flips the coins, which must spin above the spinner's head and must land inside the special two-up ring. The caller calls (or in our case yells raucously) and money changes hands. A true-blue Aussie experience in the Middle East!