Having a Ball

In the US, Ernst & Young (EY) has a party for Christmas and after-busy season. In Australia, it's a little different. Christmas is summertime. And strangely, financial years tend to end around 30 June (dates are backward here too, but they make sense). So, you need a party before busy season kicks off in the middle of the July / August winter (which is a joke, because it rarely gets into the thirties, much less below them).

Welcome to the EY Ball.



That's me with Jessica and Arnaud, who are also here on secondment (as Aussie's like to call it). Jessica is from the US, and Arnaud is from france.

This year's theme for the Ball was "Carnivale" (I know it's spelled wrong, but I want to distinguish from a circus carnival). Almost the whole Melbourne office attended, with 1,000 there and about 200 who didn't come. White curtains stretched from floor to ceiling to capture the festival of light around the room. The entertainment included fire twirlers, dancers in full carnivale regalia, live percussion, and stilt-walkers. Might as well have been Cirque du Soleil. After all that was over, we had a live band until after midnight, and 500 accountants proving that they know how to have a good time on the dance floor.

We had steak and potatoes for dinner, served with a slice of pumpkin. Follow that with individual gourmet desserts and a cheese tray with more European cheeses and a fig and nut medley.

When I have a chance, I'll have to post the picture where all the confetti dropped from the sky while the Carnivale folks were dancing. It was pretty amazing. All this for a bunch of accountants.