Cricket - England vs Australia ODI

Doctors are one-trick ponies. Book an appointment for guts-ache and you'll get a lecture on smoking. Well, this is what they don't tell you...

I went outside for a ciggie and, on my way back in, someone - I know not who but thank you anyway - had stuck a couple of tickets for the England - Australia One Day International at Sydney Cricket Ground (the SCG) for that very day with a note to the effect that they couldn't make it and anyone who could was welcome to them.

I grabbed the tickets immediately and rushed up to the orifice to flaunt them in the face of every lettuce-gobbling-pushbiking-whale-bothering-non-smoking wimp of a cricket fan I could find. That'll teach them to criminalise me.

Woot. Never been to the cricket before, well, because I don't really find it that interesting. But, hey, when an opportunity like that drops into your lap, you might as well go and have a look-see at the only professional cricket match you are ever likely to go to in this life.

England has, at this point, been in Australia for a couple of months, have managed to comprehensively lose the Ashes and have taken a pretty big beating in the OID comp which - and I stand to be corrected on any and all of this crickety info - seems to be a 3-way between England, Australia and New Zealand. They did beat NZ a while ago - though with a little more effort they could have lost that, too.

Tonight, England meet Australia...

(For the record, if it ain't footy (and I mean real footy), I support Australia.)

Here we are, up with the birds at the SCG. Over the back is the Aussie Stadium where Sydney FC play.
In the run-up to the disabled Olympics, Australia are trying out one of their blind batsmen.
After several months on tour, England finally found a curry-house worthy of the name.
Look at me, I'm a big bouncy ponce.
Will someone PLEASE point this guy the right way.
Oh, that's better.
The guy at the other end seems to have got the hang of it.
Cute, apparently.
That's it for the actual cricket. Between the actiony-bits, everyone seems to just sort of mill about.
Meanwhile, the crowd thought they'd liven thing up a bit by Mexican-waving and, from where I was sitting, it looked great.
To everyone except the miserable gits that run the show who decided that people were having far too much fun and instructed the cops to chuck out anyone who had so much as a smirk.

That's it really. My cricket-watching days are now over. It seems to be something better glanced over in the pub rather than really having to be there.

BTW, this match seemed to be the turning point in England's tour - they went on to win the ODI series and, against all expectations, took home some silverware.

Too little, too late for me though. I have spent the last couple of years - yes, even though I have no real interest in it - in relative peace 'cos when England hold the Ashes, it's the one subject no Aussie will bring up, and when Australia hold them, they talk about nothing else. Sigh.

There is one thing missing you may have noticed. Where is the Barmy Army? Well, on the day, they really weren't in evidence. Still, I can at least treat you to one of their songs (this despite the fact that they are, at heart, fun loving cricket fans with none of the violent reputation of British football hooligans - yeah,woofters)...

The Aussies Love the English
The Aussies love the English,
You might find it quite strange.
'Cos we sent them all down under,
With only balls and chains.
And when they see the English,
They always shout and scream.
But when they had the chance to vote,
They voted for the Queen!

God save your gracious Queen
Long live your noble Queen
God save your Queen (you're a convict)
Send her victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over you
God save your Queen.

White Bay

The part of Sydney Harbour where we live is known as White Bay - conjuring images of brilliant sands, deep-blue ocean and bikini-clad honeys gambolling in the pristine surf.

Well, kinda...

This is the park outside the unit...
...where this beast prowls...

...and sees off any artistic cheeky monkey types.

One of the ferries coming in with another load of new cars.
They pull up here and leave the cars in this area.
Sydney is a working harbour which is just great - always something going on. This is the sugar storage and the gypsum hoppers.
Not that these layabouts really care.
Kowulka refueling. This guy is a regular visitor. It's a bulk cargo ship and brings gypsum which needs to be lifted out of the hold by those cranes.
In fact, he is here often enough to be around when the Google Earth satellite went over.
Today was 'Orange Day' on Kowulka, when all the sailors have to dress up in orange and squeeze into the lifeboat. Later, they have cake and pop.
To our delight, and to annoyance of the whale-botherers, a lot of the industrial stuff is painted so that it looks like what it is rather than a bush or something.
This is the new cement connector-upper thingy. The cement storage tanks are round the back.
And this is the old cement whatsit which, I guess, will be torn down at some point.
A Quantas 747 - no doubt containing Ralph Feinnes and a bog full of knickers-off hosties - climbs out over the derelict power station.
We also have this mysterious cluster of satellite dishes. ET phoning home or where the telly comes from?
This rock proclaims that some bigwig opened a container terminal here in 1969. Idiot. The container terminal is in Botany Bay.
We have a nice under-used wharf that is used for all sorts of odds and sods. Building the firework barges for NYE, for example.
The navy drops in every now and again. Mostly to point guns at my house.
The also built this floating video screen / speaker system thingy for Australia Day.
This light-ship was parked here for a while. Probably moved around from the Maritime Museum to make way for a party.
Some sort of research vessel, I think. He's moored up by the overspill new-car park.
Sheesh - and they bang on about modern pollution!
This lot are fighting for viewing space for the harbour fireworks.
Built the old-fashioned way, obviously. Could be the reconstruction of The Bounty they made for that movie - or maybe not .
Part of one of the parks have been given over to the graffiti artists - all very legal and above board. But, IMHO, it's been wasted. I've seen some really good graffiti around but this lot just like to write their names in strange and unusual ways. You're adolescent boys, fer christ sake. Lets see some chicks with big tits.
A good Aussie tree in a good Aussie park - another place that the monster sausage-dog from hell likes to get all grumpy with the general public.
A Jackaranda tree. These look great when in bloom but a lot of people don't like them in their gardens 'cos they drop stuff all over the place.

One of those nasty Indian Mynahs.
And not forgetting all the Australian killer fauna waiting for it's chance to decimate the human race and create a world ruled by insects.