Hot n' Broke

It was another day of cricket for me. And as England made merry with the bat, I once again made merry with the Barmy Army.

After learning the lessons of yesterday, I covered up. Factor 50 suncream was applied (with regular reapplications) and my cap was worn all day to protect my already very pink face. With it also being the hottest day since records began* (although, as we're in Australia, criminal records only go so far back) (*it felt like it) a lot of water was needed to be taken on board. It was really uncomfortable; beating sun all day, as well as both searing heat and unbearable humidity. With a masterstroke, my pink neckerchief was dipped into cold water, and acted to cool down my neck. But as the day went on, my neckerchief transformed back into it's original form of a bandana, and it was used to cool down my overheated head.

Today was Jane McGrath Day, and was certainly the pinkest day of sport I've ever been to (pink as in people were wearing the colour pink, not that it was gay). There were a great selection of fancy dress, from the standard hairy men dressing up in pink dresses and mini skirts, to the ever favourite morphsuit (which I can only imagine must have been incredibly uncomfortable given the humidity). One England fan came in some sort of furry pink bikini (it was a bloke), but the wierdest costumes were four Americans (who didn't seem to understand cricket). After settling down for the first hour of play in normal clothes (shorts, t-shirts the like), they simultaneously stripped down to identical speedos. At first, we all thought they were about to streak or pitch invade, but they genuinely had chosen to wear speedos as part of their outfits. Wearing something like that really takes some balls, and we could all see that they had some.

England had another really successful day of it, which has pleased me. One way of capturing the moment for everyone was this video I took of Ian Bell reaching his first ever Ashes century. Here it is.



Basically, I wanted to video the historical moment, but I got so swept up with celebrating it in person, I turned off the camera to give Belly his ovation. Only later did I realise that the whole reason I started the video (to capture his celebration) was missed. Oh well!

One of the things I've had to deal with in Australia is money. To say the exchange rate between England and Australia is poor is a large understatement. A few years ago, the Barmy Army sung that they were getting "six dollars, to the pound". When I changed my wodge of cash from pounds to Aussie dollars, I got "one and a bit dollars, to the pound". So not much bang for my buck. Because I didn't have much cash to start with, I've soon run through it. Luckily, I have my fully loaded (sort of) debit card, but due to Australian ATMs being weird, I haven't been able to withdraw any money. Before I went out this morning, I had $20 dollars in cash. After buying a cider and a bus ticket I now have $7. I went to the bank this morning before the cricket started (meaning I arrived late to the ground, something that I don't like doing - borderline OCD) but because I was an international client, I would need my passport to withdraw money. As I was going to the cricket, I didn't have my passport. So at the moment, I don't have any (other than $7) money. I'll let you know how that one plays out...

Anyway, thanks for reading once more. Will have a long day ahead as Chelsea are on TV at 6.30 AM, and it could be a long one if England wrap up the Ashes win tomorrow! Until next time, Will