Thoughts on Cricket and Other Things...

We saw part of a game of cricket on TV yesterday afternoon....yes, only part of a game because cricket games can evidently last up to five days. We went to the TV common room and flipped channels until a fellow named Mike came in and taught us a thing or two about this elusive game.

Now Mike is a butcher at the Thorndon New World Supermarket (where we spend a lot of money) and grew up in Hastings near Hawkes Bay, NZ in a family of butchers. He says he knows meat through and through. He is here in Wellington studying "Accountancy".

In cricket, men stand in the center of a field on either side of "wickets" and one player (the "pitcher") bowls the ball to the player on the other team holding the cricket paddle. The ball (which is hard!) is thrown by the bowler taking a running start and throwing it at the hitter. Now the ball must bounce. Yes, it has to bounce. Bizarre. After hitting the ball with the paddle, the hitter must run back and forth between wickets, scoring as many runs as possible. It is a high scoring game, but as I said, very bizarre. England and Australia were playing, and Mike was pulling for Australia, which he considers to be the lesser evil. It is never acceptable to root for England. Who knew?

The fellow who bowls the ball nearly dislocates the shoulder with every pitch. The follow-through and strength are amazing to watch. They wear white and these safari looking hats in the outfield, but baseball-like caps in the infield...That is a generalization but bear in mind that these are my uneducated impressions. Also there is a lack of proper hand protection. Guys in the outfield do not wear mitts or gloves, but just catch the ball with their bare hands. Ouch.

So in summary, men stand in white on a field with safari hats and zinc oxide all over the face chasing hard balls and running back and forth between wickets. Note: They evidently think baseball is boring.

This past week other than the day with Desmond, we walked to Oriental Bay and enjoyed the sun and beach....and took the Dominion Post Ferry to Eastbourne, a little town by Days Bay. I combed the beach there picking up pieces of jade. One has to wear a good deal of sunscreen here, because before you know it your nose will be red. On the ferry ride over to Eastbourne Santa was riding along to the Somes Island...this island is an old quarantine spot where one had to stay before being allowed into Wellington. Santa looked a little thin, and didn't have command of his sleigh, or have any reindeers or elves. Curious. And what exactly was Santa doing on lonely Somes Island? We will never know....