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Friday, 12 July 2013

English Summer Dispatch I - Thursday, 11th July 2013


Dear Friends, I am writing to you from England. We were very sorry to say goodbye to Scotland and will be back again soon …..during Summer, it offers all the advantages of Winter without the cold! When I left you we were heading off to Ayr Races, which we duly did after first travelling along Racecourse Road, which led to the Golf Course. We found the parking a challenge – no orange or green-coated men to direct you and we weaved our way to the end of the line where we parked in long grass alongside the straight. Getting tickets was fun – you pass all the admittance doors and stand outside 4 portacabins, with two men each inside. One man ignores you and the other takes your money, and then punches a hole in each ticket & threads a cord through – I can’t believe this wasn’t done in advance, always assuming you needed to wear a ticket at all.
We loved the races, although we were unsuccessful except for a place bet. The course was very clean, including the toilets, betting was a mystery and we were quite surprised to discover that our tote bet was actually with an SP bookie, who paid well it turned out. The races were run anti-clockwise, which I have not seen before in the UK and we left after the second-last race to avoid the horrible mess that would occur when everyone was trying to either walk to their car or escape in their car along the same narrow walkway (or should I say grassway).

On our way home we detoured to the pretty little seaside village of Dunure, where we enjoyed lobster and langoustines cooked perfectly. We only wished we had found the pub earlier!

Next day we rose early, breakfasted lightly, said goodbye to our very friendly hosts and headed for Bradford via a couple of Farm Shop stops, where clean toilets and acceptable tea & coffee can be had easily. We were thrilled to discover we were in Brontë country and that our Guest House was in Cullingworth, a lovely little village outside of Bradford, where Mark made us most comfortable.
Rooftop in Harwood

We spent the afternoon applying henna, then when we were both clean and tidy again, walked to the George Hotel, where Wes had a glorious meal of pheasant on couscous hotpot and I enjoyed breaded prawns with chili sauce. Wifi was free, but sporadic, so we did our best to catch up with emails, ring Viva and contact Barbara, but it wasn’t easy.

Breakfast next morning was most enjoyable, although we ate lightly as we were meeting Jeff & Kev for lunch. On our way we drove through Harwood to the Brontë Museum, which was most impressive and a very reverent celebration of that amazing family. We headed for Newark and were doing well until there was an accident just ahead of us on the A1, which set us behind about 20 minutes.
View from the Bronte Parsonage

We spent a very relaxed and enjoyable hour and a half with Jeff & Kev, catching up with all their news and telling them ours. They are both looking very well and we were grateful that they drove out of their way to meet in a spot that left us with a 45 minute drive to Nottingham.

We arrived at our hotel at the same time as two busloads of Aussies and just after our group had checked in. Wes had to return the car, so left me with the luggage in the foyer, where I met up with one of our party, Sondra, who helped me get 2 suitcases, a laptop, a bag & two coats to the lift and out again.
David, Us, Annette & Jane

Our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, is a tired old hotel, and although our room is quite big with two chairs, a Q bed and a couch; we have a few issues – the toilet flushes properly intermittently, the basin blocks regularly, there was a blown globe in Wes’s reading light and the internet, which costs an arm & a leg, is extremely unreliable. All of these issues have been brought to the attention of reception and so far the globe has been replaced and we have been given 10 free one hour internet access vouchers.

That night there was a function here, compered by Jim Maxwell, who interviewed Chris Broad, John Inverarity, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Wade and the Barmy Army trumpeter among others. We were thrilled to catch up with Jane, David, Terry and Annette. After a while, both Jane & I headed for bed, and Wes, David & Terry went to a nearby pub and solved the world’s problems.

Yesterday morning we all met in the foyer at 9am for a group photo, then caught the bus to Trent Bridge. We were very excited as this was the first overseas Ashes Test for some of us and we weren’t disappointed. All the officials were friendly and smiling, our seats in the New Stand, which looks quite weird with its wind-break roof, were brilliant and full of Aussies, and the atmosphere was magic.

A full ceremonial band played while a woman with a wonderful voice gave great renditions of both national anthems; the Red Arrows (like our Roulettes) flew by in formation, and finally the umpires walked onto the ground and play began. Australia did very well to restrict the Poms to 215, but that wasn’t looking so flash by the end of the day’s play, when 14 wickets in all had fallen.

Wes and I decided to have a quiet meal in the bar when we got home as I was too tired to go out, and a very enjoyable one it was…. King prawns linguini with chili and rocket. We were quite surprised when the helpful young man who had replaced the blown globe was our food waiter, but it is that sort of hotel.

This morning we six decided to walk to the ground instead of getting the bus, so we set off at 9.30 and discovered that the centre of Nottingham is full of pedestrian malls and very easy to traverse. We found our way very easily and were back in the New Stand a couple of rows further back than yesterday, which was good, as the sun came out today and we were sheltered from it for most of the time.

What an unforgettable day we saw – Australia was batting well, then lost 5 wickets in 8 balls and disaster loomed. Suddenly out strode our 19 year old debutant batting at no 11 and everything changed. He took control, stopped Phil Hughes from attempting suicidal runs and routed the English bowlers. When he was finally out on 98, Australia was well ahead, all manner of records had fallen and once again Test Cricket had shown itself to be the intriguing game it is.

Trent Bridge holds about 17,000 spectators, which is quite small by our standards, and today you would have sworn the Aussies outnumbered the Poms by the noise we were all making. It was one of the memorable days and being there was incredible – I can’t begin to explain how I feel being in England for Test Cricket – it is a long-term dream come true and I don’t want it to end!

Everyone else has gone out to dinner tonight, but I am tired and thought I would write this Dispatch and have an early night. Thanks again to everyone for keeping in touch and apologies that our contact with you has been so spasmodic since we arrived in England. And apologies to those of you who don’t enjoy Test Cricket one little bit…..you don’t know what you are missing!
The Fanatics in Full Cry

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