Hoops he did it again

"I feel like a c*nt" were Hoopy's first words to me yesterday. Whether this was a statement of mental situation or a physical desire I'm not quite sure, though I suspect the former as the words were uttered with regard to the fact that he'd missed the first day's cricket at Sydney by being asleep. Mind you, that was understandable given that the dirty stopout didn't get in until about 2 hours past daylight on Tuesday morning, having spent about 8 hours in Cheers overnight watching three UK premiership soccer games and therefore consuming a larger number than normal of the associated beverages.

Being a much more sensible person (not to mention bleeding knackered after NYE and a general lack of sleep over the past week or so), I retired gracefully at midnight and therefore did get up and head off to the SCG for the first day's play. My gound report? Well, once you're seated the ground looks great. Not quite as intimate as Adelaide, but retaining much of the English county ground feel, with the striking city skyline as a backdrop behind the member's pavilion.

Unfortunately, that's where the good vibe begins and ends. The area behind the stands within the ground's boundary are tiny, requiring you to participate in a gridlocked queuing system anytime one requires something so mundane as a pee, drink or, most importantly, a traditional Aussie meat pie. Worse, the policepersons here have absolutely zero sense of humour (the female officers being of the fat lesbian miserable bitch variety in particular) and, the piece de resistance, you can't leave the ground and come back in. Zero passout policy they call it - I call it complete and utter bollocks. I've paid for a day's ticket, who the fuck do these wankers think they are telling me I can't them come and go as I please? Obviously they don't have the intelligence to realise that letting people out of the ground at lunch would not only ease their internal congestion problems but also have people in a much happier mood, thus reducing the likelyhood of one of thier stewards being inserted in the horiontal up the (doubtless already stretched) anus of another. Grrr.

On a lighter note, Hoopy has bumped into yet another friend from back home - this time Grenville from Buckland Brewer. Not planned at all - he literally walked in front of us in Hyde Park the first day we were here. So that's two meets to Hoopy against my one. And just when I thought I had I chance of getting even, having arranged to meet the lovely Sue (who works at a client site and is also here for a holiday) and her husband for dinner tomorrow evening, it turns our that Hoopy plays darts withBob back home and so will tag along to make the score 3-2.

Fun night last night - back in Cheers (I'm starting to notice a trend with our evening entertainment) where we managed to get loads more pictures of girls (Hoopy having his 40th birthday has certain advantages - seems nobody can resist 'making his day'!) and also met up with a damn decent chap called Giles from Plymouth, who already knows the legend of Kenny Wheeler. These events conspired, as usual, to ensure that we drank far more than intended with the net result that we both overslept this morning. Never mind - we'll go to cricket after lunch...