That Winning Feeling…
If you don’t want to read about the cricket, skip to about half way down. If you do want to read about the cricket, there’s a large post on exactly that directly beneath this one
So I arrived home some time after 9 and had a shower. Feeling half human I settled down to watch the opening session of the fifth day of the fifth test.
By 11am I knew that there was no way I was going into work. this match was far too exciting, and had I gone in I would’ve spent the day intently watching the guardian scoreboard instead of doing any work.
Of course, I had the fact that my supervisor meeting takes place on a Monday to contend with, but a quick e-mail sorted that one out. I also cancelled my part in the Monday footie match, but that’s more due to a foot bone injury picked up at Hockey last week.
Finally settled into my position for the day, surrounded by tea and tracker bars, I watched as we seemingly through the game down the pan.
All we needed to do was bat out the whole day. We’d lost Andrew Strauss - the top scorer in the first innings, early doors last night but Mickey Vaughan was looking in top form and Tresco was solid as a rock.
Until the drinks interval.
By Lunch it was 125-5, Pietersen and Collingwood at the wicket.
Tea was the session that won us the game. Pietersen cracked open the bat (literally) and stormed into his first ever England century. Collingwood played brilliantly for 10 off 51, and was then more than matched by Ashley Giles who ended up with a 50, more importantly both of them hung around and allowed Pietersen to flow.
By Tea the aussies would’ve required 5 an over, if they got the three English batsmen out in the next three balls. Of course they didn’t, and in the end 350 off 4 balls was a tough ask. Still enough time for Jones to give away 4 byes though (as pointed out by Brian) heh!
no matter. Ashes lifted and what are you going to do on the back of great sporting success? Well you’ll do what any decent Andrew Flintoff would do, and you go drinking.
A rather small group of Linden, Adrian (who later morphed into Rosy), Alsion and myself. we met in the union and moved onto the big hands.
The big hands saw the invention of a new drinking game : “Mats”, I’m still not entirely sure what the rules are but they’re something like this:
Everyone starts with a pile of mats under their drinks. The idea is to place your mats under other peoples pints. The rules are:
1) You must lift up your pint when you want to take a drink
2) You cannot touch any mat when your drink is grounded
3) You must take a drink if you lift up your pint
4) you can only move 1 or 2 mats with every movement.
5) you can only place mats on unprotected piles (i.e. no pint on top of them)
hence riotous swapping of mats whenever anyone took a drink.
It was brilliant until we all got a little drunk and Linden’s fruity beer ended up… well all over her legs and the table (flat thing) (cue mass innuendo’ing - like we needed any prompt!)
Other things we did which made us unpopular with the staff include -
1. mat tipping - the art of flicking the mats up and catching with the same hand before they hit the table. Linden seems to have the knack of being ambidextrous at this. Where as I can only do it one-handed.
2. Falling off the seat whilst climbing over to go to the toilet and kicking your shoe across the other side of that section of the bar. oh! it was only alsion who did that!
3. Playing “I Have Never”. This included much drinking whilst I was thinking as my brain had ceased to function. Possibly due to the alcoholic nature of the weekend past.
4. Tearing mats up into tiny dogs and people.
I also enjoyed my card trick where I sucessfully picked lindens mobile from a pile of beer mats.
At the end of the evening it was pointed out that the group out entirely consisted of the goonie group whilst lacking a mahinda. All of you people read this blog and I was wondering… Have the five of us ever been out together - i.e. - *Just* the five of us ??
We left and walked the two girls home (well we carried one part of the way). Rosy and I then walked down Yew Tree Road (didn’t seem that far a walk) and went home. I went to bed; I guess maybe 130am?
and that was that!
