h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We got so far off-topic in the end that PR wasn't the place for it. Hope this visit isn't an imposition.

You're right. I did get a bit short with RodtheBrit. One thing I hate about PR, though, is that good Entries with a bit of devil in them get watered down into some kind of politically-correct musn't-offend-anyone mush. I don't want to see this one go that way. Laconian gets Woodfull right for me, brave but hapless. I wanted to make sure he didn't rewrite it to accommodate a shallow opinion.

Imaginative? On what basis?

Anyway, now I'm here I should say that I admire your writing and the thought behind it. I don't agree with some of it, but that's a lot of the charm of this place. The Miller handle intrigues, but a Lindwall one would have been more straightforward.

I know that the Herald Sun is no pinnacle of journalism. (I've worked for a short while in Vic, and in NSW too). That particular article is good IMO, though. It brings a calm perspective to something that a lot of otherwise-sensible Australians get way too worked up about.

Your comments show that you understand where the MCC were in 1932. An era of dominance was waning, and there really was no answer to Bradman. Individuals became scapegoats over Bodyline, but England wanted a win. It got one. There has been nothing so comprehensive since, unless you count a brief era of Australian self-mutilation under Packer at the end of the 70s.

They were right to fear Bradman too, of course. He was still wreaking havoc fifteen years later, and without the war the record would have been even more one-sided.

The Chappell era is the best example of latter-day Australians with Jardinesque tendencies. The most striking similarity for me is great sides that diminished their own reputation by excessive aggression. But the modern Australians (under Ponting as much as Waugh, Border et al) take no prisoners. I've got no problem with that, and I don't know too many englishmen who do. Helmets have balanced the game up pretty well.

An Australian friend, sane except for Bodyline, tries to persuade me that Adelaide was the equivalent of modern test bowlers instructed to bowl head-high full tosses. I think that's ridiculous.

I want to take issue with your statement that Bodyline was 'outlawed'. The word is contentious, suggesting some kind of loophole-cheating, but Jardine's tactics were clearly within the Laws. The change to those Laws was to penalise the exploiters of Bodyline by restricting the field, not to ban it. A balance was redressed, and cricket carried on. I remember the scorer of my first club describing the Invincibles of 1948, including Miller booed in Manchester for sending down too many bumpers. (He sat down at the end of his run, until the crowd shut up).

That'll probably do for now. Friends, mate? And oh yes, I agree with you about 'proactive'. Grotesque word.

Pin

Yep, agree we were getting off to the side of this one. The big change in attitude was the Chappell era.
If I thought I could pull it off I'd write something on the effect Bodyline had on the Australian consciousness of the time and now.
It will always be seen as underhand by the general populace(here), nothing will ever change that view. Rightly or wrongly it adds fuel to an Australian's perception of just how far Englishmen will go, to attempt to win something.
It's why 'The Ashes' remain the most eagerly awaited sporting series bar none in Aus'. People talk now that the preeminent conflict is now India v Australia...Rubbish!
Would we like to dish out another 5-0 drubbing to you blokes? You bet!
Does beating England at anything feel good? Yep!
Does losing to England hurt and make you want to lie down and whimper? Yep!

Just as an aside: Did you see any press over there on a court case won by the English Association for(I can't think of the sports proper title ) Horse and riders that compete in a three day(?) event in the Olympics?
It seems we have a guy who has become a naturalised Asutralian and he was the 96 Olympic champ for this event and he's been chosen for this years Chinese games and as a result of Australia being quarantined with it's first ever outbreak of Equine influenza, the guy could not compete in the horse stage of this event and so the English took the Australian association to court and this nearly top ranked guy was ousted and some British guy ranked way down the list took his place.

Now if any other country had done this it would have got little press but seeing as it was you lot, well it was front page news and once again it's seen as the English stopping at nothing to thwart us

Anyway, enough of this for now, it's been a good debate and I like a good one when I can get it and I hope Laconian's entry gets up as it's a good entry.

So how do you think the 09 Ashes are shaping up?
I wonder whether your lot will receive knighthoods this time if you win .
How must that 12th man(for one test) feel about his MBE as he kicks a ball around in the 3rd level of the Scottish Football League?

Seriously though, I'm looking forward to it, we've come back to the field now after all the big names have retired and in Ponting we have a captain of necessity who's display of critical thinking is questionable at times alongside his occasional intemperate behaviour. Trust me, your not alone in disliking the 'Ugly Australian', I detest some of the things that have gone on in the recent past,sledgings a point in case, but it's now part an parcel of international cricket sadly.

Ok, time to go to work or rather it would be if it wasn't raining so I'll guess I'll just have to stay home and muck about on the computer all day.

Cheers mate and of course friends is much preferable to enemies, sparring partners maybe but hopefully never spiteful and always ready for a

I guess you're talking about eventing as the Olympic equestrian sport. Nothing at all about anyone taking an Aussie's place over here. Just stuff about Zara Phillips' horse being broken and so there'll be no royals in the British team. Not my world at all, that.

You guys are so competitive. I remember sitting in a nice restaurant in Sydney the first time I was there, and the party at the next table were drawing banknotes out of their wallets and laying bets on the serial numbers.

The next Ashes? Trepidation, really. England are so brittle. 2005 was a great series, but as I'm sure you remember England's wins were by a wafer-thin 2 runs and then 3 wkts. On top of that, skittish batsmen (notably Strauss and Vaughan) came good and stayed fit, and the bowlers performed at a peak they haven't nearly approached before or since. Trescothick, Harmison and Giles have gone for good, Simon Jones quite probably too. Flintoff is still half-fit, Hoggard is looking bowled out and Pietersen is still a complete wildcard: matchwinner one day, demoralising liability the next. If any one of the players mentioned had fallen short of the higher-than-usual performance level they discovered that summer, England would have lost the one Ashes series they won in the last 20 years.

The only player better now than then is Bell. There are a few useful newbies around too, but stepping up is a big ask.

Among the Australians, there's plenty to admire. Clark and Hussey are gems, I think. The only guy I just don't like is Symonds. I'm sorry to admit that a latter-day Larwood breaking his skull would go down quite well. Not that we have one.

In fact the series may well revolve around the bowling. We won't quite believe Warne isn't coming till it actually happens. If there's no-one in his stead, expect some Panesar-friendly pitches, unless of course the latest fashion in summer weather persists. In which case, expect five straight rain-ruined draws.

I don't think they'll be making the 'knighthoods' mistake again. Sheesh.

>>>I don't think they'll be making the 'knighthoods' mistake again. Sheesh.<<<

Lol. I could well understand the euphoria at the time but sort of cringed when I saw Flintoff wandering round tanked to the eyeballs muttering about the MBE.

Funny thing that equestrian thing, it's that discipline where you have to ride and shoot and something else and in today's SMH(Syd morn herald) the same Lawyer has contacted a Greek Girl.

Ah, I have the link so no need to type it all out...http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/07/08/1215282834801.html

As to the Cricket, well I'd not be surprised by an England win, I'd be upset but not surprised .
We are minus some all time greats and forget all about Warnie, he won't be back mores the pity. Imagine if this was the thirties, he'd be playing well into his 40's and really why could he not even now do that? Just place him out on the boundary somewhere to field as he's probably getting a bit slow for first slip and carefully harvest his talent for another decade.

I despair at someone of Flintoff's talent not being able to fully utilise his talents for his country. If he was Australian he would be in a different position I'm sure in regards to his physical well being and his mental well being and his clearly defined place in the 'Teams' hierarchy...he'd never have been made Captain for a start, what a mistake that was.
Here is a fundamental difference between our two countries cricketing cultures; Look at the number of Test Caps for starters, yours is up in the six hundreds and ours is (I think) just clicked into the four hundreds. When you get picked the selectors tend to stick with you for quite sometime, of course there are one and two Test wonders but your given a fair crack at making it. Whereas it seems if you make the English team be prepared to be dropped after a bad first match or two and if your Captain don't spend too much on specialised stationary as one day your a Rooster and the next a feather duster.

As to dislikes of mine(I'm neutral with Symonds), you might of picked up that Ponting is one. He represents to me all that is ugly about Australian sport and particularly our cricketers.
Witness his outbursts on and occasionally off the field..he is easily wound up, Fletcher knew that in 05 and did it with ease and it's a shame a guy with such sublime talent, a truly great, skillful player is such an utter..(I don't quite know the right word to use that you'd understand) Bogan/Boofhead/Prat/Yobo/sufferer of Small Mans Syndrome.
He actually reminds me of George Bush at times, both facially and expression wise as well as in his incomprehension at times.

He can be hard I guess but is not in the same field as one S. Waugh. Now he was a hard case who took lessons off another hard case...Captain Grumpy, one Alan Border.

Has Harmison really gone? I was sure i read of him doing well somewhere and isn't Jones on the comeback trail?
Trescothick...no comment.
Giles? Who? I'm sorry but he never really rated with us I think, a handy lower order batsmen and a stock bowler at best.
Pieterson will fire up against us and he's the only bloke our blokes fear, trust me and he knows it, ego or no ego the guy rises up against us and we breathe a sigh of relief when he's gone. If he has a weakness it is that he rises to a well placed sledge(groan) and also to a field placement that dares him to have a go.

Your weather is a worry isn't it? I'm on the weather thread here and I'm smack dab in the middle of winter at the moment and most days are dryer and warmer than your present summer. It is a reason, it has to play a part in the different sporting cultures we have.


Enough waffling ...time for tea.

OK. Modern pentathlon. Something else that doesn't count as sport in my book, on grounds of restricted participation based on wealth.
Anyhow, it's only the lawyer who's British. Everybody's lawyer's are crooked. Your dispute is properly with the Greeks.

Mind you, the lawyer is clearly a bit of a prat (the only Ponting-label I've heard before). You want to see what he looks like? The internet is a wonderful thing...
http://www.bateswells.co.uk/Files/Solicitors/Mike%20Townley.jpg
I rest my case.

Warne is one of the best cricketers I've ever seen, the ones who play at a different level to everyone else. It's a status I concede reluctantly to Australians, to be honest, but realistically Lillee gets up there too. My other most-admired bowler is Underwood. Among batsmen, it tends to be strength in depth with Australia, so instead I'd nominate Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Viv Richards. The best all-rounder I've seen is Imran Khan. Hadlee and Botham were also special.
If we're going to confer a best keeper, it's probably another Australian - Healy (definitely not Marsh).

Flintoff as captain was a mistake, sure. I think he lacks guile. A great treader-in of an advantage, but not the man you want to defend the breach with either bat or ball. He's seemingly never fully fit either. Harmison was world class for precisely 12 months, though he thankfully saved some of it for you lot. Jones; I do hope you're right and he does make it back. He's a brilliant end-strangler, and a perfect foil for the hit-inviting, slingy bowlers like Flintoff, Anderson and now Broad that English cricket seems to churn out. They're expensive without such a partner, and they're usually poor tourists. I'd love to see Jones bowl on shirt-front Australian wickets. I think our recent history of utter failure over there is grounded in bowling inaccuracy.

Ponting as Bush is priceless. He's surely a bit cleverer, though, and I doubt that Blair would bum him.

Australia never did see the best of Giles, but his late-order runs were priceless in 2005 and through most of his career he was another reliable end-strangler. Pietersen's other weakness is inattentiveness in the field. "He'd be among the best players in any side, but if he's THE best player in your side, then you're f***ed". (This description shamelessly borrowed from a workmate who hails from Qld)

So, why Miller? That would be like an English cricket fan worshipping Compton. Like I said before, if you want to celebrate that (admittedly great) era, what about Lindwall? Or Harvey?

Given everything you've said about the Old Country so far, I very much doubt you revere Nugget because of what he did with Princess Margaret.

>>>Given everything you've said about the Old Country so far, I very much doubt you revere Nugget because of what he did with Princess Margaret.
<<<

Well it would take far to long to explain but why was he Parkinson's favourite Cricketer and one of his favourite all time interviewees?

There was about him parts of his persona that was wrong but like Neville Cardus said(it's where my nick as quote comes from) he represents to me the ideal Aussie, his skill was undoubted and he was a quintessential larrikin and a sportsman par excellence. He still stands as our greatest all rounder, there's a lot to like.
You may as well ask, "Why Ned Kelly?", it's an Aussie trait to revere these types.

Underwood, now there was a great bowler I went to several Tests in the acrimonious 70-71 series which introduced so many greats and thoroughly enjoyed his bowling and Willis's.
Absolutely confirmed also in my mind and millions of others just how unutterably boring Boycott was as a batsmen, loathed every time he took strike and cheered like mad when he fell... Watching paint dry was more interesting.

Ah, yes...Warne, now I could watch that man bowl and play cricket until the cows come in. Such a shame that his off field transgressions scuppered his chance to be Australian Captain, what a captain he would of made and I'd reckon he would still be playing now if he was. But as an individual off the field...the blokes a moron.

Lillee was/is in the same league as Warne and to turn his career around after his quite horrific back injuries is truly amazing.

Funny you should mention Compton because many tragics like me would do exactly that...mention him as being a great and admirable Englishman.

Now are we from two different countries or what?


Many of my fellow cricketing friends are old men, well into their sixties and seventies and we enjoy talking and comparing players from many era's. One bloke I have a beer with at least once a week is old enough to have had a Grandfather who played Club cricket with Trumper and I can sit back and just listen to his tales for hours. I'm really a fan of Test Cricket only as I'm not that enarmoured of hit and giggle or pyjama cricket.

I'm no fan of the confrontational style that has been part an parcel of cricket for many years now either.
Do you know the nicest thing I've seen on the cricket ground in many a year was Flintoff consoling Lee in 05 and I have respect for the man(not in anyway begrudging either) and a lot of time for him.
I doubt whether any current player in our side would do the same.

Flintoff is another player who I like because of those traits he shares somewhat of with Miller.


So tell me then: Who are your fav English Cricketers.


Oh, I just remembered Alan Knott and my elderly mates also liked Godfery Evans as keepers, Knott was very athletic and kept to some great bowlers Snow and Willis and of course Underwood.

Wow. Why did that get yikesed?

Anyway, I'll still post what you lead me to think about. This is the England team I think I'd most enjoy watching (rather than necessarily the best) picked from players I've actually seen in Tests since my first (Manchester, 1972 Ashes 1st Test).

Mike Atherton
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Graham Thorpe
Alec Stewart (wkt)
Ian Botham
Chris Old
Darren Gough
Derek Underwood
Phil Tufnell
Bob Willis

Near misses are Randall and Flintoff. Might-have beens (but simply not properly English) are Robin Smith, Lamb and Greig. The bowlers are far harder than the batsmen: many have done well but only briefly, and the steady performers have been just that - steady.

In the end, I just picked bowlers who I've seen individually rip an innings apart. I should add that Tuffers is in because Randall missed out, and we need someone to ruffle Australian composure.

Well that's a first, I've never been yikesed before.
I wonder if it was perhaps my description of Warne?
Surely not being derogatory of Boycott?. Do they ever give reasons for their yikesing Pin?

It's a good team and I'm glad you left the South Africans, I for instance would never pop Wessels in an Australian one.

So you'd go for Stewart over Knott. Why? I know that he did play in weaker teams than Knott and was quite often left holding the(damn! forgot that saying..plate?).

I'm all wary now Of what I'm going to say...

Did you see Snow bowl? He was quick on Aussie wickets that's for sure.

I was lucky enough to see the Centenary Test at the MCG...now that was a truly magnificent match and the matching scoreline beggars belief.

Did you watch it on TV over there? Randells innings, now didn't HE get up Lillee's nose.

Oh, I forgot to mention Thommo, now there you have a Pom hating Australian, unrepentant in his belief that the only good Englishman is one wearing red marks all over his body, inducing bruising and sheer terror. At his peak he was truly awesome. I've watched Frank Tyson on newsreel footage and he was a bowler like Thompson and I don't think you've had a faster or more destructive bowler since.


I'd wrote some more , but...(peeks in the shadows looking for Ed's)

I can't remember if they tell you why your yikesed. I've only ever had a couple, neither unexpected.

Snow and Knott, seen both, but my impressions of the first half of the 70s are hazy. Deadly is memorable in part because he bowled all day. Knott was surely a better keeper than Stewart, and not so far short as a bat. But the first England keeper I remember with clarity is Bob Taylor. Stewart I do admire, though. The only English keeper of long standing who I've seen bat with real authority, rather than just be sticky and awkward and too bloody-minded to be got out quickly.

The end of the 70s, you were probably watching Underwood and Knott playing WSC. We only saw the official Australians, which was actually quite OK. It was fun, Kim Hughes having a blub.

We saw the Centenary Test, yes. One of Randall's finest hours, but at all levels of the game he was worth the entrance money. Nottingham is just 30 miles south. Robinson, Rice and Hadlee were all worth watching too. I remember once seeing Rice and Hadlee (against Derbys I think) murdering the bowling in a hundred stand to set up a declaration and then ripping out the top order with two wickets apiece, all in a single afternoon.

Thommo, yes, quite a bowler as well as a competitor. Again, I recall him more in legend than actuality. Unlike Lillee, his best was over by the time I knew what I was watching.

Tyson I'm aware of mainly from my first boss, who went to school with his brother, if I remember right. We were determined not to be impressed. Anyway, this side of the hill we revere Trueman.

According to the rules you are meant to be given a chance to amend the post removing the expeditionary bits(the bit that offended) but I've never known it to happen, try responding to the email asking which bit offended..agree re Randall, remember him from long ago or could have been his father as had an interest in cricket in the early sixties aged 8..more to do with then best friend Keith Cole..(whom I thought a bit of a pratt when catching up with him ten years later..

Today at Lord's is well worth a mention, first day of the first Test against the South Africans.
They put us in, on a pitch that had been covered for two days (this is the monsoon season in England). It turned out to be surprisingly slow, the much-vaunted Steyn bowled too short and Strauss and Cook reached a little-troubled seventy-odd by lunch. They went on sedately afterwards too, until the day's token Aussie (Harper D, world's worst umpire) decided to saw Strauss off to a ball that pitched outside leg. Enter Vaughan, who promptly got one from Steyn much better than needed to return him. Cook got fretty and it was 114-0 to 117-3. By now Pietersen was at the other end, even frettier against his countrymen for the first time. Bell looked calm with a sumptuous four, as KP tried to run himself out and then fended one off with his head.
Just as South Africa looked to be getting there, batting suddenly turned easy again. The pair played better and better, until Pietersen went to a hundred late on. It's 309-3 overnight, with Bell on 75 and probably no longer at risk to the nearly-fit again Flintoff's return. I doubt he ever was at risk. It's Vaughan they should heave; Colly they probably will.
This series is supposed to turn on South Africa's superior bowling. On today's evidence, we'll thrash them, because on pitches any drier I confidently expect Panesar to run riot.
And no rain interruption, a miracle in itself.

Nice score that(3-309), KP would be giggling wouldn't he? I imagine the saffers would not of let up on him if he'd failed and now their let his ego off the hook all hell may well break loose.

Explain if you will what'this side of the hill' means. I've sort of got the gist of it with Fiery Fred being a northern lad I guess it's a colloquial divide.

Stewart possessed a doggedness that I could admire but nothing else really comes to mind, at least he didn't suffer under the ECB's constantly changing selection policy and he was secure in his position.

Thommo was genuinely frightening at his peak and it's not an exaggeration to say he struck fear into batsmen. I've not seen any other bowler do this in the flesh and the next bowler who may well of had that sort of an effect might well be our mate Larwood in THAT series. I remember him breaking the hands of Dennis Amiss and John Edrich and the ECB in it's wisdom sent out the ageing Colin Cowdery because of England's injury list and the poor old fella had to face Thompson and Lillee on the WACA's lightning fast wicket. To his credit he stood his ground but nothing could stop those two bowlers in that series and England went down 4-1. The English captain even dropped himself from the side in an attempt to change their fortunes but it had no effect.


@ LOgi. Hey Logi I've not received any email from the yikesing eds, I was a bit disparaging about Boycott so maybe that upset em.

Well Pin, that's a good start to the Test I hope your awful weather stays away and doesn't wreck the game the pitch seemingly holds no terrors by the sound of it and It'll be interesting to see what S.A's premier batsmen do on it.

The Pennine hills run north-south along the backbone of northern England, and so separate Yorks and Lancs. Tyson was a Lancastrian, though he played for Northants, which is nowhere at all. Fred Trueman was famously, definitively and ultimately professionally a Yorkshireman, thus from the my (east) side of the hill. I live in Sheffield, which is in South Yorkshire, unless you come from Leeds like my better half, in which case it's in the North Derbyshire Industrial Museum.

593-8 dec. KP 152. Bell 199 (pity. Probably Harris' last wicket of the series). Broad 76 (the young man shows considerable promise). SA 7-0. Half a dozen breaks for rain in the day.

Always a shame to see any batsman out on 99, let alone 199.
Will watch with interest to see if S.A. compiles a big score. That must be England's biggest score for sometime?
Lords: Englands never deafeated Australia at Lords, is it a better ground for you against other teams?

Highest England score for 5 years (cf 604-9 dec, also v SA in 2003).

England have won Ashes tests at Lord's, but the last time was a while ago - 1934. (That was the match in which Hedley Verity took an all-time Test record of 14 wickets in a single day, reputedly after running over a cat on the way to the ground).
England's overall record at the Home of Cricket is their worst at any of the major English Test grounds. Played 115 (not including current fixture): W 42, L 28, D 45.

Don't make me do this. I can get very boring.

Ha ha. That's what Crickets about though! Statistics and records, I can never be bored with either. Feel free to tell me anything about cricket from your side of the world.

Saugages and eggs are calling(Sat morn here)...bbl

The boring stuff first. 247 all out, 13-0 following on. A very efficient whole-team performance, bowling as a unit for maybe the first time since you-know-when. A sticky and admirable hundred from Prince, doughty forties from McKenzie and de Villiers, a thrash from Steyn - the rest were gone before they were remotely rooted. Four for Monty, two each Broad and Sidebottom, one for Anderson and the last to fall for (would you believe?) Pietersen with the light too poor for the quicks. Three very smart catches (Strauss and two for Anderson) the highlights of a day on which the fielding was like a vice. Very satisfactory indeed. First three days = total dominance. Let's tread it in now. Let's have Smith out before the missus gets her morning coffee.

Now some other stuff.
I've been reading your comments and questions about where to place your writing and where and how to get comment.
You want my take on your work? Would it help to have writing crit from me? I sort of forget that people look for the workshop/writing advice aspects of h2g2. (Maybe I got too much I didn't like in the first two or three years of my sentence).
If your writing gets on, incidentally, you might meet me in another guise. I'm a scout for the EG, but probably more important I'm the QA for the UnderGuide. I get the dubious pleasure of deciding whether the pieces recommended by the Miners are good enough for the Front Page gallery.
Crit is crit, of course. We don't do fluffy mutual admiration. Particularly not for Australians
Do you want to broaden this thread out, or keep it just as a cricket conversation?
Do you even want to psychoanalysed about how come straightforward and steely Aussies come to be writing poetry?

I actually did something last night that I've rarely if ever done, watched England play someone else apart from us. It was an odd experience let me tell. I view all cricket teams apart from my own as the enemy and to watch two of the biggest was a rather odd thing indeed.

All this after watching the Springboks monster the AllBlacks for their first win in thirty years on NZ soil. We're the next rabbit in their sights, a Test to be played in Sydney next Saturday and it's hard to see us *not getting a flogging.
I've never watched Pay TV before, my rabid AllBlack following NZ neighbour has it just so she can watch the Super 14 and every international Test. I quite enjoyed it all until Botham appeared on the screen, you don't like Symonds, I think Beefys a right wally and a hopeless commentator. Thankfully Sky or whatever it is has him contracted and the Australian commentary team(full of another bunch of wallys) already has their token Pom in Nichols.

England has got the foot on the Bok throat at the moment...don't let up. All this at Lords too, so much the better.
Am I right in thinking that if you want to watch Test Cricket in England these days, you have to pay for the privilege?

*Now some other stuff.*
Haha at your post, steely Aussies indeed. I've got three poems I've worked at for a long time and these I've popped in my journal so I can look at them and also anyone who wants too in passing as well.

I put one up today into the AWW and this particular poem has had a lot of input from some poets who used to be members here on the now defunct Get Writing site at the Beeb and some are still members here at hootoo.
So yeah Pin, I don't mind at all if you want to broaden it. I'd doubt that I'd change either one of them overly much if at all but I'd certainly welcome your take on them.

I did start another EG entry but bummed out when it came to seeking info on the guy in question and at the moment I'm trying to decide who or what I want to write about for an Entry. Of course if I never write another entry, well I'm fine with that as I do enjoy reading and commenting in PR and that's got to be a useful and helpful thing to the members who do put their Entries up for review.

I've had writers block all of 2008 and have written nothing new at all, 2006/2007 were good years for me and I wrote a lot of poetry and some very short stories called 60 worders and had 6 or 7 of them published in a book, an anthology of worders published last year by Guildhall Press Northern Ireland, even received a royalty cheque of all things .
So I do hope I can find the right subject/topic to write about and hopefully get it up in the guide. But until then I'll just keep trying to help out in other ways here. Jordan's offered to help when it comes time to do the guide html thing, I'm not good with PC's and code just makes my eyes roll. I don't particularly want to learn it either as I'd rather be doing other 'stuff' to be quite truthful.

What's a QA btw?

The Saaagh-thifrikins fought back today. 242-1 at the close. Smith 107, McKenzie 102no. 204 for the first wicket was the highest ever for a Test side following on. Absolutely nothing in the pitch, similar amount in Vaughan's head. If you didn't like Boycott, you wouldn't have been thrilled by those two, but respect - they got their heads down. And we've learned that SA can at least play half-cricket (ie the not losing approach).

Yes, you have to pay to watch Test cricket live in Britain now, because it's on Sky. There's a minimum subscription of around £30/month to get sport (though to be right you get a lot more too). We've all got fairly inured to paying. Sky TV belongs to a soulless money-grabber called Rupert Murdoch. Guess where *he* comes from.

QA is the quality-something or other. To be honest, I don't know what it stands for. They just call me it.

If you've been paid for creative writing, you've got one up on me.