Monday, January 26, 2009

Some things you just have to find out for yourself...

January 26th is "Australia day" here. For now anyway. It will hopefully be moved to another day in the future but that doesn't matter for now.

On Australia day, there is always a cricket match in the Adelaide Oval where Australia's team plays another country, in this case South Africa.

We went.

First we had to wake up and rush to the stadium to get what apparently were the best seats. The atmosphere was good.

Nicole and Gavin waiting in anticipation for the gates to open.

We were not alone.

At first our seats (actually we brought our own chairs because we sat on a grass hill but that's OK) were in the shade.

But the sun came closer quickly and soon we were in full sun light. If you've been to Australia you know that you really shouldn't be doing that.

Then the match started. The type of match played today was of the type where each team had to bowl 50 overs which equals 300 bowls (throws) each. That's 600 in total.

Lots of other crazy people.

I couldn't focus on the game at all. There were too many very loud people, some more drunk and noisy than others, with different sources of loud music (fantastic) and the sun was so hot that it was almost the only thing I could think about from noon till we left. I went outside of the arena a few times to find shade. Once I attempted reading a book under the tree but my legs kept falling asleep. And also I just couldn't stop sweating, even my legs just sweated continuously.

We left after half time. The shade was just coming over our chairs again but we had enough. At least I tried it. If I were ever to go again, I'd buy a ticket for an area with shade and peace so that I can actually try and follow the game. I don't think this will ever happen though.

At first I thought it was a wasted day. But then I thought there were also two nice things:
1) I bought very nice samosas with chilli sauce. They were delicious. I wasn't expecting to find nice food like that.
2) I got to meet Emma again and her boy friend Jason for the first time and he turned out to be a nice bloke.

I think I'll pass on next year's Australia day cricket match.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whaha, je hebt het geprobeerd. Ik zou al niet eens gegaan zijn, want in die hitte in een vol stadion, zou mij al beklemmen.

kees said...

"I think I'll pass next year's Australia day cricket match."

Maybe you should write: "I think I'll pass out at next year's Australia day cricket match."

marian said...

geef mij maar een w.k. schaatsen in Heerenveen, lekker warm zo'n ijsmuts op de kop!!!

munchie said...

I should have warned you that a day at the cricket would be the worst day of your life, but everyone has to find out for themselves, unfortunately.

Before you go to a cricket match again, I recommend you attempt the following training exercises beforehand:

1. Watch an entire TEST MATCH on TV... the whole 5-day match, with no channel surfing or snack breaks allowed over the whole 5 days (except to go to the toilet or get more drinks). With 5 days of your holidays wasted, a one-day match will seem like a blessing.

2. Sit outside in direct sunlight for 8 hours at a time.

3. Go to a pub with ice cold beer and good air conditioning - read a book. Realise that you can skip steps 1 & 2 and your life will be happily cricket-free from then on.

Vincent said...

Hahaha, that was funny. Oh I would have killed to be in a pub with a book and an ice cold beer.