Friday, December 16, 2005
A funny old week...
It has been, hasn't it? England started it with a bang last Saturday by winning the first ODI quite easily, after getting a lot of runs batting first. Charlton won too, so it made for good weekend.
Sunday was the day when the bang in Hemel Hempstead was heard by everyone for miles around; friends who live closer - but still twenty miles from Hemel - were woken and everyone had their own theory about what it was before the real news broke. It was a plane crash at Luton, a plane crash at Heathrow, a very big bomb somewhere... The fire in the petrol storage tanks (see pic left and below) raged for over three days, until foam was used to douse the final tank. Some of the tanks promptly caught fire again but not to the same extent, and they have been left to burn themselves out. It certainly caused the skies to darken for a few days, and luckily it didn't rain at all, or everyone would have had black soot to clean off their homes and cars! Thankfully, the friend who lives closest (about four miles away) was away at her boyfriends parents for the weekend, and their house wasn't damaged at all, unlike many others in the area.
My boss at work has been ill all week (migraines and no voice - male heaven!) so I've just been getting on with things. Lots of meetings and paperwork, but at least we are now starting to get somewhere in the different elements of the project.
England promptly threw away the second ODI by not scoring enough runs on Tuesday, and on Thursday they took a right old hammering as Pakistan scored their second highest ever one day score, and the highest ever against England. This led to Englands equal worst ever defeat. Three down, two to go, we need to win them both to take the series, but that is very unlikely given the bowling in the matches so far. I think their minds may have been on this little ditty!
On Wednesday evening my old cricket club had a christmas booze up - seven of the team made it along to the pub, and we had a very good time reminiscing! Next year is the thirtieth anniversary of our first ever match, and rumours persist that we may be asked to don the whites once more in a friendly game. The trouble though, will be getting twenty two players out - the reason we folded was because we couldn't muster eleven each week (in fact, only seven turned up for the last ever match!). We also plan to hire a venue and show a powerpoint type slide show of images from our illustrious past, which will be mightily embarassing I can confirm!
Last night we took a train to Chelmsford to see my girlfriends best mate who is getting married next year; we had a lovely chat with them, though the restaurant was exteremely average and the service appalling!
This weekend is busy - we are off to Manchester tomorrow morning to see a friend, though I am taking in the football at Wigan too. The cricket ODIs continue, and I also maintain my lack of doing any Christmnas shopping - I must try to fit it in sometime!
Hopefully, next week will be a little less frantic, and I can start to enjoy the festivities - I am still turkey-less so far this year - though I'm not holding too many high hopes.
Sunday was the day when the bang in Hemel Hempstead was heard by everyone for miles around; friends who live closer - but still twenty miles from Hemel - were woken and everyone had their own theory about what it was before the real news broke. It was a plane crash at Luton, a plane crash at Heathrow, a very big bomb somewhere... The fire in the petrol storage tanks (see pic left and below) raged for over three days, until foam was used to douse the final tank. Some of the tanks promptly caught fire again but not to the same extent, and they have been left to burn themselves out. It certainly caused the skies to darken for a few days, and luckily it didn't rain at all, or everyone would have had black soot to clean off their homes and cars! Thankfully, the friend who lives closest (about four miles away) was away at her boyfriends parents for the weekend, and their house wasn't damaged at all, unlike many others in the area.My boss at work has been ill all week (migraines and no voice - male heaven!) so I've just been getting on with things. Lots of meetings and paperwork, but at least we are now starting to get somewhere in the different elements of the project.
England promptly threw away the second ODI by not scoring enough runs on Tuesday, and on Thursday they took a right old hammering as Pakistan scored their second highest ever one day score, and the highest ever against England. This led to Englands equal worst ever defeat. Three down, two to go, we need to win them both to take the series, but that is very unlikely given the bowling in the matches so far. I think their minds may have been on this little ditty!On Wednesday evening my old cricket club had a christmas booze up - seven of the team made it along to the pub, and we had a very good time reminiscing! Next year is the thirtieth anniversary of our first ever match, and rumours persist that we may be asked to don the whites once more in a friendly game. The trouble though, will be getting twenty two players out - the reason we folded was because we couldn't muster eleven each week (in fact, only seven turned up for the last ever match!). We also plan to hire a venue and show a powerpoint type slide show of images from our illustrious past, which will be mightily embarassing I can confirm!
Last night we took a train to Chelmsford to see my girlfriends best mate who is getting married next year; we had a lovely chat with them, though the restaurant was exteremely average and the service appalling!
This weekend is busy - we are off to Manchester tomorrow morning to see a friend, though I am taking in the football at Wigan too. The cricket ODIs continue, and I also maintain my lack of doing any Christmnas shopping - I must try to fit it in sometime!Hopefully, next week will be a little less frantic, and I can start to enjoy the festivities - I am still turkey-less so far this year - though I'm not holding too many high hopes.
