Victoria for the win!

Banksie's ranch on the Peninsula, a photo by Gypsy Saskia on Flickr.

A quick lazy post before I go to New Zealand tomorrow. Victoria has been good to me! I stayed with friends in Carlton North and West Melbourne, made a trip to the Yarra Valley with Em and spent two wonderful days on my mate's ranch in the Mornington Peninsula. I've been to heaps of wineries and drank some great coffees! Boxing Day test was fun, even more so when we won. And I bought two pairs of shoes today (oops...).

Can't upload pics directly from my iPad but there are a few more on Flickr.

Sports junkie

Between the Six Nations and cricket world cup, little is happening in my life. This time of the year I am generally anti social due to the ruggers, but throw in a cricket world cup as well and I am a true hermit until 7pm on weekends. Last weekend was a rugby free weekend, so I went to the Dam to catch up with friends. But that's about it as far as day time socialising goes.

The weekend of 12 March will be reasonably sociable, as my rugby mad friend Mary will be visiting. And thanks to a rugby playing colleague, I got allocated two tickets to the Wales-Ireland game. Mary and I will spend about 8 hours travelling for less than 2 hours rugby. But hey ho. It will be my best chance to watch this great sport at the Millenium Stadium.

From 3 April onwards, my own sociable self will reappear. Until then: sports it is!

Sleep deprived

We're only three days into the Ashes and I am already so sleep deprived it ain't funny. For many reasons I wish Oz was closer, and this bloody time difference is on top of the list at the moment. And this is only the Brissie test. Starts at midnight UK time. Sydders and Melbs are half an hour later. But man, do I love it.

Take Thursday night. I went to bed rather excited (and rather pissed, but that's a different matter) as our batting was only just underway. Waking up Friday morning to a 220/5 and a wicketless final session (and a sore head) meant I had a slight spring in my step, making my way to work. My English partner and other colleagues were clearly starting to get worried, which only added to my joy.

Come Friday night, I stayed awake on espresso and jelly beans. Close to 2am, when Australia were at 308/5 I couldn't possibly stay awake any longer. Waking up this morning, the first thing I did was to check the score on my Blackberry. 481/10. Bring it on. And now, I am again counting on espresso and jelly beans to keep me awake for another 2,5 hours or so. In 2014 I probably need to take 6 weeks unpaid leave and just go to Oz. For now, I am accepting the fact that I will look like a ghost on valium by early January. It's all worth it.

Outtahere

Have never been so happy to leave Old Blighty. Losing the Ashes hurt. Big time. I was in the Oval on Sunday, surrounded by 24,000 chanting Poms (three of whom had a vocabulary limited to c**t and f**k) and would have loved their chants and fanship if I wasn't such an Australia supporter. I can't read any papers or see Freddie bloody Flintoff and way too many colleagues mention it. And to top it all off, Liverpool lost to Villa. Not happy. Not happy at all.

But...in 12 hours I will be in a cab to Heathrow, on my way to DC. Then New York. Then Seattle. So life ain't too bad after all. Holiday!!!!!!!!!!!

A day at the cricket

Off to bat
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Or two days, really. In Canterbury this time, where the Australian team played the Lions. Nothing beats watching the boys play in the sun. I am truly at my happiest when at the ground, and I am a damn happy person in all aspects. It's just the best. Even a friendly. Seeing Binga enjoying his bowling, seeing the boys signing autographs for the young fans, seeing a sea gull take off with the bail of Binga's freshly bowled wicket, seeing Binga chase said bird. Just another day at the cricket.

A bit of stalking we did too: we 'happened to' go for a pre dinner drink in the players hotel. No swimming pool scenes (as my footy focussed brother asked immediately) but enjoying the Viognier with slightly better views than normal. Bit starstruck I was!

Will have to go back to Canterbury another time, as I think the town deserves a bit more attention than I gave it. Staying in the friendliest pub, the nice little shops and the impressive cathedral are reasons to go back for more.

Australia weekend

Priscila Queen of the Desert and Ashes. Jason Donovan (who ages very well, I might add) and Ricky Ponting (who I would love to lynch right now). A night at the theatre with friends. A day in the stadium in Cardiff with fellow cricket fans and a day at home glued to Cricinfo. Ah, and don't forget that glass of Australian viognier I had this arvo. A great weekend full of Australianness, but damn....that draw against England hurts.

Dutch victory

Dutch victory
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

They may have gone home - this celebratory pic is still worth sharing (for content rather than quality). The poms won't easily forget this!

Holy fricking crap

The Dutchies had me enthousiastic from the beginning, much to my surprise (so much for my "I will never support the Dutch team" two blogs down.....). They did well, the Dutch crowd (consisting of mainly 'kakkers') were making noise and the atmosphere was great. The English batted first and got a reasonable 162, and then it was for us to bat. And batting we did. Sixes even, unlike the English. Heaps of fours and a consistent run rate. I was jumping, cheering, shouting (all this from row 1, I might add) and clapping. And then that last ball... Two runs needed. Two runs run. Watch the video. The joy of the players was so big. A bunch of amateurs (as in....most of the team have day jobs that don't involve cricket) agains these pro's. Un-effing-believable. The hangover means I miss most of the kiwi game today, but off to the Oval in ten for some more cricket!

Booooooooring

A stomach bug or whatever it was kept me home for a few days. Truly sick on Sunday, crap Monday and Tuesday and back at work today feeling a bit lightheaded still. And christ, I am bored. Not being able to exercise drives me up the wall, there is only so much you can read with a head ache and the route between couch and bed really isn't very scenic. So...tomorrow it has to be over and done with.

I want to meet Chantal for dinner before going for drinks with fellow Dutchies tomorrow and to go to Lords with Zoe on Friday for the England - Netherlands 20Twenty worldcup game. Or Netherlands.... Half the players are, apart from their passports, about as Dutch as I am Australian. Ryan ten Doeschate, a great player, is a Saffa, as are some of the others. There is a dude who was born in New Zealand, as was Borren (who I went on a date with four years ago, only to find out on cricinfo he'd been playing for New Zealand's under 19s pretty recently). The rest seem to be posh The Hague born guys. The few I met in person made such a crap impression I will never support the Dutch team. Don't think much of the English either (I love the English but hate them in ruggers, footy and cricket) so I guess I will be Switzerland on Friday night. But hey ho: It's Lord's, it's with Zoe and it'll be Friday night. I will have a good time regardless!

Hotel Saskia

One of the great things of living abroad, is having friends over, and spend more time with them than normally in the Dam. And Hotel Saskia is busy the coming months. A snapshot:
10-12 March, cousin Michiel and his gf
13-15 March, Mary
17-18 April, bro and gf
29 Apr - 2 May, colleague Jaap and gf
25-27 May, Sandra

And I am not only having friends over, I have some trips planned as well!
30 Apr - 4 May, Lisbon with Heather and Trangh
23-25 May, Copenhagen by myself
23 December - 15 January, Australia, visiting Ems and Caroline and hopefully a trip to Tassie with Ems

And those are only the foreign trips, excluding Amsterdam! On top of that, there are Oxford with Zoe in March, cricket in Kent with Remy and Nicole at the end of August, and a trip to York with Zoe somewhere in between. Something tells me my camera will be used a hell of a lot the coming months!!

Organised

I am not the most organised person in the world. Plane and concert tickets are about as much as I can handle in the organised department. And work if I am lucky. My friends are a bit better tho. Two weeks ago Chantal sent me the link for the ballot of the Leeds test. Monday nite I went out with Zoe, who had entered the Wimbledon ballot and asked if I wanted to come if she got tickets. And yesterday's Chantal's ex Mark, who I also consider a friend, emailed me to ask if I knew the Lord's ballot had opened. So....with a bit of luck Zoe gets me into Wimbledon, and I get some cricket tix. And Mark's mate Hodge is even so organised that he sent an email to the MCC (the cricket club that hosts the Lord's test match), quoting our order numbers, and asking if we could be sat together if we got tickets. Now that is organised. For that alone, I think we deserve to get tickets.