Whiny Indians Go Home

I'm sick if the Indian Cricket Team already. They talk a good story about the spirit of the game, then threaten to call off the tour when things don't go their way. I say let them go, we may as well play the Kiwis again, for all the good that India are. It is also really disappointing to me that all the news stories around I have read seem to be targetted at the Australians, accusing them of a lack of integrity for standing their ground until the umpire makes a decision. Michael Clarke's standing his ground when he nicked it to slip certainly was ridiculous, but at no stage it insulting or racially motivated. How can 90% of the cricket stories around be questioning the spirit of the Australian team when Harbhajan Singh gets a three Test suspension for calling Andrew Symonds a monkey?? Do not be fooled by the spurious Indian claims that monkey to them is not a racially offensive term. The fact that it is was made clear to them when Symonds was subjected to, not only the name calling, but to hooting from Indian crowds late last year when Australia toured. While the Australian team will undoubtedly be painted as the bad guys (again) after this Test, surely their behaviour is less offensive than racial vilification and their awful display of petulance by blaming the umpires for costing them the Test. Of course, the Asian dominated ICC will do nothing about their outburst and may even go so far as to censure the Australian team for the way they play.

If, or maybe I should say, when Singh's ban is overturned, rest assured, I will be in the outer of the WACA, hooting like a monkey for all my worth whenever he touches the ball.

Is there anything better than a beach house?

Spent Thursday to Monday in Guilderton with just about the whole Schoie clan. Our nephew Shane invited us to stay at his wife's (Helen, above) mum's place in Guilderton. Only an hour out of town, it was fantastic. We were originally going to stay only 2 days but we were having so much fun we didn't leave until yesterday (NYE). 9 adults and 11 kids from 15 to under a year was a tight squeeze but a few tents and couches saw us right. No television reception made it feel like all the holidays I went on as a kid, with us playing pool or sitting around the table playing cards.
Interior view. Maddison, Jack and Shane-o
Azza in the back yard.

We spent Friday and Saturday in our newly acquired sunshade in "The Desert" on Moore River, kayaking, fishing and skurfing along behind the boat.
Jillie and Kim


It struck me while I was reminiscing that what was for us a weekend away hopefully lay the foundation for future reminiscing of childhood holidays for our kids.

p.s. Have you ever noticed that you suffer from hangovers less on holidays?? Four days of late nights and early mornings on holiday and no discernible discomfort. I'm back less than 24 hours and I've been almost comatose all day.

Or is it just me?