Penny ,
It's 5.46pm in Brisbane & we have just regained the ashes.
I was trying to work out what time it would be in England but as my understanding of time zones is no better than my ability with a compass , I just gave up because I probably would have ended up with the time for Birdsville.
I know that when the ashes are played in England , I find myself sitting up to the wee hours of the morning to watch the games in our freezing winter. (our winter temperatures do occasionally drop in to single figures )
So I was just curious if the reverse scenario was the same for you.?
There is a group of about six or seven pommies that are regulars at my local & we all get along famously ,that is until there happens to be an Ashes series in progress.
This afternoon , all the regulars were there & despite the dire situation that England were in " John the pom " as we affectionately call him , led his group into boisterous songs that the barmy army would be proud of.
Of course our group came back with renditions of our own version of typical Ozzie songs.
There were many discussions , back & forward about selectors decisions , weather conditions , umpires decisions etc .. & as the beers flowed all sorts of bets were being proposed by both sides such as , Vince will score a ton , Lyon won't take a wicket , Marsh is overrated etc..& of course the loser of each bet had to shout the next round for the entire group.
The interaction between our two groups never got out of hand & in fact entertained the entire patronage of the club including the manager ( who ,would you believe it , is a bloody pom ) & even though England had lost he put on an open bar for 30 minutes to celebrate the result.
How wonderful is the diversity of Australia , the fact that we had a group of pommies there & not just an entire roomful of people cheering for Australia , it made the afternoon twice as enjoyable & got everybody including those who knew nothing about cricket , totally involved.
Cheers Les