gkintheuk

cont form last post. Weather The weather has been pretty good until recently, the last three weeks have seen rain much more prominent. In fact it has rained for 12 of the last 14 days, and on Monday they broke their own national record. In hull on the east coast (i think) 4 inches of rain fell in 24hrs!! That was more rain in one day than ever before (well, ever meaning since records begun...thats ever enough for me.) The rain has also been late in the week, meaning groundsmen are having trouble providing cricket pitches, as opposed to wet, soggy, partially mown patches of slightly harder grass. We played on the worst cricket pitch i have ever seen when we played a way a couple of weeks ago.. When i bowled the opening ball of ... read more

Well, its been a while now since i have uploaded, this is partly because i have been working hard, partly because am lazy and also party because i have actually attempted this once before only to have the page delete just as i hit upload!!! thats enough to make anyone throw a tantrum. Life has been going along at a steady rate, without too many exciting things happening, so don’t read on if your looking for riveting entertainment! A breakdown of a coupla of months in the UK - working full time. Half Term. I think i left off last time just before half term holidays form school. My first week off since my time in London when i arrived here. It was a bank holiday on the Monday, so naturally they had scheduled cricket for ... read more

Today has seen the end of a bank holiday weekend for me, one that has been quite strange really. The school even had a sneaky day off on Friday so I had an extra-ordinary bank holiday weekend (public holiday...) Fri passed uneventfully, slept til the afternoon for the first time since landing in Keighley! Then pottered around the house for the afternoon before juniors training in the evening. A nice break, and my first break in a fortnight so i enjoyed the time. Watched a lot of the world snooker championships. It is quite big over here, and can be extremely boring, amazingly there is more to snooker than just whacking it as hard as you can and hoping that one of the balls hits a pocket..... Sat I played my first away game. Disappointingly i ... read more

OK so, im here for cricket, heres a rundown on my first fortnight of cricket. DISCLAIMER: the rest of the blog is cricket dross, stop now or be bored if you dont want analysis of cricket in the UK. Week 1, Matchday 1. League match V cant remember, but they werent that good. With memories in my head still of my second consecutive penultimate week of the year - having had the opposition 6 for less than one hundred chasing a big target - and losing - fresh in my mind, i was very keen to get off to a flyer. Also being payed to be over here isnt bad so i would like to make some sort of contribution to the season. We bat first and i find im batting at 8, not so bad, ... read more

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks here at Keighley. Work from 6 til 5 or 6, training twice a week, juniors one night a week and cricket all weekend makes for a pretty busy time, hence my lack of correspondance. sorry. Work has been pretty good, on my second wednesday the school asked me back again for another week and they have had no less than 10 supply teachers in each day and i have now taken over from another girl who reportadly has glandular fever so i reckon i might be good for another couple of week work here. The school system here is very similar to at home. I think that teachers would be able to swap between countries and there would be no problem. The teacher i am covering for ... read more

Well, was offered the job I was offered then un offered last week. A teacher here at alerton grange high has a sick not til the end of next week but thinks she may well come back early if she feels up to it (i tell you know, if the doc gives me a sick note and i feel better early i would be heading ion holiday not back to work!!). The job is the north side of leeds, about10 or so on the bus so i am back to the joys of public transport. Now the transport system over her is really quite good i think better than ours but i havent been on it for a while... Little did i know to buy a long term ticket (a weekly) you need to bring in ... read more

The picturesque Keighley cricket club can be found on Hard Ings rd right next door to the keighley cougars rugby league stadium (pictures wil be on my shutterfly website www.shutterfly.com/gkintheuk, within 3 hours.). KCC field 7 teams, 5 junior from U/9 to U/17 and two senior teams. all of the treasm play on turf on the same oval. U/17 play on wed evening, 15's onm sat morn and the senior teams both play on weekend afternoons. It is home to some of the niest guys you sould ever like to meet. One fo the reasons for my early departure from oz was to come upo for the pre season social that was being held last sat evening. IT was massive. I met every senior player, bar about 3 or 4 who were missing on the evening, ... read more

Welcome to Keighley, population just over 50,000. A fantastic little town found just outside the yorkshire dales set in the airedale valley. The view out of the window here is spectacular, lush green landscape with intermittent bunches of little houses jammed in as close as they could possibly be together. We walked past the golf course the other day (ive already made membership enquiries) and it was very nice to see a course with green fairways the whole way from tee to green. Everyone up here is very friendly. I am currently living with the towlers, who is the family of the fella who has been tlaking to me since late last year. Today i am moving down a little bit closer to town to live with the bottomleys. Kathryn and stuart are on the comittee ... read more

London Gk's informative guide to tripping about the world starts off with the capital of grumpiness london. TRANSPORT Having arrived at london heathrow and been through the customs people (who dont smile), you can jump straight onto the tube and head for your new home. The tube is actually very simple to get around on, whilst there are about 10 or 12 lines they each have their own colour, meaning you just follow signs for your coloured line, all you have to know is if your going east/west. A mistake your sure to only make once, as i did the first time i got on the train out of russel square station (near generator, my accom). If you ever do need help, you can always ask one of the people who are working as 'security' ... read more

GK in the uk. The prelude. Well, what a couple of weeks. Having planned to leave almost a fortnight ago, the boys won their way into cricket finals and a change of flights 12 hours before I was meant to depart was rushed through and 9 days of full time slave labour for my old man was the new plan. I have spent the l ast 5 days, 9am to 5pm in carlton gardens at the Melbourne International flower and garden show. Seriously, if I have to dross to another old nuffy about how much she loves her begonias, cymbidiums, orchids, fruit trees, veggies etc I may well have to cause them physical uncomfort! Anyway, all that was done, we had a good show, thanks only to the fact my parent s have at least part ... read more