Cricket day

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Woke up bright and early from a great sleep at 830. Had a small bowl of cereal after getting dressed and waited for Alan to be ready. Ash didn't really want to go to the match because she had planned this bbq, and wanted to make sure everything was prepared for guests, so I was really lucky to have the opportunity to come watch some cricket. It was drizzling outside and I wasn't too keen on wearing my only pair of pants to get wet in the seats if they weren't covered. I asked Al, hey do you think I should wear shorts so I can have these jeans for later? He looks at me like im a woman and says I don't know!!
So we took off for the pitch and met up with Al's neighbor, Mark, a fellow Kiwi. It was only a short walk to Clapham junction the whole way we were wondering whether or not there would even be any cricket today. Got on the tram which was only one stop away at Vaxhaul. Mark asks me before we get on the train, "was it Bob or Bruce?". HA i gave him shit for that. Lotsa people were on their way to the Oval to see the match as well. Mark met up with his dad and Al was meeting another Kiwi guy and a Brazilian fellow how he knew through another friend. Met up with them and was happy to find out that I wasnt the only Cricket virgin of the bunch, the Brazilian guy had never watched any cricket either. I also realized that I forgot my damn camera card in the computer so no pics!!! We had a lot of explanations mentioned to us, on the basic rules. I kinda knew how it worked because of a school friend of mine, Smitty played cricket and still does I believe. So we got into the gates, lotsa police around and found out that there wouldn't be any cricket untill at least noon, shortening the match from 20 to 7 overs. I had no idea what this meant. Basically thats the amount of people who you need to get out for the team at bat, to be stuck out. So it was beer oclock. The Brazilain fellow was hesitant to start drinking,but peer pressure is a bitch!! And Kiwi's LOVE to drink i found this out really quick. I got the first round and it came in a beer holder with four in a row like a lunch pale. Pretty neat for carrying back to your seats. We dont have this kind of technology back home yet. Actually they only let you buy two at a time back home, come to think of it. There was five or six other kiwis at the match, none of them in outfits. Every other team playing that day had some sort of fancy costume on. I must say that the Aussies were the most decorated!! The group were talking about how Cricket is becoming more liberal, and there are more and more younger people enjoying the sport.
So after four rounds or something and lotsa talking about New Zealand, and Englands shitty weather, the sun starting peeking its lovely face out, and our spirits all rose.
The match began around 1230 and I was getting pretty liqoured by now. I was onto cider now something that they drink all over called Bulmers. There was a famous Aussie who threw the first pitch to a contest winner. His most recognized record was drinking 52 beers from Australia to England flying there for a match. The reason he says he drank so much was because he is afraid of flying!! New Zealand won the coin toss and decided to take the field first. So Scotland was up to bat first. Ashley wanted us to be home around one so Al was content with staying until the end of the match, so he could get home to start up the barbie. Scotland ended up scoring 89 runs in their up to bat. This was supposedly pretty good so Al was really worried at half time. Back to the drink! HUGE line for the pisser but we managed to make it back to the seats just as it started. New Zealand was known as a really good batting team. They ended up beating Scotland with one out to spare.
SO Al left to see the lady and I arranged to meet them back at the house around 330 or 4 so I could make the most of the day. The Aussies were rated number one in the cricket world and should easily beat the West Indies who were 8th or something. The West Indies had a lot of support at the Oval though. We decided to get something to eat. I lined up for the Brazilian who wanted anything but fish and chips and the Kiwi guy and I wanted that so he lined up for fish and the Brazilian guy went for a leak and got us more drinks!! After over 40 mins in line I wasnt very pleased with the quality OR price of the food. I think it was 7 pounds for a pie and some chips and gravy! OUCh we met up and went back to the seats.
The Aussies won the toss and wanted to bat first. This game was a 20 over so a real match. What they call a test match can last for 3 days!! Something like 100 overs haha. Glad I wasn't wathing that today, I still had lotsa London to see in less and less time!! The Windies (as the fans were calling them) got to bat with a score of 180. Anyone who wasn't an Aussie was rooting for the Windies because they were the underdogs and those bloody Aussies always won. So it was fun everyone was hooting and hollering chants to the fielders and that. There was one chant while the INdies were in the field, they were screaming if you love Bravo stand up If you love Bravo stand up and my whole section was standing up screaming. HAHA and the wave as well was going around so it was a lot of fun. Ashley phoned me on this cell that she lent me to ask when I was coming back and if I was having fun! I told her I would leave in a half hour or something to be back for 4.
So I said goodbye to the guys cause the Indies were up to bat and there was a break in between. They were staying for the whole thing. At 40 pounds a ticket I dont blame them!! On my way out I witnessed three guys getting arrested, one long haired dude getting thrown into the gate really hard. He was yelling fucking wankers and this is Bullocks haha i couldnt believe it I could have been at a Metallica concert or something but this was cricket.
After watching this for a min I went down to the train, to make my way back to Clapham. Got there with no troubles. Once you go a place once its easy to remember. Got to the house and most of the people were there already. Drinking away. Al had the match on so I didnt really miss much. Lotsa fun I could see myself trying out cricket once I get back home at Beacon Hill. There was food out and the guys were all standing around the bbq waiting to get the meat out and bullshiting. Most of Als buddies are all Kiwi cause they like to stick together. Except for one guy from Wales Ashley and I were the only foreigners. HA I helped her prepare some of the food and kept getting offered a drink. By now i was kinda pooped from a long day of drinking already so I decided to give myself an hour at least. Dinner was great, it was kinda funny, the girls all left to get more booze right before everything was ready. This older couple insisted we couldn't wait for them. They had a bit of troubles with the bbq, they spilt all the coals on the grass and some in the garden. We had sausages, chicken, and burgers, lotsa different salads. The girls came back and they were gonna have smores for dessert. This was Ashley's idea because no one else knew what this was even. She said she really misses camping and the forest, and i've only been gone a month and I already miss that shit.
After dinner we were going to a bar in Brixton, where one of the guys friends bands were playing from his hometown in Wales. They called him up and told him they were amazed by how big everything was, and that they would be on around 9ish. So by now the whole bunch were getting pretty pissed, and I was getting pretty tired so I had a coffee to give me a boost and Ash and AL had one as well. They were slamming bottles of Gin, Vodka and beers all over the place. I felt bad for them cause they were spilling shit everywhere and throwing limes around. We had a game of throw the apple around and whoever dropped it would have to drink. Mark came over after the match was finished and said HEY BOB!! HA what a joker.
The band was gonna be on soon and we were gonna take the bus to Brixton so we had to leave but no one was really noticing that we needed to leave. They shouted hey everyone get out of my house al says as he's switching the lights on and off!! Good way to get ppls attention. So we went to the bus stop, lost a few people on the way but found them again soon after. The girls were wearing their glasses when it was dark out ha. Fashion victims. The bus driver was shocked at the state of these kiwis. Taking booze on the bus. I remember them passing a bottle of bubbli around the top of the double decker and fingering the camera for CCTV. We paid Tom for our tickets 10 pounds each and got off the bus. I guess Brixton is supposed to be a bad part of London so we were supposed to be careful. I didnt notice anything bad about it but, there were tons of black people. Little Nigeria they called it. We had a 5min walk to the bar, and lost the gang behind somewhere. One of the girls was walking with her glasses on not even looking as she crossed the street so Ash had to help them navigate. Got into the bar which was kinda scummy looking. The band hadn't started yet so we were in good timing. There was a famous musician who was the main event who was from some famous Indie Rock band from England. The band was ok. The main singer was an organ player and they sounded like a harder Coldplay kind of. One of the Kiwi guys was complaining to me that they were SHIT the whole time. HA the other part of the bar had a dj, so we went there after we had enough noise. Only stayed at that bar for like 2 hrs, and by now the gang was obliterated. I was starting to get really tired. We took a cab to Clapham and went to the bar we went to last night with the last of the Kiwis. Some girl there was having her bday party and were dressed up in fancy fancy clothes with the long gloves and everything. I thought they were coming from the horse race Derby they had that day but I talked to the birthday girl, when she was complaining to the dj about the music. Stayed there for an hour or so until closing. Those two got a kebab and we strolled on home. Watched a bit of tv and went off to bed for a long day tommorow.

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Photos

Beauty
Ashley's and Alans