We arrived early morning London time, on Sunday 10 April. My old mate, and mates with plenty of the rest of you, Mark ‘Mennis’ Ennis was at Heathrow to pick us both up, swinging by the famous Chip Shop on the way home for a sneaky look. Arriving back at his gaff, he smashed us up a quick Traditional English fry-up breakfast. Later that afternoon, I joined him at cricket practice to give the legs some work after a long sit on the plane.
Arriving at the venue, I was surprised to see some composite rubber rolled out over a basketball court. Three quarter length composite rubber over pine boards did not help a short ball, nothing got up over the waist, regardless of length. Couple of decent players and great blokes amongst the guys I saw that day. One of which, the famous ‘Barbs’, I felt like I already knew him before I met him, all the photos from the 2005 tour, and stories from former UK/Chipstead tourists. A little bit of dust on the court at the point of delivery saw myself and Mennis pull up lame in consecutive balls, both tweaking knees!!! One day in Pommieland and another bloody injury.
That afternoon was spent in the backyard of the Orr residence, with big, big Jimmy, Jayne and their family, along with Alec and his family (for those who know the crowd). Wine, beers and backyard cricket, Pom style, really good times with a great bunch of people.
The next few days were spent doing the tourist thing, and on Tuesday, Crystal decided to spend the evening in sleeping off the jet lag. Almost on queue, Mennis got a phone call from the Ones skipper, and we were on our way to Clapham for a few beers with Woodsy and Hatti. A few beers turned into plenty, but for some, work called the following morning so Mennis and I split back to his place, stopping in briefly at a classy establishment called Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club for a nightcap. Good times. That Mennis has some serious chat…………… serious chat.
The first Thursday was day 1 at Lords for the County match between Middlesex and Essex. Unfortunately for me, Stuey was playing that day, so we were not going to get a chance to catch up, but some of Mennis generous friends offered tickets, and then member’s tickets to the day. In spite of this not having been a test match, this was definitely a highlight for me, cricket at Lords, in the members, drinking beers with a great mate. Pretty fresh though that day, would not have been a happy player playing on a day like that. Crystal had spent that day at the Victoria and Albert Museum, so we met in Shepherds Bush after stumps for a few more frothies and a meal. Unfortunately due to his training and playing commitments, I didn’t get to catch up with the little Irish lad, but hope to have him back around the club this season, you coming back Stuey?
Mennis had organised a pub-crawl through central London for us the following day, taking in all the major sites along the Thames by foot. Another magic day, starting in Central London, riding the Eye, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Tate Modern. The next day, we headed to Brighton to meet Crystal’s parents, who had been cruising from Perth for the 6 weeks previous.
The following Monday, off we headed to Loftus Road to see Queens Park Rangers v Derby in the Championship. This was a fairly dull match, but still an awesome experience, the fanaticism of English football fans something to behlod. The obligatory drink after the game exposed us to the dirty side of English football fans, having seen the Welsh Rugby number 8 and a former England prop set upon by 6 blokes, taking to the big Number 8 with a pint glass and then a heavy wooden bar stool, knocking him out cold. This was quite confronting, and ended up in the news over the coming days.
We went off to France for the next 5 days and enjoyed taking in the sights and history, and continuing to explore my new found appreciation for red wine. Great food and good wine every night, our final night in Paris spent with some local red, watching the Eiffel Tower light up the Paris skyline.
Back in London, the last few days were spent seeing more sights, drinking more pints and making the most of the strong Aussie dollar and the cheap retail prices. On the final afternoon, and on our way back to Heathrow, we stopped in at the Chipstead home ground to have a look at the facilities.
These facilities have only been recently built, and are a source of pride for the club, their own bar, sheds, social venue and a beautiful little ground nestled in a quiet area of south east London
Ganny
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