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Sunday
June 21
Overcast
20ºC
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Got up early
(7.30) to get ready for a couple of days at York. Drove up
in the morning, got there in time for Philippa's 21st
Birthday lunch. Went to pub for the evening, then wandered
into York (old section - inside the medieval walls). It was
the summer solstice (longest day of the year) so it didn't
get dark until nearly 11pm. Somehow managed to walk the
three miles back to the B&B.
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Monday
June 22
Fine
18ºC
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Started the day
well with a good English breakfast in the B&B before
circumnavigating the old part of York via the old city
walls. On the way around dropped in at the Minster and had a
quick wander through the Shambles, which for the uninitiated
are narrow winding cobblestone streets which have been
closed to traffic and contain approximately 350 shops
selling postcards, tea-towels, and miniature plastic models
of Big Ben. On the way back to Amersham down the M1 we had
to stop at five of those big food/service stations before we
found one with a Burger King.
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Tuesday
June 23
Rain
17ºC
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Wimbledon
started yesterday so the rain has come back. Tuesday in
Amersham is market day, and the street outside is closed to
traffic and a number of market stalls are set up. I was
woken up this morning at 6am by the stall holder outside
setting up his stall. Now when I look out the window all I
can see are tables full of underpants. As an extra bonus,
there is a guy across the road selling "The Big Issue"
magazine. Normally he has a length of plastic pipe which he
uses to "entertain" passers-by with didgeridoo impressions,
but today he has also brought his harmonica with him. Where
did I put my gun? If I don't stop hime now, he may come back
next week with bagpipes or a piano accordion.
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Wednesday
June 24
Cloudy with
showers, 22ºC
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Went to a
public (=private) school called Mill Hill, near Harrow, to
watch Alisdair McInnes play cricket. The match finished at
6pm, and we then spent the next hour trying to find someone
with a key to let us out of the car park, which had been
padlocked in our absence.
It's been a
good week to be an Aussie in the UK, with England &
Scotland losing in the World Cup as well as rugby, England
lost to South Africa in the 2nd Test at Lord's, and Greg
Rusedski (& most other Britons) are out of Wimbledon
early.
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Sunday
June 14th
Rain, 13
degrees
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Just like
yesterday, cricket was cancelled today thanks to the
persistant rain. Spent the afternoon at the clubhouse
watching a couple of World Cup matches on TV.
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Monday
June 15th
Rain, 13
degrees
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Today was the
day the nation has waited four years for - England's first
match in the 1998 World Cup. The match vs Tunisia was shown
live on the BBC at 1.30pm, and a lot of people were taking a
day off work. To help them, there is a 48 hour strike by
Underground staff (the trains, not trolls, although telling
the difference can be difficult) which seems like a good way
to have a day of work to watch the football and a day off to
recover. I watched the match at the McInneses and cheered
for Tunisia, but England won 2-0. The pubs were full and the
streets were empty. Three of the top ten singles at the
moment are football songs, which is a bit like C'mon Aussie
C'mon being a smash hit back home...
Somehow we
managed to get a game of cricket in tonight against Penn
& Tylers Green. Very small ground (4 lost balls), rain,
dark, pitch made of mud. Interesting experience.
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Tuesday
June 16
Overcast,
15
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Went to Watford
today to visit a software supplier. I have decided to try
and teach myself a few programming languages, and therefore
have to spend some money on Microsoft products.... I very
fortunately discovered one of the world's best kept secrets
- Microsoft Student Licences. This allows any student
(school or Uni) to buy Microsoft software at amazingly
reduced prices. For example, I bought something called
Microsoft Developer Tools (Neil McInnes is a Uni student)
which includes Pro versions of Visual Basic and C++ among
other programming languages. The total cost of buying each
one individually is over $4,000. With a student licence I
paid - wait for it - $260. Amazing.
With the
package was a copy of Internet Explorer Plus, and so I
finally bit the bullet and upgraded to MS Internet Explorer
4.0. My initial feeling is that it is quite good, and well
worth upgrading. It runs far quicker than the previous
version and offers some nice new features which actually
work this time (eg History folder).
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Friday 12th
June
Rain Clearing,
14
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Quiet day.
Watched a 'great' Australian movie from 1976 called
Puzzle which starred some American guy, Wendy Hughes,
and Robert Helpmann as the evil but very civilised
megalomaniac (he cries "Merde" as he's being blown up by a
missile). Very interesting to see Sydney from twenty years
ago.
It's supposed to
be summer but temperatures are 10 degrees below average. So
far I've seen the coldest winter this century, the wettest
April in 170 years, and the coldest summer in recent
history. Lucky me...
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Thursday
11th June
Rain,
16
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Went over to
Slough to visit the "PC World" computer store - lots of
interesting stuff which unfortunately they don't give away,
so just looking thanks. Spent the afternoon on the computer,
gave my website a more polished look, and tried to figure
out how to list it with the major search engines (I think
I've managed it).
There was a
blackout at the McInnes's, so Duncan and Alasdair came to
Reading's Palace to watch the Austria/Tunisia World Cup
match on TV. Left them in charge and went down to the pub
for the evening.
It got down to
nine degrees overnight - when does summer start over
here?
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Wednesday
10th June
Rain,
16
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Went to Amersham
library and borrowed a book on a computer language called
Visual Basic. Spent the day mucking about on the computer
mastering this new language, eventually coming up with a
programme which adds two numbers together. I wonder if I can
market it and become wealthy beyond my wildest dreams?
(Didn't Bill Gates start this way?)
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Tuesday 9th
June
Overcast,
18
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Market day - the
street outside is closed and about two dozen market stalls
are set up, selling plants, vegetables, plastic toys, and
other assorted crap.
Went into Chesham
for lunch - McDonald's for the first time in months.
Mmmmmmm.
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Monday 8th
June
Cloudy,
19
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As I expected, I
was sore today after two solid days cricket. Spent most of
the day trying to figure out how to update my
website.
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Sunday 7th
June,
1998
(same as
yesterday)
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Dropped in at the
McInnes's to pick up a few new photos to be scanned in for
use in a certain website. I promised them that I only
borrowed the most embarrassing shots.
Cricket again, at
Chalfont St Giles (CSG) versus a team called the Invalids. I
was expecting 11 cripples, with missing limbs and
wheelchairs, but they all appeared to be able-bodied. They
had threatened that this could be the last time they play us
unless we put up a good show (apparently they thrashed CSG
last year). We dismissed them for exactly 200, and got the
runs with a single off the very last ball: 5-201. I got 35
and after three matches somehow I'm the leading run-scorer
on Sundays. I also kept wicket for the first time in many
years. I took a stumping but expect to be very sore
tomorrow.
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Saturday 6th
June, 1998
Overcast,
scattered showers, 18 ºC
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Over to Wargrave
near Reading for today's cricket. Passed through
Henley-on-Thames (scene of the famous annual boat race)
mainly because we got lost on the way to
Wargrave.
We held Wargrave
to 6-200 and got to 201 only 4 wickets down. Got to 22
against pretty ordinary bowling before missing a straight
one and losing my off-stump. The wickets here are brilliant
to bat on.
Spent the evening
back at Chalfont St Giles at the clubhouse enjoying a BBQ.
Very civilised.
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Friday
5th June, 1998
Overcast but dry,
18 ºC
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Another
productive day, spent watching the cricket on the TV
(England on top of South Africa, scoring 452). The day
started well with my first decent shave for a week. Armed
with my new haircut and goatee beard (will try to get a
photo to post here next week), I'm ready to look dangerous
at cricket tomorrow, against Wargrave near Reading. I expect
that at least they'll be able to spell my name correctly
there.
Spent a few
exciting hours adding to my sensational website before
heading over to the McInnes's for a cup of tea and then down
to Tesco with Gwenda for my weekly "shop". Spent $100 on a
variety of crisps, chocolates, softdrinks and other really
good food so I have another week of healthy eating ahead of
me.
Visited the pub -
The Crown - in the evening to celebrate being able to shave
again.
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Thursday 4th
June 1998
Cloudy
17 ºC
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The First Test vs
South Africa started today, so I got up early (7.45am) to
get ready for a big day in front of the TV. I hadn't shaved
for five days, so thought I'd better get the old shaver out
and make myself presentable for when Richie Benaud appears
in my lounge room. Of course, after I'd shaved half
the beard off, my electric shaver stopped working.
Typical. I spent a frustrating hour trying to dismantle it
and find the problem, but it defied my attempts at
resuscitation, so I had to go out shopping for a new shaver
- with the left side of my face shaven and the right side
covered with stubble. The woman who sold me a new Remington
assured me that I looked as stupid as I felt.
During the lunch
break in the cricket I got my third English haircut (Have I
been here that long?!), and went back to the shop which sold
me my new shaver to get an adaptor so that I could actually
plug it into a power point.
Spent the evening
at the McInnes's watching wonderful British TV (that's
sarcasm) and showing them their new website. I don't think
they're angry with me....
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Sunday
July 5th
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We got to play
cricket again today. Although it was cold and overcast, the
rain stayed away. I kept wicket again and got a couple of
stumpings, but didn't trouble the scorer. Fortunately my
team mates did, and we won. Stayed at the clubhouse until
closing time, mainly because I am a very sociable person who
relies on others for a lift home.
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Monday
July 6th
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If I did
something today it can't have been interesting, because I
can't remember it...
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Tuesday
July 7th
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The McInneses
came back from the holiday just for the day so that Alistair
could play in the Middlesex Cup final. It was held at
Hampton Wick CC, which is in Bushey Park near Hampton Court.
Bushey Park is a few miles across and has deer running
around in it. Right in the middle of London. After the match
(they lost) I got the tube back to Amersham and had my first
fish and chips since I arrived nearly nine months
ago.
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Wednesday
July 8th
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Another quiet
day with the McInneses safely back on holiday in Devon. I
had to go around to their house and put in their Lotto
entry, but it didn't win anything so I didn't pack my bags
and come home with their winnings before they realised what
was happening. Perhaps next time. I watched the World Cup
semi-final between France & Croatia but didn't want
either side to win. In the end France got through - Go
Brazil !!
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Thursday
July 9th
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Tonight we
played our Semi-Final in the Timberlake Cup, against Holmer
Green. The format is fifteen 8-ball overs each side, with
play starting at 6.30pm. We bowled first, restricting Holmer
Green to 111 which we got for the loss of two wickets, which
means that next week we play the final.
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Friday
July 10th
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The McInneses
returned from their holiday in Devon today. I spent the day
mucking about updating my web site, wandering through the
woods when it stopped raining for a couple of hours, and
checking out the collection of stuffed big-game animals
which are being auctioned locally in a few weeks time. The
best item is a stuffed lion, which would look very
impressive in the loungeroom, but is too big to fit through
the door. I guess it will go for a few thousand at
least.
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Saturday
July 11th
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It's the
weekend, it's summer, and it's England. This means 14
degrees and non-stop drizzle/rain. Even though conditions
were abysmally arctic we tried to play some cricket before
being forced to retire to the pavilion half-way through our
innings. We were playing away at Little Kingshill, and
bowled them out for 241. I had my first bowl of the "summer"
and got 3-40, but didn't get the chance to bat. While
fielding I learned a valuable lesson about retrieving
cricket balls which have been hit into the surrounding
hedges - look out for stinging nettles. Spent the evening
back at the Chalfont St Giles clubhouse.
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Sunday
July 12th
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Just for a
change, it rained all day today. As has happened so often
this year our cricket was cancelled, so I missed the chance
to play the Old Gaytonians. Now I will never know who or
what they are. This is apparently the wettest and coldest
summer in living memory - just my luck.
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Monday July
13th
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Went to Watford
to try and buy a digital camera
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Tuesday July
14th
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Back to watford
- bought Corel Draw, looked for digital camera. Aldbury to
take dog to vet, got soil from High Wycombe.
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