Ball Tampering

The Experts Speak

I have consulted friends at the highest levels of cricket and am now able to advise the public of the situation. The picture shows some of us on our way to issuing the following joint statement:

"The suggestion (devoid of any evidence of ball-tampering other than the tampered-with appearance of the ball) that the ball had been tampered with is outrageous. As readers of cricketing autobiographies by such figures as the former captains of the England and Pakistan teams will know, we have stopped doing that now. And when we did do it it was OK really as lots of other people were doing it as well, honest.

"And just in case anyone thinks that the above affirmation undermines our honour in any way, please note that when we did use to tamper with the ball it was not dishonourable, but that suggesting that we still do it is grossly to impugn our present honour. Not that we were dishonourable in any way in the past, though. Or now.

"We are pleased to have had the opportunity to clarify any confusion surrounding the recent misunderstandings.

"With regard to the unfortunate matter of the suggested pay-off to the senior umpire in question, we would only comment that there were of course two umpires on the pitch (not to mention the third upstairs and the Match Referee), and therefore any sums of reward should be equally distributed, especially as it was Umpire Doctrove who removed the first pair of bails, wasn't it? And even if he didn't, we believe that he deserves to be paid off just as much."

So there we go. Susi and I have framed our unused tickets for the final day of the historic match, and will soon be inviting offers on ebay for this priceless item of memorabilia.

Owzat!

What are the purpose and function of the "Team members" thing in the profile? And if this list is of any use, how do you put entries in it?

Back at the compound

Don't look, Gwen!

Hundreds of miles from the majestic purity of the sandy desert, we were in the scrubby, scruffy zone along the coastal strip, or tihama. In fact, we were only a couple of miles from the vast landfill site and accompanying lake of human effluent that threatens to undermine the city. From a distance, its verdant banks are beautiful to behold. On our way to out-of-town destinations, like the venues of the Jeddah Hash House Harriers (desultory running, jogging and strolling group), we occasionally passed the source of the river flowing into this lake, ie the disposal point for the incessant convoy of wee and poo trucks plying between Jeddah and the hills.

The main hazard was mosquitoes, but the netting on our new tent and the choking fumes of the camp fire protected us, as we were cunningly placed downwind. However, it was an uneasy night for some of our party...

This was another creature that we seemed to disturb, mainly by chasing it around with a flash camera.

Things livened up a bit as we prepared to retire.

Fortunately, the dense clouds of acrid smoke helped to repel dangerous creatures.

The conversation and singing around the camp fire were lively that night.

Camping after the Jeddah HHH

Last year we were in the desert of Saudi Arabia, so here are some pictures of the aridity. Then we came back to leafy England, so some photos of the flora of Surrey follow.

One day we went to the Royal Horticultural Gardens at Wisley, just up the road. Here are some pictures.

My dad's only eight inches tall. In fact, he may be a leprechaun. He likes to stand under the rhubarb.

Apparently (although I may find a more sophisticated way of doing this in due course), you need to have a photo posted/hosted somewhere in order to put it into your profile. That was how I got the pic on this blog. Anyway, to put the relevant pic in the profile on the other blog, I will park it here at least for the time being.

Thank you, Joan, Carol and Gwen, for the advice about this blogging business, and for the encouragement to make a blog easy on the eye.

Nothing is as easy as it sounds when first described, and little tips like how to move from blog to dashboard to editing links are handy.

The description by blogger.com of how to go about adding links needs to be treated with great attention to detail, as the location of the right bit of the template with the relevant reference to the sidebar is not necessarily as it first appears. My advice to any other new bloggers is first to choose a blog template that actually has links in it, and then to scroll down the relevant box (from the "template" tab on the dashboard) very carefully until you find the links provided, so that you can edit them to become the ones you want.

Breakfast on the terrasse of Steve and Joan's English pomme de terre with them and Pete and Gwen, August 2006. Very relaxing, if a trifle hot, as we surveyed the peaceful countryside.

Me at the landing of my pal Steve Fossett after his round-the-world flight a couple of years ago.