Get PHYSICAL (And the Twisted Web of Chances)

So last Friday me and some of the boys decided to go to cricket practice. None of us except Darcy the Australian had ever seen or played it, and we were ready to be rocked; at least there were a bunch of us so it wasn't going to be too bad.

Well it was very interesting to say the least. To pitch, or "bowl", you have to keep your arm straight and windmill the ball down the pitch, bouncing it in front of the batter and trying to knock over these three poles ("stumps") behind the batter. It sounds waaaaay easier than it actually is, and all of us tried to gun the ball down towards the batter like a baseball throw. Batting was just as interesting as you get geared up with hockey-goalie-esque shin pads, basically lacrosse gloves, a helmet and a wide blunt bat. I thought it would kind of be like baseball and tennis/squash put together, but I was sorely mistaken. It was really hard and we all looked like fools trying to do it. It was fun enough that I'm going to go back this week for the weekly practice and learn about it some more.

We got talking to the captain of the team, and found out that he plays rugby. He got really excited when he found out we played, and told us there was a team run later that night. We went to the run, which was basically a sprint around campus with some hill intervals and pushups and situps thrown in. Still being sick I was barely holding on the whole time, but made it through without embarrassing myself. That night we got invited to go to watch rugby with some of the guys at a bar in town the next day. I decided to go, and had to go solo because all my friends had stuff to do. We ended up watching the game at one of the players' flats, and I got invited to play in the Third's Team game the next day.

The game was about an hour and half away and we got smoked. I mean, S-M-O-K-E-D. Like 80-something to nothing smoked. The other team was pretty good, but the Thirds Team was just really unorganized and didn't seem to have much going on. I got to play the second half at fullback (which I never play) and it took a bit of time to get back into it, but I finally hit something of a groove by the end. On the bus ride back everyone warmed up a bit and I got talking with a lot of the kids on the team. They had a tradition for new players where you had to get up on the bus and tell a story and sing a song. I told our drag-queen story and sand "The General" by Dispatch. Thinking of a song and a funny story to tell is damn hard, especially since you don't want to look like a fool.

I had rugby practice tonight and moved up and practiced with the Seconds Team, where I think I'm going to play/hopefully start on Wednesday's game! It feels good to finally get out and meet some Brits and finally do something athletic for the first time. We're going to a Liverpool football (soccer) match on Wednesday, but I'm missing the "300 Social" for the rugby team. They all dress up like soldiers from the 300 and go around to bars and stuff, storm and yell in the streets, surround cars; crazy shit.

Not much else to report here, I'm making plans with some of the kids here to go to Amsterdam next weekend and meet up with Claire and Kerrianne there. Hopefully it'll go well; you know how hard it can be to travel with large groups of people... We'll see how it goes and that might be a determining factor in who else I travel with while I'm here.

Anywho, I see that a bunch of people are following the blog trend (just remember who was here first, ahem!; just kidding) and now Charlie, Zukes, Cesaro, and Canning all have blogs. I'm actually excited because now I can see what they're doing and see pictures too! Randomly I'm very excited about Canning's blog as it will offer a look back into the U.S. that will be nice when I need something (more) familiar. Leave some comments if you fancy on how things are going, and until next time...