Ashes to Ashes

When we first moved out to Canada back in August 2005, England's cricket team was on the verge of regaining the Ashes, and now everything has come full circle as England has once again reclaimed the urn from Australian hands. I missed the climax back in 2005 as a result of our move but today I managed to catch the last couple of hours online, and the fact that I was sitting alone in an empty school in the sub-Arctic didn't dampen my celebrations one bit when Graeme Swann took the last wicket.

In Inukjuak I managed to generate some interest in cricket amongst my students, and although we fell short of being able to create the first Inuit cricket team, I think that those who played enjoyed the experience. I shall be trying to repeat the exercise here this year and, if successful, we may be able to instigate the first Nunavik Test series at some future point in time. For the time being though I shall remain blissfully content to bask in England's glory; all I need now are my boxes...

The genie-us of the BBC

It's been a very wet summer in these parts thus far, and as I look out of my window it's raining once again. Hopefully some of our rain will eventually make it across the Atlantic to save England's cricket team, who are kicking off the Ashes series in traditional fashion by struggling alarmingly against the Australians. I've been invited over by my Aussie friends, Dave and Tarni, tonight, so that rain better get there quickly if I'm going to be able to enjoy a mockery-free evening.

Speaking of mockery, I read an interesting story on the BBC website today, but I wasn't originally going to comment on it for fear of appearing offensive or mocking. Apparently, a family in Saudi Arabia is trying to take a genie to court, accusing it of theft and harassment, amongst other things. Now, I was going to avoid remarking that, by the sounds of it, this family might have issues with different kinds of spirits in bottles, as this might be seen as being disrespectful to the Islamic religion. However, it would seem that the BBC have no such issues; this will probably only mean something to our British readership, but take a look at this screenshot of the BBC home page, and focus your eyes on the 'Weird and Wonderful' section in the bottom right:

(click on image to enlarge)

Sheer 'genie-us', eh? (see what I did there?). Oh, and have a read of the 'fact of the day' piece too; I knew Tim Hortons was good for you!

It's not cricket

For a moment this morning, I was very excited. When I looked out of the window, visibility was poor and it appeared we may have the blizzard I've been praying for. However, once the old eyes started to focus properly, it became clear that what we had was just fog, and the work day would have to happen as normal. I felt robbed, but once I continued my morning routine by checking the news headlines online, my weather-orientated displeasure was quickly put into perspective.

The headline 'Gunmen shoot Sri Lankan cricketers' seemed so surreal as to be untrue, but when one read on, the reality of the situation became all too apparent; click here to read a particularly graphic account of events from one of the Sri Lankan players, Kumar Sangakkara. Those that continually argue that politics and sport shouldn't mix have always been wasting their time, but when sportsmen are caught up in the type of atrocities that were inflicted today, we are suddenly on a whole new level. Sport hasn't been affected in such a manner since Munich in 1972, and whilst terrorism seems to tighten its unforgiving grip on the world almost daily, it has always seemed that sport was untouchable in this respect.

Sadly, I doubt this is the case any more. As most of you who are reading this will know, cricket has always been a huge part of my life, so these events resonate all the more with me. It deeply saddens me that my sport has been sullied in such a way, and whilst every sympathy is obviously with the families of those involved, I only hope that the game itself has not been mortally wounded as well.

Ask a silly question...

I had to post this - it made me laugh.

I'm currently listening to commentary on the Australia v New Zealand Test match (that's cricket to the uninitiated) on internet radio, which in itself is mildly amusing, given my geographical position and national allegiance.

Anyway, New Zealand is not doing very well, and one of the commentators remarked that their batsmen would need to develop superpowers if they were going to win.

He then posed his co-commentator the question: "If someone offered you a superpower, what would it be?"

A few seconds thought, then the answer:

"Russia."