The adventure begins



The day has finally come for Eddie and I to make our great escape. We have achieved 20 years of marriage, and I have made it to 50 years alive - so this is our 20/50 tour.

We have 11 nights away from home. Irresponsibly jetting away from any work, home and family responsibilities. Thanks to Grandma and other friends and family, everyone will cope. Everyone will have a great time and hopefully enjoy stepping out of the norm.

We are heading to St. Lucia. Thank you England women’s cricket team as you are the focus of our grand tour. We are leaving the Autumn colours of England behind and we are heading to the bright Caribbean sunshine to watch you in the World T20 competition. This is the first time ever that the competition will run on its own- ie not alongside the men’s competition. So this is a historic occasion for women’s cricket and for women’s sport. We’ll be there to support you in person - hopefully thousands/millions will be watching from home.

The journey started in beautiful Corbridge in Northumberland. Train to Newcastle followed by a beautiful soup, sarnie and coffee at the Settle Down Cafe before catching the 13.59 to King’s Cross. As we waited on the platform at Newcastle, we were entertained by an older couple having a muted tiff. The wife was cross with the husband. He was clearly used to getting nothing right. She stomped off to ‘dee it hersel’’ with husband rolling his eyes and tutting.

It came as no surprise that the ‘tiff’ couple’s seats were next to us, and we soon found out that she had bought a load of magazines to read on the train and then ‘he’ had left them in the cafe. He was to blame when they had returned to find the magazines gone - hence the tiff. Eddie helped them with their bags and whilst the wife told me the story of the nicked magazines, her husband rolled his eyes and switched his hearing aid off. Maybe this’ll be us in a few years time. But for now, we are rolling back the years to our younger adventure days and heading off on our world cup adventure.

Eddie visibly relaxed shortly after Darlington. Plugged into his music, he did his ‘rolling head and closing eyes’ thing that makes the kids squirm with embarrassment. The weight of the world was lifting off his shoulders as the train clickety clacked south. He’s happy, I’m happy.

We bade a fond farewell to the tiff couple, and as we followed the crowd off the train at King’s Cross, a familiar face peered out of the hustle and bustle. Trying to catch our attention, waving madly, a grinning Susie - my friend from university days. It was wonderful to see her. She was over from Australia, visiting her parents and determined to come and see us before we made our way to Gatwick. Susie and I spent 3 very happy years together at Birmingham on our PE course - graduates of ‘jumps and jerks,’ before it became a fancier and more respected ‘Sports Science’ subject. We loved our sport, still do.

After a lovely couple of hours together over beers and food, we parted ways and headed off to our Premier Inn at Gatwick. Catching up with kids and then the latest cricket news, we learned that the mighty Katherine Brunt was injured and not likely to play in the whole of the tournament. SO disappointing. We love Katherine Brunt, and guess that she will be devastated. However, hopefully, Katherine’s disappointment will be someone else’s opportunity. We’ll soon find out. One thing, I don’t think Mark Robinson will be waiting for me at the airport, unless he’s looking for a slow slinger who can bowl consistent wides. What a lovely story that would be. I’ll look out for him in arrivals just in case.

So here we are - wining and dining on the plane. Back to back movies, box sets, snacks, mini wine bottles...Even I have started rolling my head and closing my eyes in anticipation of 10 days of fun, sunshine and cricketing adventures.

Bring it on.

Comments

  1. I laughed out loud when I read it brilliant stuff, Dad.x

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plodging to the cricket

Its a sell out!

One in a million