Starting as we mean to go on, the year began with a run around the Pinnacles Nature Reserve.
And in the afternoon, a highly welcome cooling off and splashing about in a friend's pool.
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| Not a water baby |
It is the time of year for agapanthus and, as I know my mother loves them, here are some pictures for her.
It's very hot (well, I call over 35 degrees hot) and because I am a foolish English person (of the Mad Dogs variety), I am often running about the parks. When I am not, I am rehearsing in sweltering theatres. Clearly, this is not me, but it is some of the lads rehearsing a scene from the latest play in which I'm performing, Oh, What a Lovely War!
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| 'Pour la gloire!' |
Having worked throughout Christmas and New Year, we had decided to take a break the following weekend to coincide with the final Ashes Test, so we caught the coach to Sydney, where it was a mere 47 degrees; thankfully our hotel had (extremely noisy) air conditioning.
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| Room with a view: Paddington, Sydney style |
What better way to cope with the meltingly hot weather than catching trains and buses all over the inner western suburbs to visit craft breweries?
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| Pallet bar for future reference |
One of the pleasures of walking about town is stumbling across the street art, which I love for its colour and vibrancy, even when I have no idea what it is.
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| Yes, it's cider; yes, it was refreshing; no, I'm not apologising |
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| Chapeau and 2Peach Shakur |
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| Marrickville Roots GInger Ale and Trippy Hippy Citra XPA |
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| Elsie the Milk Stout and Double Rainbow XXPA |
The next day we headed to the cricket, passing the Korean War Memorial in Moore Park, which commemorates the Australian and Korean veterans of the Korean War (1950-1953) in which 339 Australians and 230,000 South Koreans died.
The memorial design is the result of a design competition held in 2007. It features a circular stone wall enclosing the site symbolising strength, a central pathway based on the taeguk or yin and yang symbol found on the South Korean flag, a field of metal sculptures based on the Korean national flower, the Rose of Sharon, symbolising regeneration, and polished concrete blades representing the rugged mountains of Korea for remembrance.
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| The Korean War Memorial |
We arrived at the cricket under a cloudless blue sky, where it was (and I can't stress this enough) baking hot. Temperatures on the field were recorded at 57 degrees. The English fieldsmen were struggling in the heat, and the bowlers could barely hold the ball, let alone spin it. They spent hours out there in practically gladiatorial conditions.
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| The sun beats down on the SCG |
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| Refreshments at The Local Taphouse |
At lunch we retired to a nearby (1km up hill) pub with much-appreciated air conditioning, and afterwards the Aussies declared on a ridiculously high score (649) and put our exhausted blokes in to bat.
In the way that when things aren't going your way, everything seems to conspire against you, there was slightly more cloud cover - conditions which would have suited the English spinners if it had occurred earlier.
There wasn't much for the barmy army to cheer about but they were in fine voice as the afternoon wore on, and we saw Alastair Cook become the sixth batsman and first Englishman to score 12,000 runs in Test Cricket. And then he was out.
Notifications on the big screens exhorted us to stay hydrated and to consume lots of fluids (the cider was the best of the bland beverages on offer). Joe Root was unable to comply, however, and was taken to hospital overnight with vomiting, diarrhoea and severe dehydration.
I seriously wonder why we expect sports men and women to compete in such hostile conditions. The same thing occurs frequently at the AUS Open in Melbourne and people say, 'they're paid enough that they should be able to put up with it', but no matter how fit or well paid one is, the human body has its limits, and hyperthermia can be fatal. Is it really reasonable to expect people to die for our entertainment because we've paid for it?
We made our way back to the hotel via a series of pubs - one every kilometre or so, stopping off for refreshments at Bitter Phew (where Him Outdoors chatted to a bunch of lads over for the cricket and I watched the bats flitter through the twilight) and Keg and Brew, where there is no filter on earth that can lessen the redness of my cricket face.
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| Graffiti on Fouveaux Street, Surry Hills |
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| Keg and Brew tap list |
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| It's been a long hot day |
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