BAW
Here is a new Cablog feature for the coming summer, the Barmy Army Watch (BAW). With the recently arrived English cricket team attempting a hopeless bid to retain the Ashes, my taxi antenna is on maximum alert for their ubiquitous supporters, the Barmy Army. For one must admire a bunch of boofy blokes who’ll travel half-way around the world to watch certain defeat. But hey, that’s Pommie cricket tragics for you.
Last night I carried three English fans from a top-class waterfront restaurant in The Rocks to a low budget pub in the Haymarket. Despite having only arrived yesterday morning they already felt qualified to pass judgement on Sydney. ‘So Keith’, one asked, ‘what do you think of the place ?’. ‘Well, it’s no different to home, innit ?’, replied a nonplussed Keith. ‘The weather’s just like our autumn, I thought it was hot here’.
Keith, who was around my age and somewhat older than the others, looked out the window at the mid-city pedestrians on George street and offered, ‘It’s just another city innit ? Like London thirty years ago without the Pakis and Jamaicans. But that’s one thing you can say for this lot, they’ve got their immigration under control’. This brought general agreement from his mates.
As we approached the destination I decided to make a suggestion. ‘You oughta give the Tories a go’, I cracked, ‘they might do something about it’. Sure enough this got a bite. ‘Oi, oi, let’s not get carried away here...They’re just as bad as Labour...If we didn’t do you a favour by sending over our convicts, you wouldn’t be in such a good position’. ‘Well’, I countered, ‘it’s much easier when you haven’t got the colonies comin’ home to roost’.
We all had a laugh and they hopped out, leaving me the $1.20 change. Welcome to Australia, Barmy Army, it promises to be a great Series. For Oz.
UPDATE : England dealt massive first-up loss (via Tim Blair)
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