Mulubinba Moments

The Ashes!

i keep forgetting to blog about the cricket. Yes folks we are well into the Ashes second test against England. It is being played in Adelaide. England lost the first test to Australia but are in a strong position to win the second...that is, if Australia suffers a middle order collapse in the first innings.

I adore listening to the cricket at this time of year. The commentary on ABC radio is entertaining in itself (my opinion) and my December ritual is to bring out a jigsaw puzzle for relaxation whilst listening to the cricket. I'm into mystery ones at present...no pictures to follow....only guesswork.

Am also trying to explore some neuroanatomy and the relationship between the optical pathways and motor pathways inside the brain. Not relaxing reading, I can assure you.

World Cup Blues

Jenny called from England tonight and describes a very sombre mood on the streets. As most of the readers of this blog would know the England team have been bundled out of the world cup by Portugal (again). Australia were evicted from the cup on Monday in truly traumatic circumstances. Our daughter reports that one of her friends wept for twenty minutes after the game. I have spoken to several people whose reaction to the defeat bordered on clinical depression. They coped with the symptoms by trying to remind themselves that it is just a game but found it hard going. Today it is England's and Brazil's turn. I have been trying to find any reports or studies of a clinical syndrome which I would call World Cup Blues, but to no avail. My suspicion is that the symptoms, while intense, are fairly shortlived and that people get over it fairly quickly. But if one is susceptible it is probably not a good time to stop the antidepressants.

More or less soccer?

Well it is devastation over here in Aus. with our fighting Socceroos out of the World Cup. When all is said and done, they did a fantastic job but we have now lost Coach Guus Hiddink to Russia and some of our players will be retiring. Will this new found interest in soccer in Australia last I wonder? Spain, my second favourite team is also out of the Cup which leaves me now impartial in terms of who will win. I will be watching the local soccer scene over here with interest and hope that we see it continue to develop to greater levels. Next question is: Who will they sign up as Coach in place of Guus Hiddink. Rumour has it however that Guus may be keen to return after his contract is up with Russia in two years...that is if England don't get him first.

More soccer

I'm really hooked now. Our gallant Socceroos have made it through to the next round in the World Cup and by doing so have created history. Just as well Harry Kewell was allowed to play is all I can say.
Next step - Aus vs Italy!

Soccer + whales

Even I now have to confess that the plight of our own Socceroos has captured my interest. We managed to beat Japan and I have been following a comments link over here at Feathers of Hope. Butuki left a message about Aus vs. Brazil...sigh, we were beaten...and next game is Aus. vs. Croatia - we either need a draw or win this game to go into the next round and create Australian soccer history. Fortunately Harry Kewell has been cleared to play that game - he was caught swearing at a referee after the game against Brazil.
Thanks to Butuki who has written a post on Japan's "victory" at the International Whaling Commission meeting at St Kitts here. I agree with you Butuki, I remain a great fan of your blog.

Full moon over Nobby's breakwater.

Australian Olympic & Paralympic Swimming Trials

(Photo from ABC news)

His face says it all. Our swimming officials followed FINA rules to the letter - one start rule, no exceptions. The 400m final is being swum as I write this post. Ian Thorpe, true sportsman that he is, (yes, I have a lot of time for this man), is sitting on the sidelines watching. For those of you who do not follow swimming, Ian was disqualified this morning from his favourite event, the 400m freestyle. He slipped off the starting block before the race and was out not only of the race but he also destroyed all chance of swimming this event in the Athens Olympic Games. A lesson to all athletes - it doesn't matter how good you are - rules are rules are rules and in Australia at least they are not broken. I wonder.... if he had been living in another country, would he have been given a second chance?

Oz Day 2004

January 26th is Australia Day. On 26 January 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Sydney Cove with eleven boatloads of petty criminals and political prisoners. The use of this day to celebrate our nationhood has not been without controversy over the years. Outside New South Wales it was for many years regarded as arrogance for NSW's foundation day to be foisted on the rest of the country. And for the Aboriginal People, 26 January is the anniversary of an invasion. Nevertheless Australia Day has become the day that we celebrate Australianness, whatever that is. Barbecues, beer and watching the cricket are traditional activities. Enterprising young people wander the streets offering to apply an image of an Australian flag to your face for a dollar or two.
My Australia Day for the past 6 years has been spent at Circular Quay in Sydney as volunteer doctor at the Oz Day 10km wheelchair road race. Jenny and I caught the 4:46 am train to arrive in time for the 8am warm ups. This is a big event with a large international field of competitors many of whom will compete at the Paralympics. Fortunately there were no major medical problems, although one of the Canadian athletes (Jeff Adams) had a major stack and smashed his helmet into pieces (thus demonstrating the value of the helmet as he was uninjured). Normally we spend most of our energy helping the athletes cool down - spinal cord injury impairs one's ability to lose body heat. However today's temperature was a mild 21ºC with cloud cover, so it was a perfect day for wheelchair racing.
You can just catch a glimpse of the harbour bridge in Jenny's photo.
We'll be back next year.

Foot in Mouth or Foot in Trumpet

Well, Australia has really made a dreadful faux-pas this time. Jonathan describes it at Puerta del Sol Blog. Whoops...."sorry"...... is all I can say on behalf of Tennis Australia! Here is what the Sydney Morning Herald had to say. Incidentally it was buried amongst other new stories so that we wouldn't find out about it.