My nephew and the greatest day of first-class cricket ever

Over the years, I've been asked many times about my views on cricket, and to my embarrassment, I have to confess that as a child, I was more of a football fan (Norwich City FC).

However, over the last two decades and working with 100s of Indian colleagues, many of which have become friends, I have grown to appreciate cricket more. The passion for cricket in India is incredible, I was fortunate enough to watch a good portion of the 2019 World Cup in Chennai.

In recent years when asked about cricket, I have been bolstering my apologetic defence that Norfolk wasn't a strong cricket county; with that, in my extended family, there are some fine young players.

To the joy and pride of all the family, last month, my nephew Tom Price became a cricket legend with a new record for the greatest day of first-class cricket ever, according to Wisden!!

There was a scramble to work out where Price’s achievement ranked. It transpired that there had been 17 instances of a player making a century and taking a hat-trick in the same first-class game – but Price was the only one to make the entirety of his century and take the entirety of his hat-trick on the same day. Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah came closest, but his hat-trick for Central Zone against North Zone in 2014 began in the first innings and ended in the second. Notably, Kent’s Joe Denly took a century and a hat-trick in the same T20. https://wisden.com/stories/county-cricket/county-championship-2023-county-cricket/gloucestershires-tom-price-has-just-had-a-day-of-glory-never-matched-in-cricket-history

NB Apparently, Tom is my nephew:

While from a genealogy standpoint, your cousin's child is your first cousin once removed, but the common name to call them is niece or nephew. https://www.famlii.com/what-call-cousins-child-family-relation/

Thursday was my the best day - until I got mugged

Thursday was my best day ... until I got mugged!?

I was explaining to my husband "Thursday was my best day" [for drawing] and my husband, missing the context, rejoined "until you got mugged"

Okay so I was having a really cool day on Thursday and I really like this painting/drawing and everything was going really really well until at the very end of the day, shortly before 11pm, a teenager jostles me in the Metro and grabs my mobile!?

I immediately grab my other phone and ring, the bastard picks up, laughs at me, and hangs up. I try again and now the phone is dead/off.

What follows is a lot less dramatic, I have all the hassle of stopping the phone (contacting the support number) and reporting to the police.  I've then bounced around between a few police stations, they need me to wait for a translator to be available, standard rigmarole.

By 5pm on Friday, after going to the police and waiting for the translator, I have an hour to kill. 

So I had a bit of spare time before drawing on Friday I go to the library. Have a really nice coffee and cake and I’m chatting with the serving lady at the counter at the café, practicing a little bit of my basic Spanish and she gives me an encouraging smile. 

Next, I discretely park myself in a corner, by the window, and with a pond behind me, all very discrete, and work on cleaning up a few details of this really nice picture from Thursday evening, plus thickening out a few of the shadows.

A bit later, the lady running the cafe comes over here and while I didn’t know she noticed her it myself in the corner to clear, I look up in surprise and embarrassment and she gives me the best grin... redemption

Homage to great communiators

 I want to write a short hommage to great communicators, not just the great and the good: Austen, Atwood, Dickens … Woolf

But also to the slightly less famous (Alison) Gopnik, Marcus du Sautoy, and Bruce Momjian who have all made a great impression.

Last week I had the pleasure of an evening with the London Jane Austen society which was running a small online event with John Mullan, another truly great communicator.

Last and definitely not least, I'm very grateful for the all great teachers (singing and painting) I've been working with in Barcellona and online, again truly great communicators.

pgconf.eu 2018 Lisbon - Bruce Momjian

Pure chocolate, red wine and cold showers

The sketch is from a very short "one-minute pose", which got splashed with red wine during the break and I wasn't even drinking that evening, but later I worked up the sketch and was pleased with the results... and it seem to fit my musing on pure chocolate, red wine and cold showers.

I switched from the deliciously rich and silky milk chocolate to the strong and sharper pure chocolate as an act of self-defence about 10 years.

Putting aside the superior health benefits of pure chocolate over milk chocolate, my initial "act of self-defence" was to protect my chocolate stash. I've always kept a cupboard full of chocolate and while I don't eat chocolate every day, I do most days. 

About twenty years I read a wonderful book called "Eat Chocolate, Drink Alcohol and Be Lean and Healthy" (by Andrew Jobling). This is a great book; I suspect it was targeted at an American audience who tends to see chocolate as fundamentally unhealthy? While I can't say this book completely changed my life, I was already a long way down the road to finding out what the good things in life are about. However, it was definitely a big help. Upto reading this book, I thought of Chocolate and Alcohol as indulgences which are OK only if consumed in moderation? 

Let's be honest, while almost undoubtedly Chocolate and Alcohol are best "consumed in moderation", I'm not always that good at moderation. And just maybe that is okay? There are days when I consume an extreme amount of chocolate and coffee, which is a very good combination. Typically, I like to finish off those sorts of days like these with chocolate and a glass of strong red wine, especially red port.. a perfect combination.

There are also days when I don't drink. Typically I don't like to drink more than 3 or 4 days a week? I recently moved from Amsterdam to Barcelona, both very beautiful and cool cities in their own right. After 12+ years in Amsterdam, it was heartbreaking to leave and in many ways, 2022 was a difficult if wonderful year for me.

I've been in Barcelona 5 months, and while I'm keen to learn both Castilian and Catalan, so far, I'm limited to simple expressions like

• Tiene dos gatos y una guiterra

• Me gusta cantar y dibujo

• Vivo con mi marido venti tres años

This is a decent start but I'm still feeling a bit alienated in this very big new city. I'm not typically a big-city sort of person… I was born and bred in Norwich a historically significant city upto the 19th century; now it is a beautiful historic university city, popular with students and tourists, as well as the locals.

Barcelona is a fun city, with always a lot going on and plenty of friendly people to drink with. I love singing & drawing and there is plenty of socials in Barcelona. So over the last few months, I've been drinking a bit harder than I would normally like? 

So for the last 10 days, I've had a drinking break, which is a long time for me, but it feels good. Not just as I feel like I have had a well-earnt rest from drinking, I'm also looking forward to having a drink with friends again - absence makes the heart grow stronger.

So what about the cold showers? A couple of years ago, I started hearing about the WimHof method, which is now extremely popular in Amsterdam… over the last couple of years, I got used to seeing people bathing in near-zero temperatures? My sister-in-law appears to have full WimHof as well. Apparently, she has regular baths in the open air and unheated public baths in London. I'm not yet 100% convinced, yes, most of the people practising cold water bathing/showers look very healthy but firstly, correlation is not causation? Personally, I have started taking partially "cold showers", as recommended by WimHof I start off warm and then reduce the temperature until it is no longer pleasurable. Also, as recommended by WimHof, by breathing deeply, I can take quite a lot of cold water; the sensation is most exhilarating and feels good.