So a huge cricket tournament - a World Cup, no less - is organised. So it rains, and the elaborate opening ceremony is curtailed. No worries; the England team is being polite by staging the opening match against Holland. At Lord's. Then, as you might expect, the Dutch win off a misfield off the last ball of the match. Mind you, one of the Dutchmen spoke fluent Strine.
And at noon today, possibly because of the World Cup cricket, it was raining everywhere in the land. Only in England! It was sunny in South Africa of course, and the Lions have just scraped a win against one of the lower ranked local sides. The Tests will be thunderous.
Final sports note: there are people who want to make golf an Olympic event. That is rubbish, and my reason for saying that is surely obvious. The Olympics should be about running, jumping, throwing things and fighting, just as they were 2,500 years ago. Anyone can do those things. No fancy equipment or special terrain. How many African and Asian peasants could aspire to representing their countries at golf? Polo next, or Grand Prix motor racing?
A cautionary tale now. My golf chum Graham's ancient mum had a fire in her flat. Her toaster, which hadn't been used since the morning, went on fire at ten at night, setting fire to the work top and a cupboard. She has Parkinson's and can hardly speak or move, but she was rescued by the fire brigade and is in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. The flat (sheltered accommodation) will have to be totally redecorated. When I got home I put a battery in my smoke alarm, and it went off today while I was grilling lamb chops for lunch. (That is probably why I took the battery out some years ago - too sensitive.)
Re the government meltdowm: nobody who is supposed to be running the country has ever had a proper job (apart from the ex-postman). They have all been pols since leaving school. It is a management failure caused by Brown's inability to see that he needed a fixer to keep an eye on the small but subservient people he appointed to do big jobs.
There has been army activity in Guinea Bissau. Politicians are being shot for various reasons. I only mention this because my sponsored child Maude lives there. The bloody place doesn't even need an army.
I had a bit of a coup regarding my leak. A chum suggested that I lift off some tiles and cut open the felt to see what was going on. There was a plastic 1" plastic pipe, dripping. So I crawled into the extension roof space and saw that the pipe is for overflow from the central heating header tank. The ball valve may be sticky. Diagnosis done, action to follow. Phew! I thought it might be something serious.
I'll go and watch the Windies in their match against Australia now, and try to follow the action from the England football in Central Asia. It's all action round here.
Those are very fine roses. You can almost smell them!