What a day! I managed to get two tickets on line - it was strange I couldn't get just one - the website said all tickets sold out - but I found if I booked two, I was OK. Took MM and off we went. Free transport to the Gabba - something one of the English fellows on the bus said would not happen in the UK he said. There was much laughter on the bus from Roma St to the Gabba - and at one stage as we were travelling along between the city and the Gabba the doors swung open dangerously. There was a Pommy guy and his son standing near the door - and someone yelled out - push the enemy out! Was quite funny - the doors quickly closed and all were safe!
Picking up the tickets was no problem but when we got to the allotted tickets, we find we are behind one of the big screens with little hope of seeing any cricket action. We found a vacant couple of seats as did all the others whose seats obliterated a view of the game, but when the folk arrived to claim their seats there was a challenge. Security came and gave us new tickets, so we had to walk quite a distance to another part of the stadium.
We sat through the opening ceremony, a minutes silence for the victims of the New Zealand Mine Disaster, and the national anthems before moving to our new space.
But we had a good view - except we had to stand frequently to let guys pass. They'd head for the bar and return with a tray of beers, and then go back to the bar. Back and forth all day - more frequently as the day wore on.
What a fun day!! The people around us were friendly and there were plenty of laughs. The outfits people wore were hilarious. Such imagination. The Balmy Army, and the Jarmy Army went head to head - blow up balls bunced around most stands and were confiscated by security if they fell into the ground. There were Pommy flags everywhere, and a few Aussie ones.
The cricket was good too. It was good to see the Aussies do so well on the first day of the Ashes. There were some 40,000 people there - and the crowd was well behaved there. And the rain held off - there was a misty shower for a second or two - but that's all.
I managed to take a photo and send it on to family from my mobile phone. Wow. I can do it.
We did leave a little too early - we learned later that we missed the hat trick, and other excitement, but I was happy to get home and watch it on television.
One thing that totally amused me was the long queues at the mens toilets. One doesn't normally see this - but with all the beer that the blokes were drinking, it was going straight through. The queues snaked right out of the loos and along the walkways.
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