Thursday, August 18, 2005
NORM SWARMED
Not only has Norm Geras recently encountered the Wogblogger, but he’s since met Australian cricket genius Gideon Haigh:
Gideon knows more about the history of the game than anyone else I’ve ever met. I mean, in minute detail. Cricket people are quite used to the business of chewing over the games they’ve seen years ago, in childhood even, and incidents from them that have stuck in their minds: that time Eldine Baptiste ran out Geoff Miller at Lord’s with a direct hit from the furthest corner of the ground; when Gatting caught Allan Border but failed to control the ball; the stand between Sobers and Holford; Graeme Pollock’s innings at Trent Bridge; Hugh Tayfield taking 9 wickets at the Wanderers in 1957 - and 13 in the match - to beat Peter May’s England; and so forth. The thing about Gideon is he can do this about games he hasn’t seen, games that took place before he was born.
Gideon is pure cricket wisdom. He’d have to be, to out-know Norm; here’s a shot (via the Wogblogger) of Norm in his cricket-only library:
I asked her to steal at least 20 books, but apparently she was only able to grab four Wisdens. Damn her tiny fashionable handbag. Speaking of the Wog, she’s currently in Edinburgh, where her bizarre choice of vehicle has caused problems:
Mucho laughter with the concierge guys who were refusing to go get the car for me. Only the Spaniard (I think), Mandy, was prepared to go. The rest of them declared the car too hard to drive, and far too claustrophobic with its little cabin and tight footpedal zone.
One guy the night before had apparently tried to move the car and got so crazy inside it that he had a fit and was screaming to be let out.
Morgans will do that. Here’s a pressure-relieving game for frustrated UK car movers. Bash the Aussie!