Well that's my Ashes adventure over and instead of sweating up in the gantry at the Gabba鈥檚 Vulture Street End, I鈥檒l soon be wading through my email inbox at Television Centre.
I will be fascinated to know what happens when round two of the ice cream war starts 鈥 a contest that could be more keenly fought than the rest of the Ashes series....
Kevin Pietersen swished and missed at the second ball of the day and was out to the fourth on the final day in Brisbane.
That was essentially game over, but despite witnessing the agonising sight of a second England batsman falling in the nervous 90s, the came alive in the Geraint Jones-Ashley Giles partnership.
Neither of these two players are the most loved in England 鈥 in fact many fans have lambasted Duncan Fletcher and Andrew Flintoff for picking them here.
Most of Brisbane is back at work on Monday, and England鈥檚 fans are not yet Adelaide-bound.
The ground will be far from full, but with tickets just $20 each (拢8) and $6 for children, ground organisers are expecting a strong presence from the away supporters.
Shortly before England began their second innings at the Gabba, needing a mere 648 to win, Coldplay's melodious ballad was played on the PA system.
If ever anything needed fixing at that point, it was the England cricket team.
They had taken just 10 Australian wickets, while watching the hosts rack up 804 runs, and in between had been dismissed for a thoroughly inadequate 157.
My blog entry from Saturday morning, headlined At last - a chance to gloat, was filed soon after Stuart Clark dropped a catch offered by Kevin Pietersen.
But at the precise moment I hit the send button on my laptop, Glenn McGrath chose to scoff at my impetuosity by trapping KP leg-before.
Today will be different. I am filing this piece before play starts to protect me from commentator鈥檚 curse.
At this time of year in Australia, school leavers 鈥 known as celebrate their coming of age with a series of parties.
Many take the journey up the from Sydney to the Gold Coast beaches near Brisbane.
As I walked to the bus stop this morning, I saw lots of activity at the car hire place just outside my hotel.
A number of schoolies were cramming the boots of their newly-hired hatchbacks with filled to the brim with beer 鈥 ready to head to the beach.
It's been a tough couple of days for English cricketers, fans and journalists in Brisbane.
All this mockery of the Poms does get a bit wearing.
But then finally it happened. Australian fielder Stuart Clark dropped an easy chance half an hour into Saturday's play and the boot, albeit briefly, was on the other foot.
If bystanders at Sydney airport on Thursday thought Marcus Trescothick had made a dramatic return to Australia, they would not have been the first to make the mistake.
The photographer sent to Heathrow a fortnight ago to take a pic of , victim of a stress-related illness, got the wrong man.
Instead of the England opening batsman, he clicked his shutter on IT executive Justin O'Sullivan, and sent his work out on the international photo wires.
A motor company has enlisted the services of Matthew Hayden in a campaign called .
Every time an Australian batsman hits a four or a six, the replay screen shows Hayden smashing a ball and gazing into the distance.
It has happened 67 times in all, but in truth there has been no need for any gimmicks for people to understand the miserable plight of England after two days at Brisbane.
I am afraid there鈥檚 no other way of looking at it: England鈥檚 cricketers and their fans suffered collective stage fright on the first day of the Ashes series.
Blame the strength-sapping heat and humidity at the Gabba. Blame us (the media) for talking up the importance of these Test matches, if you must.
But most of all blame those brilliant , who we have already watched scoring thousands of runs in the past, and who look like they could carry on doing so into their dotage.
For a city that has an impressive amount of hotels, many soaring into the sky Manhattan-style, the news that there is not a bed left in Brisbane can only mean one thing.
The Gabba really will be 鈥渇ull to the rafters鈥 on Thursday 鈥 I quote Andrew Flintoff - and there鈥檚 a potential problem in store.
Fans, whether from England or Australia, who purchased discontinued (illegally re-traded) tickets on internet auction sites are bound to attempt to gain access.
One of the best Australian rock albums of recent years is Vulture Street, released by the Brisbane band in 2003.
They got the name from the long, undulating road that connects many of the suburbs in the south of the city.
And on Thursday, it will be filled by rival cricket fans making the journey to , because Vulture Street also leads to the venue for the first Ashes Test.
Turn right at the corner of Nudgee Road and Toombul Road in the north Brisbane suburbs and you find yourself in the car park of Northgate Playing Fields.
There are four full-size cricket grounds here, two of them framed by attractive white picket fences, and there鈥檚 also a superbly equipped pavilion that puts most England county grounds to shame.
But these are not facilities owned by the Queensland Cricket Association. This is where comes to play its home cricket matches.
BRISBANE - The Australian team are staying at a trendy hotel on , a riverside area which has been elegantly regenerated to become the city鈥檚 cultural centre.
Most of the Aussie squad are already in town, having arrived at lunchtime on Sunday.
Glenn McGrath, easily the most animated, said hello but many sneaked by unnoticed while coach John Buchanan chatted to a handful of journalists at an official media session.
HEATHROW 鈥 At security these days, as well as having to take your shoes off and be subjected to an intimate frisk, they also make you take your laptop out.
One fellow traveller spotted the 成人论坛 Sport logo on the back of mine, and asked: 鈥淣ot going to the Ashes are you?鈥
He, much to his despair, was destined for somewhere else but wished me well on my travels, despite his obvious envy.
| 15:38 UK time, Thursday, 9 November 2006
Working for 成人论坛 Sport does, as you might imagine, offer certain perks. For example, I consider it a privilege to have covered golf's Open Championship on seven separate occasions, such is the unique atmosphere of that great and historic event.
But that in no way compares to the absolute thrill I experienced when I shook the right hands of Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards and Mr Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge.
Jump to more content from this blog
For the latest updates across 成人论坛 blogs,
visit the Blogs homepage.
You can stay up to date with Test Match Special via these feeds.
Test Match Special Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find useful.
See more at
Why is 成人论坛 content available on other websites?
 |
Train up to bat and bowl your way to Ashes glory. |
 |
Take our easy-to-make masks to the ground. |
成人论坛 漏 2014 The 成人论坛 is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
