May 11, 2006

Rounders

Well, I'm happy to announce that Siobhan, without ever
trying out, made the A team of girl's Rounders.
Clearly this is some kind of mean spirited joke that
the Brits are playing on me because I think this sport
is a disgrace to girls. It probably doesn't have much
to do with the fact that she isn't afraid of catching
balls and can actually THROW a ball. She played her
first game today. They won. I asked if all the girls
jump up and down and hug each other like in the US.
That seemed highly unlikely (that's not all that
lady-like, let's face it). I wasn't quite prepared
for the answer. No. They win, gather in a group and
the captain gives three robust "hip, hip hooray's" for
the other team. Then the other team does the same for
their team. Siobhan is already thinking this is very
lame and is glad when it's over. She starts to walk
off the pitch and everyone heads off in a different
direction. She asked where they were going. To tea!
Yes, the teams share little sandwiches, cupcakes and
tea afterwards and then officially end by everyone
joining in a big "Good-bye"! Can you stand it? Jim,
Mr. Competitive, hoped that at the very least, the
losing team had to SERVE the winning team cupcakes.
They didn't. This concerns him. How will the girls
ever know how awful it feels to lose? We're all glad
Jim isn't raising the kids on his own, aren't we?

Michael then informed me that they don't have"half
time" during cricket matches. They break for tea.
They, too, eat sandwiches and snacks and drink tea.
Michael, so culturally tolerant, has really embraced
this.

It's all so polite! Our local paper (which we read a
day late because it shows up at the newstand after
11:00am) kills me. The lead story is always about one
of three things: a domestic situation involving the
biting or severing of body parts (mostly ears), the
youth of today who are ruining the world with all of
their mountain bike or skate board riding or a pet
that has had some horrible, graphic wound inflicted
upon it by irresponsible youth, irresponsible pet
owners' pets or snakes. There are only photos of the
dogs. The rest of the paper is filled with stories of
"crime" in the area and interviews with people who
hate Tony Blair. Just before we moved here, Jim
brought home a paper. There was a story about a
drunken man who broke into a home of a single woman at
4:30am. Sounds scary, doesn't it? Yes. He broke in
and demanded the woman make him a cup of tea! Last
weekend, Prince Charles' step-daughter was married.
There was one small picture of the bride and groom.
One small, unflattering picture of Camilla and Prince
Charles and a picture of the priest who married them
on her bike with her cute straw basket on the front,
on the way to the wedding. The whole article was
about the priest: how she felt, her opinions of
Camilla and Charles. Not that the priests aren't
important (I better watch how I word this...ours are
receiving this email), but I think there isn't a whole
lot of journalist sense going on. Not much meat.

I wish you were all here to laugh at/with me as I
settle into this country. Missing you!

God bless,

T