7.24pm and counting

I have a phone conference at 7.30pm tonight. It's with a colleague in the UK to discuss other colleagues in the US, Thailand, UK, Singapore ... you name it. This will be 8.30am their time. We had originally planned to talk at 8am (aka 7pm Australian time) however, with the onset of their winter, it is still dark at that hour. Here in Australia it is still light (or would be if not for the cloud) at 7.26pm.

Strangely, I was on a phone call with a colleague in the UK at 7am this morning (8pm yesterday for them).

Tomorrow I have a video conference with the UK at 8am our time (9pm yesterday in the UK); and a phone call with the US at 9.30am (4pm Thanksgiving Day, Mountain time). It's OK, I'm talking to a Scot, not a Yank.

OK, 7.30 it is ... hello world, it's me, are you there?

my homework or 'How I celebrated Australia's Ashes and World Cup victories'

It was a hot January day ... the 5th, I think it was, as I recall mentioning that it was the anniversary of the collapse of the Tasman Bridge to my big sister. Anyway, my bm Roogirl and I exchanged a few txt messages, imploring Kevin Pietersen (a native South African) to leave the general area (but in fewer words) and mentioning the numbers 5 and 0 quite often!

Now, I'm not usually impulsive, and do like to plan my time, but this victory annihilation was well worth a spur of the moment acceptance of an invitation from Roogirl to dinner at their favourite Italian restaurant in Wantirna.

It was too warm for red wine, and I couldn't manage to drink a whole bottle of champagne on my own, so I did the Kath & Kim thing and picked up a 3 pack of piccolos at the local bottle shop. Pasta, champagne, smiling and laughing with great company and just to top it off, we walked to the local McDonalds for a sundae. I'm sure I completely embarrassed my nephew (who was on duty) in my joyous state, but then again, once he has seen me sing ABBA, Barry Manilow AND Donny Osmond, there's not many more layers of embarrassment!

I'm well aware that Australia regained the Ashes on a warm December day in Perth, just before Christmas, however the redemption (to use the words of Ricky Ponting) wasn't complete until the score was 5-0!

The World Cup? As previously mentioned, I was in the air between London and Hong Kong during the match, and it was again Roogirl to the rescue with a text message. My celebration? (remembering that it was one-day cricket, not the real thing) was a quiet smiling satisfaction watching Hong Kong wake up and then I indulged in a champagne at the pointy end once I was on board again (I sense a theme).

Thanks to the Australian cricket team for such great memories, thanks to my bm Roogirl for my homework, and my apologies for not collecting my intended birthday present at Borders. Let's face it, they're just like the poms... too f'ing slow!