Get In, Yeahhhhhhhh

The magnifcent view, 5 of the 12 apostles.


Get In Yeahhhhhhh!
How I miss hearing those words from the man who could bring a smile to even my face of a morning upon hearing them. It was when i was catching up with Scott in Perth that i was reminded of them.
Brian works on the racing desk of Stan James and I had the pleasure of sitting not too far away from him in the new office in Gibraltar. Twice a day you could be guaranteed to hear these 3 words but my favourite time was on Friday mornings when Brian would stalk the office after having one of his occasional speculative punts on a football outsider and would look for vindication from someone whose view he respected. We all knew he had already had the punt but that didn’t stop him from seeking a supporter and on a couple of happy occasions I was chosen as the guru; the conversation would go something like this.

Brain: Alright Paul, how you doing mate?

Paul: Good thanks mate, what can I do for you

Brain: You seen this Arsenal price, 5-1 to beat Man U away, what u reckon?

Paul: I reckon that’s a big price Brian, I might have a little of that myself

Brain, eyes widening, smile growing and beginning to punch me on the arm: Get In! Yeahhhhh.

Friday will be the last time I watch this current England side on tour in Australia and what a fantastically totally unfitting finale it would be if we beat the Aussies in the ODI final. After a summer labouring to achieve not very much at all we could end the tour with a morale boosting victory just before the world cup.
I watched the ‘Alan Border Medal’ show on channel 9 on Monday night and it’s basically the end of term awards to the great and good of Australian cricket. ‘One big Aussie piss up’ is the alternative phrase one could use.
Even beer and wine soaked though sadly this Aussie team is just to good for us and the 7-2 on offer about an England team who were 13-2 this time last week means Australia are probably worth a bet though to short for me.

The ‘ABM’ show was hilarious, quite often unintentionally so with much ‘filling up’ of Aussie cricketers who were ‘gonna miss me mates’. Langer faired particularly badly but the highlight for me was the closing scenes. Whoever was in charge decided the best way to end the live show was by dragging out some appalling Aussie boy band (even though they were all in their late 30’s) and get them to sing ‘ain’t no mountain high enough’ in the campest manner possible. The looks on the faces of Andrew Symonds and Ricky Pointing were priceless, Vic and Bob couldn’t have parodied it better.


Penguins played a leading part in the last seven days for me. Last week I was persuaded to go to the cinema and watch Happy Feet, a cartoon tale of a penguin that cannot sing but instead dances. We purchased gold class tickets so throughout the movie the four of us could drink wine and eat snacks, which were served throughout by our own waitress. Perhaps it was in poor taste to ask for sushi but it was just what I fancied at the time and the fish in the movie didn’t seem to be getting a great deal to be honest.

As well as penguins we did the Koala bear thing and did the ‘Great Ocean Road’ drive taking in the 12 apostles, if you don’t know what that is google it.
I had to endure one of Superlise’s ‘I told you so’ looks for half of the journey back. On the way I had been admonishing her for her driving speed so it was only fitting I guess that I got pulled over and received a very stern telling off from an officer who was none to impressed with my Michael Schumacher impression, a close shave and lesson learned.

Also this week Superlise and I drove to Phillip Island to watch the daily penguin parade from the sea to their island habitat. I had prepared for the day out by reading up on the evening and wearing suitable clothing. When one thinks of visiting penguins in their natural environment I think its fairly safe to assume its going to be cold. Superlise thought differently, tee-shirts and flip flops were going to be good enough for her and it was only when she saw the preparation video for the evening that she began to worry that I might be right and that she should have come better prepared.



Their cute little things really.



It was a topsy turvey week with Superlise. She found out how difficult it is for a young girl to travel with a sometimes grumpy 40 year old and we had tears for the first time but like I said, she was bound to see me topless eventually. Hopefully we have a better understanding of each other after another week and tomorrow is her 26th birthday so she will obviously be another year older and wiser just like me. Current plans involve attending Tim Henmans favourite Japanese restaurant, dancing and no doubt some crazy scheme or idea that will involve us leaving Melbourne under a very dark cloud, maybe I should have thought more before leaving Action Dave in charge of party organising.


After much stunning scenery it was nice to veg out in front of the wonder that is Australian TV and inform you of 3 things I witnessed.
Firstly a story about a prisoner who escaped from a temporary jail and was being chased by the police. He ran across a small river and into the jaws of a 4 metre long croc that immediately said thank you very much and began the dreaded death roll.
Not to be outdone our intrepid hero manages to poke the croc in eye forcing the croc to releases it’s grip and enable the prisoner to swim back to shore into the handcuffs of the waiting police officers. Now think about that for a moment. What an afternoon this blokes had, escaping from prison, 50-1, jump into a river and the mouth of a croc 10-1, survive attack 500-1 and then swim to shore only to pick the wrong shore, the one with the coppers on and be re-arrested, 1/1. The TV crews were actually interviewing the bloke from his prison hospital bed, he thought he had ‘learned his lesson’.

Secondly another quite brilliant news piece about a young married surfer who had survived a shark attack. He had gone out early for the best waves but this unfortunately coincided with when sharks feed and he himself nearly became breakfast. Cue to bedside of the victim surrounded by his wife and 2 kids when the journalist announces he has a surprise for him. In walks surfers ‘best mate’, the same bloke who pulled him to shore.
It was here I began to wonder if the piece was perhaps a windup and that I was actually watching some Aussie news spoof show but it wasn’t. The surfers eyes lit up, ‘Me best mate’ ‘thanks mate’, ‘that’s Bob, he’s my best mate’…so it went on. The report ended and we went back to the anchorman who thanked the reporter for ‘another current affair’, missed the irony and went straight into another piece.

Lastly a soccer show, which gave me all the background I needed to know on Australian soccer, how developed it is and how much support there is for it. I attended the Telstra dome on Sunday and watched Melbourne Victory beat Adelaide 2-1 in front of 48,000 fans (50,000 capacity), scoring the winner in the 93rd minute. Australians love soccer and as Europeans we better watch out, if this sports mad nation actually get the clue and appoint decent managers/coaches they could catch us sooner than we think. Thankfully our most high profile export is Terry Butcher, disastrously he has proved so incompetent that they have already rumbled washed up ex England players do not necessarily make good mangers (Robson, Keegan and Reid must be gutted).

I have been working on a couple of ideas for jobs when I get back though now I will pay closer attention to the soccer positions here. With my incredible record as manager of the Stan James footy team I may have a chance, come on I have got to be better than Terry Butcher?




50,000 capacity, the roof was open


The Swan may have left but he appears to be causing maximum carnage in Malaysia. Amongst the messages I have received was one informing me of how he bought a crate of beer to a party and only upon arrival realised it was a Muslim party and therefore a dry party. He also was introduced to the maid whom he welcomed with a kiss on the cheek, a big no-no apparently. In this Muslim country a kiss on the cheek is tantamount to a marriage proposal, get in Yeahhhhhhh.