New Mate for Benji

Well, here I am back home again and looking cool as always, but there's this new mate hangin' around. Parsley he calls himself, a bit Irish like my owner, belongs to Cathryn & Martyn and is seen showing appropriate respect to me. I will show him a few tricks of the trade, but keep myself looking cool of course. He likes a bit of rough and tumble, as do I, but his little teeth get to me once in a while so I have to teach him respect on occasion. Bit of a herb really!

More 60

The Old Duffer Hits 60

The old fella makes it to 60 on 5th April. He doesn't really feel it, well maybe just a little here and there! A good birthday was celebrated, as it should be with Cathryn, Amie, Daisy, Michael, Dan and Jean (taking the photos).

Monday & Tuesday

It was wet all day so Jean and I spent the day dodging in and out of shelter in Kowloon. It was good to stretch the legs, however, after two and a half days couped up in the Sevens. We managed to enjoy a classic afternoon tea in the Peninsular Hotel, in their rather grand lobby, including cucumber sandwiches, scones, jam and clotted cream, on a cake stand and with tea of course! Today is a bit brighter so we will capitalise on that where we can before taking in an early Chinese dinner at the Red Pepper, always good, then packing and checking out. I was unable to meet up with Mark and Wendy, my ex driver and secretary, for lunch last week because they were too busy, but Mark is coming round to the hotel for a beer with me before we leave for the airport. It seems a long while ago that we left and time has passed quickly, but a lot was done and it has been a memorable holiday of much activity, particularly in the first two weeks. (Burleigh Boot Camp) BBC Tours lives on! Taking off from here just after midnight to Dubai, then a stopover in the morning and the last sector into Birmingham should get us home mid afternoon tomorrow, Wednesday, UK time.

Sunday 2

The final day of rugby was thrilling. Three great finals with Russia beating France, after they had beaten Japan following a bit of a recovery, with a score of 21/7. The Plate was interesting for Karen as she drew Wales in the independently audited process of early Sunday morning at the ground. They were up against Argentina, who were performing quite well, but managed a 26/19 margin to net Karen $500 to bolster her shopping budget! The Cup final was something else. Fiji had disposed of New Zealand in the semis with a 21/12 victory, but it may have taken somewhat of a toll because they looked lethargic and uncommited against a very aggressive Samoa who had disposed of South Africa 10/0. Fiji didn't even get possession or territory in the first 3 minutes of game during which Samoa scored 3 tries! Fiji were 27/0 down at the end of the first half. But, Fiji came back, as they can, in the second and ran in four tries but only converted one of them and ended up defeated by 27/22 at the end. Jean had a conflict of interest, having had Fiji in the World Cup in '97 sweepstake, but drawn Samoa this year. The $600 prize was consumed in the form of an afternoon tea at the Peninsular Hotel this afternoon, complete with the 3 tier cake stand, cream, jam and scones, plus tea - a good highlight in a rather sodden dull day during a walk in Hong Kong and a ferry ride to/from Kowloon! That will probably be it before our packing

Sevens - Sunday 1

The weather was again hot and humid and the stadium was at capacity from early on, the first time I have seen it so full. The south stand was closed off full early as well. Part of the parade of players and others are shown, with the referees wearing sunglasses and carrying white sticks as normal to be booed by the crowd. The rugby is thrilling.

Sevens - Saturday

The pace was a little more measured today, but the day was a full one! An early by Mike and I secured our set of seats for the others to arrive later. We enjoyed the mini rugby and other matches that take place before the main events. The south stand is getting filled up again, although under 18s are not allowed for the first time. France again look hopeless, get booed by the crowd as normal, and end up losing to Australia and Tunisia, which puts them in the bowl tomorrow. England end up top of their group and secure for the Cup, and Wales thump Taiwan but are beaten by South African and Tonga to end up in the Plate. Fiji, South Africa, Samoa and Australia end up top of their groups and secure in the Cup. A curry was enjoyed by 16 of us at Gunga Din's in the evening and I was made custodian of the sweepstake for the next day.

The Sevens begin

Friday evening saw a frenzied start, not by the teams but by our group - friends from the past plus some new. A T-shirt logo said it all - "The liver is evil and must be punished"! The beer was iN ready supply and was attacked by the jug with a vengence. There was no real reason, it just happened! The rugby got off to a good start with predictable pool results in the first rounds except for France, who lost to USA and looked pretty poor. Jean is seen with Dave Escott and me enjoying the evening and the south stand is seen filled with carnival atmosphere.