Star spotting

I've said before that my knowledge of cricket is very sparse, despite attending village matches since I was 15! I say attending as usually my eyes are either shut or in a book, I almost never watch the match, I may appear to be watching but I've always had that ability to "zone out". And there's no telling what adventures I may be up to in my head!

However I thought my knowledge of "celebrity" was quite good, my head is full of Hello magazine moments - I may appear to be concentrating but more often than not my brain is in another world! Years ago I worked for the Civil Service and someone hung a Garfield poster above my desk saying something like "I'm in another world, but it's ok, they know me there!"

I think this is because I grew up as an only child (I do sometimes refer to my sister but she is technically my half sister and we grew up hundreds miles apart), My Mum worked full time and I spent most of my time with Grandparents. They were fabulous grandparents but quite elderly so I had fun times with my vivid imagination and lots of make-believe games and stories.

Anyway, a few years ago the we were told of a fundraising dinner being held to add funds to Norfolk Youth Cricket and we booked two tickets. I was so excited as this is the type of thing we never, ever do.

In fact it was only the second time I'd ever seen the builder in a dinner suit!

We arranged to stay over at a B & B nearby and arrived after lunch,
after a restful few minutes in our room the builder realised that the suit carrier he'd grabbed from the back of the wardrobe contained only a jacket!!

 He drove home and back at the speed of light to pick up his trousers and we eventually made our way to the dinner.

As there was wine matched to each course of the meal (included in the set price) and as I very rarely drink - one glass is likely see me laughing at my own jokes very loudly and then sliding off my chair very gracefully ( I think I do it gracefully); I decided to acclimatise myself and have a couple of glasses of wine each evening for a couple of weeks before the dinner. It did help although at one point during the meal I had 4 full glasses lined up on the table waiting for me!

Anyway the builder was excited as three professional cricketers were going to be there and they would do an after dinner speech and also answer questions. He explained that Alastair Cook would be the main speaker and he was likely to be the England Cricket team's next captain. (Which he is)

The boys had primed their Dad with lots of questions on how to make a career out of cricket, they would have loved to have been there themselves - I'm sure they thought it was wasted on their Mum!

 It wasn't a huge do and everyone was seated at smallish tables in the dining room. I loved the food and wine, and then they announced that the cricketers would make their way to the front of the room for speeches and the question and answer session. I had zoned out many times during the evening when table talk had turned to cricket but I thought I should pay attention to the speeches;
or at least look interested.

At that point the man on the table behind us and who had been sitting back to back with me all evening started to get up to leave. I nudged the builder and whispered (a drunken whisper probably equivalent to a bellow) "how rude, doesn't he know they're about to make the speeches?" to which he replied, with a withering look, " he does......, and he's Alastair Cook!"

Later in the evening everyone was mingling and we were able to have a chat with 2 of the cricketers, Alastair Cook and Will Jefferson. The builder explained that we had two very keen cricketing boys and asked for tips and hints, they were really lovely and took lots of time to ask about the boys. We also explained that number 2 son had recently acquired a new bat which he was in love with. In fact we said, he sleeps with it in his bed every night, "I imagine you both did that sort of thing too didn't you?" the builder laughed - to which they both replied, one after the other, with very blank and slightly bemused faces " no, I never did anything like that!".

An awkward silence followed!!



Spot the cricketer!

If you haven't already please leave a comment on the previous post for an anniversary giveaway, sadly it will be very slightly cricket related but don't let that put you off - it is a tenuous link!