I have just left the MCG early on day three after a spectacularly bad performance by England with both bat and ball. When Mahmood lost his wicket and we were 109-7 still 150 runs behind I lost hope and decided to beat the crowds. Still had two really good days as I was sat with the barmy army. We still have tickets for tomorrow so if hoggard and read can hang on we may get some use out of them.

Asides from going to the cricket we have just experienced the coldest Christmas day on record in Australia. It was raining pretty much all day and there was a cold wind blowing. The waves were crashing over the pier on St. Kilda beach and there were no bbq's on the beach this year. It was -5 up in the mountains with loads on snow. The boxing day papers had pictures of snowmen made the in Australia the day before! Tracy arrived on Christmas day and I think she was a little disappointed with the weather but she enjoyed her six inch subway sandwich christmas dinner.

The day after we lost the petanque final we stoppped in Sunbury the birthplace of the Ashes. They made quite a big deal out of their claim to fame but there was very little to see as the ashes are no longer around. So we spent the evening replaying the petanque final in our heads and wondering where it all went wrong.

We are staying St. Kilda, which is like a victorian english seaside resort as it has a pier and a rickety old theme park with wooden roller coaster and lots of little bars and cafes. On boxing day we went for a walk into the city from St. Kilda through Adams park - which contains the F1 circuit, about 15 floodlit cricket pitches, a football stadium, a golf course, baseball pitches, tennis courts and a swimming stadium (all top quality and not vandalised - no wonder they are so good at sport).  When we made it to the city centre we visited the Victorian national gallery for a bit of culture and then sat in the main sqaure and watched Englands tail get cleaned up by Shane Warne on the big screen.

Nearly forgot to mention that when we went out on Christmas eve we bumped into Freddie Flintoff having a quiet pint with his brother. We got our photo taken with him (see top left) and Pete quizzed him on why he supported Man City instead of the mighty North End!

Hoggard's just got out and we have lost by an innnings and 99 runs. We will have to go to Ramsey Street tomorrow instead of the MCG.