Howzat!
Yes, it's crunch time at the Oval and it is pleasing to note not only that England won by an innings and 71 runs, but that the players the Barmy Army songsheet cites the most are, fittingly, Swanny and KP, although it's a pity they didn't have a bit more imagination when coming up with a song for poor Strauss, who's only got one and it mainly consists of shouting his name very loudly and mumbling something about playing dreamy shots. My personal favourites are the lyrics for a Pieterson-themed rendition of Liberty X 'Just a little', which starts something like this:
KP,
When you walk out to the crease,
You're sexy.

Other than appreciating the finer points of the supporters' imaginative lyrics, there was a bit of a ruck at the Oval, as some England supporters were thrown out of the ground. Not, I might add, for being rowdy or drunk or offensive, but mostly because some lad sat on the shoulders of another lad. Anyway, the word is that a gang of police turned up to drag him away and his wife (or one assumes it was his wife) wasn't very happy about it. The last time she was seen, she was being dragged down the hill by her legs by two sturdy Australian policeman, clutching defiantly onto her well-packed green Woolworth's bag. One can only assume it had her picnic lunch in it and she didn't want to share her sandwiches. Needless to say, with this kind of drama, it wasn't really a hardship to be paid to get a tan and watch the cricket, however ridiculously dressed (see new photo album for details).
Other than selling a lot of cricket radios, trying to spot famous people (the best I managed was David Gower, but apparently someone saw Tim Rice. Not sure what he was doing at the cricket - probably picking up lyrical tips from the Barmy Army for his next musical project), and cycling to and fro from the Oval (the 10km in the morning is fine, because there aren't many on the roads at 6.30am and it's not too hot. Trying to cycle home in the mid-afternoon sun after 6 hours of walking around the stadium asking people if they're sorted for their radio commentary is not a completely brilliant idea) we haven't been up to that much over the past few days.

Howie and Darlene (our landlady) found a stray kitten in our back garden yesterday, which was possibly the cutest thing in the world (apart from Rupert). It was a little black and white fluffy fellow, with big blue eyes and a squeaky little mew and it was heartbreaking that we couldn't keep him... We think his mum has come and picked him up from the garden now because he's nowhere to be found. Yesterday morning his neck was still very wet from where his mum had been carrying him, so we think she went out to hunt and left him somewhere safe while she came back.

Today has afforded us a huge thunderstorm - it's been roasting here for the past few days so it was inevitable that it would break eventually. We were thinking of going to the zoo today but decided against it, fortunately. It may well be on the programme for tomorrow.

In other news, a prickly heat sensation is gripping the nation (well, me) and mosquitos have somehow bitten me to shreds again (how delightful)! Howie is currently becoming a fully-fledged website-man and is building websites left, right and centre and we are both taking full advantage of living in close proximity of both a beach and a well-stocked library. Adelaide is, thus far, treating us well.