In Memory of the Man Himself

WE ARE ALL DEVASTATED THIS WEEK BY THE TERRIBLE NEWS OF THE DEATH OF

SEAMUS McAULEY

Seamus was Husband to Dymphna. Father to Christopher, Karen and Emma. Brother to many and friend to many many more.

I have tried to think of some words that summed up Seamus, in my mind, I came up with the following.

Proud...Cheeky...loyal.....stubborn....loveable....mischevious....wise...steady...unafraid...a 'mans' man...tidy....hard working...fun loving...Seamus.

I found the following really helpful when I lost my Dad.

Fathers Are Wonderful People

Fathers are wonderful people

Too little understood,

And we do not sing their praises

As often as we should...

For, somehow, Father seems to be

The man who pays the bills,

While Mother binds up little hurts

And nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily

To live up to "his image"

As protector and provider

And "hero of the scrimmage"...

And perhaps that is the reason

We sometimes get the notion,

That Fathers are not subject

To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,

Where no one else can see

You'll find he's sentimental

And as "soft" as he can be...

But he's so busy every day

In the grueling race of life,

He leaves the sentimental stuff

To his partner and his wife...

But Fathers are just wonderful

In a million different ways,

And they merit loving compliments

And accolades of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires

To fortune and success

Is to make the family proud of him

And to bring them happiness...

And like Our Heavenly Father,

He's a guardian and a guide,

someone that we can count on

To be always on our side.

This Blog was always meant to be an honest and fun account of life in Australia.

However, life is always waiting to remind us that only God knows the future.

God must have really wanted a steady hand in heaven.

Love. Stew Jackie Stephen James

JOB VACANCY

JOB VACANCY

Cricket in Australia is a tough hard job.

Reluctantly I have agreed to coach the local womens team. I do, however need an assistant.

The pay is non existant the hours are long.No company car is provided and you may have to travel to away fixtures with the team..

Anyone interested in assisting me.... please forward $200 to Stewart Gill asap

Here are some of the players going through their paces

Hair today Blonde tomorrow

Hello bloggers.

Todays blog will include some piccies. ......But first.......SHOWER WATCH......

110-12

The Aussies continue to avoid showering like a bleeding man avoids a tank of sharks...WHY???...Does anyone have a theory.....

Stewart collects his money from under the unused soap

.. Some of the boys post match 'Training'

Left to right: Candles. Stowie.Watto.AL

Some great sledging this week.

To a guy who edged the ball time after time: 'Oi Edge where's Bono'. ..'he would't know he hasn't found what he's looking for'.......The guy sulked the entire match....yeah..result.

We bowled and fielded well this week. The opposition were all out for 134. At stumps we were 12 for no wicket with Gill in next...talk about a long wait to bat.....




Australia is a truly beautiful country and spending time on the beach reminds you of this.

Here I am with our boys James and Stephen. On Yanchep beach on Jan 7 2007

Yanchep Beach

While watching the cricket game on TV Monday night, my wife, Jackie and I were discussing life and death. I told her, "Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."She promptly got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all my beer. Some days I hate being married to a smart arse.

I do, however feel sorry for Jackie as she now has three Cricket fanatics in the house. Both James and Stephen had Cricket bats for Christmas and as everyone knows my love for playing Cricket remains un-diminished. i can't explain how I still find playing one of the most fulfilling parts of my life...god I wish I could explain it but I can't...


Christmas Champagne on the beach, $30.00 New Years Eve Cocktails, $ 50.00... Seeing Stewart like this ....PRICELESS...















stewy

Thank God The End Is Near

Englands final humiliating defeat has finally come and I can at least concentrate on 'Aussie' life and my own Cricket. ......Oh god who am I kidding. It's been hell. The Aussies really do love beating the Poms and I DESERVE EVERY BIT OF STICK....but hey couldn't the boys have shown some fight...As for Kevin Pietersen. At Perth he avoided giving autographs to the 20 or so kids who waited, by walking across the WACA and 'sneaking' out a side entrance...cheers KP and to think I bought my son the bat his hero uses...shame on you KP..these kids and their Dads cheered you all day and for what, defeat and humiliation at school (Being a Pommie kid at school has not been fun...Although my boy being a West Brom fan was well used to all the stick he...not Pietersen..got)

Well I am glad thats off my chest...I never thought we had a chance and I am glad I didn't claim we would win......

When we decided to leave Britain we were glad to be escaping the louts that seem to have taken over most of the country...Only to discover the delights of the Australian 'BOGAN'









A very 'POSH' BOGAN









A bogan (pronunciation boe-gn) is a term used primarily in Australia to describe a particular section of the working class population.

A bogan typically resides in either a low-cost housing estate, government housing or in the outlying regional areas of continental Australia. (sounds familiar eh) Generally bogans tend to congregate in areas with little or no features & amenities.

How to recognise a Bogan:

• A pronounced lack of dress sense in social situations. Typical bogan attire consists of a flannelette shirt, stubbie shorts (either blue/khaki), torn or soiled jeans from the 1980's or earlier, and of course standard issue white thong sandals with black rubber.
• A lack of personal hygiene. A bogan will often allow his/her hair to grow into an attractive style named the "mullet" as popularised in the 1980's. A hair cut is a rare event for the bogan, and most styling occurs when the razor is brought out to either a) produce a "skinhead" style cut or b) a "frullet" (front-mullet). Similar styles apply for females, however the female bogan frequently colours her hair auburn.
• The bogan bathroom usually contains a bar of multi-purpose soap used to both cleaning the family, washing the hair, styling the hair and manicures/pedicures. Whilst most non-bogans will use Eau de Toilette spray as a perfume, the most common boganistic fragrance is "Odour of Toilet". The bogan frequently rosters showers at irregular intervals such as once a week for males and twice for females.
• Distinct vocabulary. The bogan language is somewhat foreign to most English-speaking people. For example in boaglish, the word "shooting" would be pronounced as "shootun". Similarly, the word "look out" is pronounced as "look eet". The boaglish alphabet does not contain the letters "i" or "g".
• A particular choice in motor vehicle. The bogan usually drives one of two makes of vehicle. Typically this is either a Holden or a Ford .
• Employment status. The common bogan is either a) not employed or b) a tradesman/labourer.
• A poorly-maintained house described as follows;
  The bedroom (for rootun).
  The balcony (for smokun/shootun).
  The livun room (for watchun telly/smokun/gettun pissed).
  The kitchen (for storun beer).
  The combined bathroom/laundry (for washun shit) .
  The shed (for rootun/smokun/shootun/gettun pissed/storun beer/workun on the commo).

Any how Love Stew

How low can you go

Shower Watch....99-10..Aussie shower gel shortage reaches epidemic proportions...God how the 'sheila's' must love the smell of ripe cheese. Still the soap is a good place to leave your money while your playing....







Australian 'Club' Cricketer explains himself....................... Gill arrives at the ground

Well as regular bloggers will know, I work alongside Jemma, the sister of Justin Langer and I wanted to pay tribute to Justin, who will retire at the end of the Sydney Test. Especially as I have given Jemma some almighty stick..(Putting pictures of Freddie above her desk. Union Flags on the walls....etc...) Jemma has taken everything in the great Aussie way and She has certainly had the last laugh.

Justin Langer said that the timing’s right for him to hang up his boots. Speaking about Australia’s unexpected win in Adelaide, he said:

“I just wonder how it can get better than that? Everyone keeps saying ‘you’ll know when it’s time’. Well, at one o’clock two days ago I knew it was time - it just came to me.”

Langer is Australia’s warrior, and that gritty, hard-nosed determination will certainly be missed. He scored 3 double hundreds in his career, 23 centuries, and together with his good mate Matt Hayden was one of the most potent opening partnerships the game has ever known. He contemplated retirement after copping a heavy blow to the head from Makhaya Ntini last February, but, like Shane Warne, the desire to win back the Ashes was so strong that he had to continue on until the precious urn was back in Australian hands.... Then again he may have heard about the emerging talent of a certain 40 year old Pom from Perth...Lets face it I could get a duck as easily as Geraint Jones....


Anyhow the Ashes ain't over yet......

The cricketing world has been quick to heap universal condemnation upon the leaking of a photocopy of Australia’s bowling tactics for the current Ashes series. An A4 sheet handed to journalists purports to detail the Australian team’s plan for combating the formidable English batting lineup. Said Sky Sport’s Ian Botham: ‘This is the sort of information the Australian team wouldn’t want their opponents to know. It will probably swing the series back in favour of the tourists and I’d say that the battle for the Ashes is back on again.’

Meanwhile, the Australian team have lodged a complaint with match officials. ‘We’ll have to rethink our whole selection policy,’ said captain Ricky Ponting, who went on to hint at the immediate dropping of Shane Warne from the team. ‘Now the English team know our tactics, Warney is clearly of no use to us now, we may have to draft in Dame Edna and Kylie’ Ricky 'Butch' Ponting confirmed.

The English dressing room has been quick to deny suggestions that they hope to gain any advantage from the leak. ‘We won’t be responding to this in any way,’ said Duncan Fletcher. ‘Speaking for the team, we’ll be out there are usual tomorrow morning, playing the same high standard of Test Match cricket we’re known for and putting our faith in our usual opening pairing Prince Edward and Sir Elton John.