Middlesex v Yorkshire day four – match report

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Ged writes:

It was a beautiful sunny day, the London Underground was on strike and I had arranged to work from home.  I thought it would be a good idea to head over to Lord’s, catch some of the cricket and catch up with an increasingly large pile of background reading. The office staff more than understood.

I had a conference call scheduled for 10am and a few other bits and pieces of work to get out of the way before heading off. The call went as planned, but a few other bits and pieces came in while I was on the call. By 12.30pm, I realised that any thought of the morning session was futile, other than grabbing a quick bite of lunch at home and listening to that last half hour before lunch on the Internet radio while I ate.

The walk from my front door to the Grace Gate takes me 37 minutes, give or take one minute or so.  That makes me 10% faster than Google Maps’ (other route planning apps are available) expectations. Conveniently, if I leave home as soon as the umpires call lunch, I know from experience that I can get to Lord’s on foot just before the resumption.

As I arrived at Lord’s, one of the female stewards said: “Hello, nice to see you. Hurry up, they’re just about ready to start,” as if the officials and players had been waiting for my arrival. I grabbed a seat at the sunny end of the Warner just in time. I soon relocated to the Grandstand for a while, before moving on to catch the end of the session in the Pavilion.

I read some stuff on big data. I also pondered three philosophical questions on ethics in financial services, the answer to all of which, sadly, was almost certainly no. I watched some cricket. I chatted briefly with some Middlesex friends before walking home.

I spent roughly as much time walking as I spent at cricket.  It certainly was worth it.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

16 comments

  1. Outstanding piece full of magnificently tedious detail. Perfect aperitif for a day of meetings and team-building exercises. Thanks Ged.

  2. Thanks so much for the kind words, folks.

    Ceci – I’d particularly like to add an extract from yours to my list of testimonials.

    “…magnificently tedious detail” will sit very nicely alongside:-

    “surprisingly funny considering it is written by a couple of accountants” – for the first book, and

    “crazy but worth your attention” – for the most recent book.

    Bert – should I attribute “lovely stuff” to you or to Michael Barratt?

    1. I searched Amazon for Ged Ladd. Couldn’t find a thing. The closest was this one:

      http://amzn.to/1iV5Fya

      Questions:

      1. Are you George Eldon Ladd?
      2. Is “Gospel of the Kingdom” accounting language for “Truckloads of Money”?
      3. The first review says it is a book every Christian should read. Given I am not one, should I still read it?

      The other conclusion would be that Ged Ladd isn’t your real name. But that is too preposterous for me to contemplate.

    2. Other sources of “hilariously sophisticated stuff” can also be procured, of course.

      Contains excellent material for team-building exercises, though-but, Ceci.

      Also available on Kindle at a ridiculously low price:

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Business-Cuisine-Michael-Mainelli-ebook/dp/B00B7LB4P6/ref=la_B005OHCNKE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401892741&sr=1-2

      I’m probably not the one whose Amazon Central photo looks like an older version of the Ged Ladd icon tossing a cricket ball – that would be too obvious, Daneel.

    1. The fourth wall has never been much of a wall in my case.

      More like a fourth shoji screen or even a fourth net curtain.

  3. No post on your other site yet on what a monumental bellend Chris Froome is?

    1. Thank goodness you showed up, KC. Some of us were starting to think that you’d abandoned your loyal subjects.

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