Pirates

22-6! First South Africa, then Australia, who's next? Pacific Islands, thats who.
Ah well, two out of the three southern hemisphere teams in one week aint bad.
Great match this morning, but what made it even better was watching it on the couch knowing it was 26 degrees outside (I know, cold by Cayman standards) whilst everyone in Landsdowne Road were freezing their nuts off!
Last night was the closing ceremony of Pirates Week. The centre of George Town was closed off to traffic, you could buy food and beer on the streets, there was a big stage set up beside Breezes, looking out at the bay, with a Caribbean band playing all night. 20 of us met up at 7:30 for dinner in Paradise Grill, watching the fireworks kick off at 8pm. After dinner, we headed backstage to the Digicel tent where, in true Irish tradition, we drunk the private bar dry (5 mins before the bar was due to close we literally bought everything they had left, including half a bottle of vodka and rum). Soon enough we were the only people left in George Town, but still thirsty at 1 in the morning, so we all headed back to ours for a party until 4 in the morning.
Sensing the inevitable yesterday afternoon, myself and Jill had cleaned the condo from top to bottom, stocked up the fridge with beer and wine, and had gone out and purchased our Christmas tree and lights. I know, only the 18th of November, but the actual tree we bought was the last one that the shop had left, we had to buy the display one! Christmas starts early around here!
Anyway, we dragged ourselves out of bed to watch the Australia game at 10 this morning, and are off to see Casino Royale tonight.
Next week I'm of to NYC, so will have an updated blog in about a week and half.
Few musical interludes now:
Killers: Sam's Town, still one of the album's of the year. Brilliant.
Faithless's new album: first listen suggests it is very good, some great songs, more rounded than their last album, but not perhaps as good as Outrospective.
U2's new Singles album: Two new songs, Window in the Skies definitely the better of the two. A great song.
The Beatles: Love album (the soundtrack to the new Cirque de Soleil Vegas show that pulls together a wide variety of classic Beatles song, using the original Abbey Road master tapes, mixing some songs in together to go with the lavish stage production). Excellent stuff. Only a few songs sound different, and not by much, but if you press play on track one, and let it just play through, it's excellent.
Damien Rice: 9. Slow burner, but a brilliant follow up to O. Track 6 is particularly brilliant and upbeat. First two songs are gems. Give it a few listens and it will really grow.

Rafter for now. Home in three and a half weeks. My nephew Gavin spoke to me on the phone during the week, have never heard him "speak" before. Looking forward to getting home for a few weeks, but first have to go to New York, see Fi and the lads, shop, and generally have a great weekend. Here's hoping anyway......