Well, big Lazza Dallydraws may have thought that we played like a pub team but I thought we gave it a jolly good run in the end. The win over the Aussies was by far the highlight for me, and despite Lazza hardly getting on the pitch for the whole tournament ( I wonder if that had anything to do with his comments at all?) he did at least provide my everlasting memory of colonial domination - Aussies on their knees paying homage to the biggest and the best - priceless! Of course, the Aussies got their own back in the final by have their video ref denying a clear English try - sheep rustlers all of them!
Well done to the Saffers (Fiona - I count you as a token Saffer now) and well done to Jake White who will now come and run the England set-up for a bit. He has made it clear that he only wants the England job - the country that has made it to 3 out of 6 World Cup finals now. A shame in some ways because I thought bumbling old Uncle Brian could have got some good stuff out of our best players - big Lazza and Catty didnt think so though.
October must have been a busy month as I haven't got around to updating you all on the Dumbrell's movements. The missus wrote about Dubai so I won't bore you with that again - go have a read of http://www.kagsie.blogspot.com/. Skiiing in the middle of the desert was a bit weird though.
We all managed to get away to The Maldives this month and meet up with the Fieldsend troupe. 
The highlight for me was the cricket match Alex and Jake started up in the staff area of the resort. Alex had brought along a ball from the UK and walked through the staff quarters - once the maintenance team caught sight of it, I would say that in less than 11 seconds, a full cricket pitch stumps and all had been set up and Alex was fending off beamers from a slightly manic looking Bangledeshi plumber. 15 minutes later Alex had tested the chasing skills of all 38 Bangledeshi maintenance men that had gathered to field at mid wicket and to gaze in wonder at the two mini Mathew Hoggard's.
The highlight for me was the cricket match Alex and Jake started up in the staff area of the resort. Alex had brought along a ball from the UK and walked through the staff quarters - once the maintenance team caught sight of it, I would say that in less than 11 seconds, a full cricket pitch stumps and all had been set up and Alex was fending off beamers from a slightly manic looking Bangledeshi plumber. 15 minutes later Alex had tested the chasing skills of all 38 Bangledeshi maintenance men that had gathered to field at mid wicket and to gaze in wonder at the two mini Mathew Hoggard's.
The second highlight was watching Jon fall out of his kayak, tipping young Jake into the sea having been attacked by the Karen\Conor dreadnought. Safe to say the look on Jake's face when he realised it was his Dad's lack of agility that had put his life at risk was priceless. Luckily he was standing in the 3 feet of water in the lagoon around the island as he scowled with filial rage at the contrite kayak-wobbler.
Dolphin watching, scuba diving, snorkelling, massages, eating, drinking, and down right being merry took up the rest of our time, and as you can imagine took a lot out of us. Take a look at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/6897712. We have booked a few days in Goa over Diwali to try and relax!
Just before we left for Medufushi, Conor took his next step on the road to super stardom with a part in the Indian version of the film Goal!. It stars a few of the biggies, Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc along with a new kid on the scene - one Conor Dumbrell!
When I say star I do of course mean that Conor dubbed 3 lines of dialogue in his best, plummy English accent for the English subtitles to this Hindi film. He says he enjoyed it - and by God he earned money!As you can imagine I very much want this trend to continue - I have pencilled in
an early retirement based on his success as THE top English dubber in the Indian film industry - as they knock out more films here in Mumbai than in Hollywood, I have estimated that by February I will have no more need to troop off to work every morning - keep your fingers crossed for me!
an early retirement based on his success as THE top English dubber in the Indian film industry - as they knock out more films here in Mumbai than in Hollywood, I have estimated that by February I will have no more need to troop off to work every morning - keep your fingers crossed for me!Having sunned herself in an island paradise, Karen is finding the coffee morning circuit most tiring, and the fluffing of all these American millionairesses a real pain the *ss. However, I have eased her burden by managing to convince the BBC Iplayer website that we are in fact in the UK, and that we can in fact download old BCC stalwarts like Easties, Spooks and Raven: The Secret Temple. Any of you colonials that want to know how - just drop me a line and we can discuss more privately.
I will fleetingly mention the debacle occuring at Spurs right now. I thought chubby, cheery Martin Jolly was at least a straight talking man. He was dumped on and I am not proud. However, we have ended up with a top class manager who must have been promised considerable funds to recover the playing fortunes of this otherwise gargantuan club. Let the purchasing begin!I predict a Top 6 finish and a Cup final appearance - not sure which one but one at least.
For the rest of this year, Mumbai falls into a melee of festival celebrations that takes the pain out of having to turn up for work. Diwali - the Hindu equivalent of Christmas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali - has kicked in already but doesn't actually happen until 10/11. We then have Thanksgiving, and then the build up to Christmas - although only 3% of India's population is Christian the lights for Diwali stay up for Christmas and the paartaying continues through November and December for all the Indians - Christian or Hindu - one of the real benefits of globalisation!
We have agreed to stay in Mumbai until the end of June 2008 which fits very well with Conor's school year. Staying on means that we get to come home to good ol' Blighty this year to deck the halls with boughs of holly. Will be in the UK for 23rd December and we fly out of Heathrow on 12 January. We have lots to do but Chris has yet to organise a Jolly Boys trip to somewhere grim up North, or at worst somewhere serving Guiness down South - can't wait to see where we end up.
With more time in Mumbai, we want to extend an invitation to any of you of want to come visit, or want to come re-visit. Karen wants to take you along to some coffee mornings.
Namaste
Dumbers
