IT'S D-DAY! For all the partners and families who have been without their beloved Aussie cricketers for the last month or more, we finally get to join them at the team hotel in Nottingham. It's already been a massive couple of weeks for Australian Cricket - the most notable event being the implementation of a new coach a fortnight out from the start of the series - but with the first Ashes Test still days away, things are only just starting to heat up.
Romy and I arrived at the team hotel yesterday after spending the last few weeks staying with various friends around south-west England. The boys were still in Worcester playing day four of their second tour match and weren't expected to arrive in Nottingham until after dinner. As I fumbled my way into the hotel foyer with multiple suitcases, a pram and a wriggly ten-month-old, I noticed two large trucks parked at the front of the hotel unloading what turned out to be the team's personal suitcases (collected from the previous hotel in Worcester earlier in the day).
Trevor, Cricket Australia's Liaison Officer told me there were just under 100 bags in those two 'advance party' trucks, all weighing a minimum of 25 kilograms each. Bear in mind that this doesn't include the additional 18 cricket 'coffins' the boys were still using in Worcester AND an estimated 15 or so massive bags full of coaching and physio equipment that was still to accompany the team on the bus. All I can say is that along with the masses of gear I've been lugging around for Romy, Ed and myself of late, I'm pretty happy NOT to be the concierge at our hotel right now!
I've no doubt the boys are excited to be reunited with their loved ones this weekend but I'm especially excited to see each and every one of their loved ones too! The reality for me is that it's been an incredibly tough couple of weeks. I've been living out of home for almost four months now without any family or friends to act as my support network which was manageable when we had a temporary house to settle into. But now that we're moving around every couple of days and as a virtually single-parent most of the time, having to unpack and repack everything we own while juggling an over-active and often-needy infant has been challenging to say in the least.
I see my tour buddies (perhaps even unbeknownst to them) as my emotional and physical support network, so as you may imagine I'm aching to see them. They're my friends. They're our 'travelling family'. And I have no doubt that Romy will also be ecstatic to have their company rather than that of her exhausted and grumpy mother 24/7.
Romy and I arrived at the team hotel yesterday after spending the last few weeks staying with various friends around south-west England. The boys were still in Worcester playing day four of their second tour match and weren't expected to arrive in Nottingham until after dinner. As I fumbled my way into the hotel foyer with multiple suitcases, a pram and a wriggly ten-month-old, I noticed two large trucks parked at the front of the hotel unloading what turned out to be the team's personal suitcases (collected from the previous hotel in Worcester earlier in the day).
Trevor, Cricket Australia's Liaison Officer told me there were just under 100 bags in those two 'advance party' trucks, all weighing a minimum of 25 kilograms each. Bear in mind that this doesn't include the additional 18 cricket 'coffins' the boys were still using in Worcester AND an estimated 15 or so massive bags full of coaching and physio equipment that was still to accompany the team on the bus. All I can say is that along with the masses of gear I've been lugging around for Romy, Ed and myself of late, I'm pretty happy NOT to be the concierge at our hotel right now!
I've no doubt the boys are excited to be reunited with their loved ones this weekend but I'm especially excited to see each and every one of their loved ones too! The reality for me is that it's been an incredibly tough couple of weeks. I've been living out of home for almost four months now without any family or friends to act as my support network which was manageable when we had a temporary house to settle into. But now that we're moving around every couple of days and as a virtually single-parent most of the time, having to unpack and repack everything we own while juggling an over-active and often-needy infant has been challenging to say in the least.
I see my tour buddies (perhaps even unbeknownst to them) as my emotional and physical support network, so as you may imagine I'm aching to see them. They're my friends. They're our 'travelling family'. And I have no doubt that Romy will also be ecstatic to have their company rather than that of her exhausted and grumpy mother 24/7.
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| The Cowan family at Sydney airport in April, bound for the UK |
