Head Space Daily Words...

The wonder of Test Match Special returned to our radio today, filling our kitchen and dining room with the third day of England's first home test match of the season against New Zealand at Lord's. The show is so quintessentially English it would never translate into any other country's culture. For those of you that have never listened, or don't follow cricket, the programme consists of former cricket players and the hilariously posh Henry Blofeld, randomly wandering from one obscure topic to another. Each of the commentators, presenters and summarisers has a nickname, which is generally an abbreviation of their surname. Today, the poetic 'Blowers' described the "nodding horse chestnut trees" around Lord's, before discussing the game of conkers with Micheal Vaughan aka 'Vaughnie.' Geoffrey Boycott or 'Boycs,' recounted a story of Pavarotti singing opera in his speedos, whilst standing in the sea, off a Jamaican beach. We learnt about Beethoven and semaphore from the guest New Zealand commentator and the cheeky Essex boy, Phil Tuffnell or 'Tuffers,' couldn't resist a pun on Joe Root's surname, by chucking in a Root 66 gag, when the player had scored that number of runs. Jonathan Agnew, known as 'Aggers' and the main presenter, beautifully described the noise of the crowd as "the lovely Lord's hum." In amongst all this humorous chat, wonderful anecdote and talk about food, cardigans and footwear, is some commentary on the actual cricket itself. My boys and me are off to Lord's tomorrow, so we will be able to experience it first hand. Can't wait. Just hope the weather holds out...