Saturday, February 24, 2007

Grrr... the problem with Rugby

"Little Miss Babe [that's what Mr Moi calls me], hurry up! We're leaving in 20 minutes."

I was greeted with these words this morning, while enjoying my blog visits with a 'cup of joe', as the Americans say.

"But I have to wash my haaaaiiirr," I yelled back.

"You don't have time," was his rejoinder (wow, I finally got to use that word in a sentence).

Okay, okay, so where is this dialogue going?

I have a problem with Rugby. Hitherto in my life, autumn and winter (i.e. March to August) have ping-ponged between normal, everyday life, and weekend sporting hell. Because Mr Moi is a sports freak.

I don't mind watching a few sports, but in winter, social activities are invariably organised around being in front of a telly at 2pm and 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays in order to catch the 'kick-off'. Of what sport, it really doesn't matter, but usually Aussie Rules or Rugby.

While somewhat painful, these fit nicely into my day - 2pm, I enjoyed some girl time, and 7pm we were socialising, so he had to miss out (on sport heh heh heh).

Now, flip those times to the opposite hemisphere halfway around the world, and you'll understand why Mr Moi pushed me out the door with dirty hair at 9am this morning. We had to get to the pub to watch the Super 14.

And because we're now in the Northern Hemisphere, and our friendly local Irish pub has Sky telly, I also get to watch the UK club rugby, the Six Nations, and the whole gamut of soccer: Premier League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Champions League and some other one, I'm sure.

We don't have Sky telly. So unlike when Mr Moi watched these sports in Australia and I pottered around the house, in Kyiv, I have to join him in the smoky pub if I want to spend time with him on the weekend.

Now... Before you start commenting in the vein of, "Girl, you gotta set down some rulz for your man," I'll leave you with this thought.

I don't work. It's minus 15 outside. I watch TV all day. I have three English language channels that repeat all their content over and over again. And when they've done that, they repeat all the content backwards. To be honest, I don't mind the sport.

I just wish I didn't have to have it for brekky. With dirty hair.

15 comments:

Barbara Norris said...

LOL! Wow, it sounds like you really need your blog for human contact!! Please feel free to chime in anytime. -15 WOW! I have a 14 year old Georgian girl for a voice student. She says Georgia is beautiful. However, she has not seen much of the US, so not much basis for comparison, and she LOVES the FL beaches. Me, I prefer the rocky coast of Maine.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo!!! The NAB cup has started, yippee! Living in NSW means I have to tape it as its shown around midnight.

Used to play League when I was a kid, but I walked away from it completely after they screwed Norths (my team), and then screwed Gosford (my town). I've been a Swans fan ever since. And no-one understands Rugby.

Apart from the temperature, we could swap lives and no-one would know the difference....

I don't work. It's 45 outside. I watch TV all day. I have three English language channels that repeat all their content over and over again. And when they've done that, they repeat all the content backwards, or play infomercials. (I actually cut and pasted your paragraph)

Anonymous said...

No, having dirty hair while socializing is definitely not ideal.

"Brekky." That's so cute! :)

Beccy said...

And England lost!

Don't watch rugby myself, or footy or any other sport except Wimbledon. Luckily I have a hubby who detests sport so we're very compatible.

Leann said...

I dont dig sports.hate football!!!my step father and his brother watched fallball all day on the weekends.me and my brother had nothing to do all weekend.we were lucky to get the TV.after living like that for a while I desided Id never marry someone who was a sports freak.life is too short to be tied to a TV watching sports.Id rather be out for a drive or taking pictures out in the wildreness,or reading a good book.

we are having one big winter storm here.we may get over two feet of snow before its all over.hope it isnt that bad cause my van will be buryed.and its not easy for me to clean it off.

have a nice weekend and God bless.

Anonymous said...

Hey hey hey you dooooo like Rugby (the football played in Heaven!!!) It must be so nice to be able to go and watch it in Kyiv - when there is not a lot of anything else to watch. Why worry about dirty hair- put on a beany!!! I watched the rugby bad luck Queensland!!! Gilly had a little boy yesty and called it Archie!!! He is ready and able for the World Cup!!! Go Gilly - nothing better than a dose of spoooort!!!

Brooke - Little Miss Moi said...

Dear luciluna. Thanks for the visit! I believe Georgia is very beautiful. Mr Moi and I flew over the Caucasus (we weren't supposed to, but that was a bit of a dodgy flight...) and they were stunningly huge. I'm sure she'll fall in love with America too.


Dear willowtree. Yeah I'll miss the AFL. We both love the Swans (after living in SYdney), then I'm a Lions fan, and he's a Dons fan. Rugby is becoming a real chick's sport in Oz - my mum and her friends love it, they take turns to have a piss-up when there's tests on telly. League - superleague and cheerleaders killed it for me. And whinging bunnies fans, ugghh!

Indeed we could swap lives. Except I don't have any furry people, so I eat food instead.


Dear Zandria. I would usually have covered the dirty hair with the red bandanna (see Fun Monday post), but I did that last time I went to the pub. So I put my hair into a ponytail, which, at about 1cm long, was probably a bit strange looking... And brekky! there's no other name for it :)


Dear beccy. Oh dear... I just checked the score - I hope no one pays you out the way Aussies pay out NZ-ers living in Oz when they lose something. We both like the tennis too, and like to play (tho we haven't here yet). Mr Moi doesn't realise how lucky he is to have a wife that doesn't spend money on makeup, AND mostly likes to watch sports with him! But bringing the whole soccer code, and six nations, into the viewing repertoire a little OTT...


Dear leann. Luckily, Mr Moi likes to play sport too, so he's not just in front of the telly all the time. And I can always persuade him to turn it off - he knows he gets about one match per weekend. I just don't like it impinging on my hair-wash and brekky routine :) I hope the storm stops soon - it's cold here at the moment, about minus 15 c, but it hasn't snowed for about two weeks so it's quite nice.


Mum - I didn't say I don't like the rugby. Just not in the morning. I can't leave my hat on my head while I'm sitting in a pub for three hours. And I think you just won the record for most exclamation marks in a comment :)

Anonymous said...

very similar lives we lead, Little Miss Moi. The season for American football finished a month ago. Before that - weekend !!nights!! (like 3 am to 5am) were reserved for some fun football watching. Mr. Olechko bought some kind of internet tv access that allowed him to cheer for his team in bed..

enidd said...

enid's really sorry she got flu and couldn't rescue you from the rugby at night.

the man doesn't like rugby, but he does like working too hard, which is worse because he can do it anytime he likes. like now. enid thinks he should be wiping her fevered brow and bringing her hot lemon drinks.

Anonymous said...

Golf clapping for your use of rejoinder. I don't understand rugby, don't plan to understand it, and I don't watch it (or much of anything else). A long while ago while I was in the UK I did go to a rugby match between England and Romania. My comrades thought they'd gotten us footie tickets but that's another story. We went out to Twickenham and watched England devastate Romania 134 to nil. Serious. It remains the biggest win they've ever had. (Wikipedia says so) I'm perfectly happy having that as my first and last experience with Rugby.

Sabrina said...

We watched our share of the Six Nations last night as Ireland SPANKED England! Yippee!! Now the country can go back to "normal" for a while! Coming from the land of American Football, I've decided that rugby is my favorite sport to watch. But I'm mostly not into watching sports, so. . .we'll see!!! And I TOTALLY do not understand it, but that's kind of fun! Ignorance is bliss?

Brooke - Little Miss Moi said...

Dear olechko. I feel your pain. I can't believe you have to suffer sports in bed! The only time I've done that is when the world cup soccer was on last year - there were some 1am and 5am starts for the Australians, but I quickly kicked Mr Moi out of the bedroom and into the living room. And the tour de france always starts around 10:30pm but the French scenery is nice to fall asleep to! I told Mr Moi about the internet TV card. His response? "I'll have to get one of those"... What have you started??


Dear enid. I hope you feel better. You're right about work and it being done anytime. The man really needs to get into the kitchen squeezing lemon and spooning honey into nice warm water for you. However, Friday night saw me fretting at the window until 3am because Mr Moi was at work on conference calls with half the planet earth. So I've got the best (worst?) of both worlds?


Dear uncle mark. I am so glad you noticed my very subtle use of the word rejoinder. Thank you, thank you, I am golf bowing. Or doing the tiger woods under-arm air punch, take your pick. I have to say that the English 134 rugby score is rather something - almost as good as the World Cup (rugby) match that I saw in Sydney - South Africa vs Georgia. It was about a million points to nil. But very fun to watch! Just a question... when you say 'footie' - do you mean soccer?


Dear Sabrina. Shhh about the football, beccy might get upset! he he he. I agree about rugby vs gridiron, I just don't get it at all. Rugby is OK to watch in Australia because we have a great commentator, Gordon Bray, who explains all the rules rather simply. I'm glad you liked the rubgy - at least you get to watch it from your own home!

Tracey said...

Rugby, football...hey, here in the US football is called soccer (and I don't know why, as American football players rarely use their feet...) The Grammar Nazi used to play soccer (football to the rest of the world) and it was always during the cold, wet spring, or the cold, wet fall/winter. Bleck.

Blogging with dirty hair is so much better.

Anonymous said...

Yes, soccer. Football is too easily confused for American Football - especially since I'm an American. Footie, on the other hand, was that slang term that I often heard and sometimes used while in the UK. A million to nil... that's something.

Brooke - Little Miss Moi said...

Dear Tracey. In australia, we have three types of footy (rugby union, rugby league and aussie rules) and we also have soccer. All the footy is played in winter - which is usually a balmy 20 degrees! And I thought I knew what cold was before i came here (no, I didn't really). I agree, blogging rather than football with dirty hair is much better. But dirty hair is really a bit yukky all round, and I have to learn to wash it earlier!


Dear uncle mark. OK I am a bit of a fibber. It wasn't a zillion to nil. I think your match was far more impressive, but, as I said, I'm a fibber. And a girl. So I like to erm... augment the truth, on occasion...