West

I'm heading out West on Sunday. Not very far west, it must be said. I'm not going to Idaho, or even the Bahamas. Just Oxfordshire. On one level this is a shame - I'm dying to get out of the country for a couple of weeks for a rest but I'm stuck here by a combination of rehearsals and lack of funds - but I am getting to play cricket on a very pretty ground in beautiful countryside, so it seems churlish to dwell too much on the fact that Barbados would be slightly more exciting.

If there's anything worrying me, it's the fact that this particular hillside is fairly exposed and faces east. Given the May we're having, there's a very real risk that there will be a gale from Siberia with a wind chill of -1 howling across the rape fields and rubbing our skin with icy cheese-graters. About 12 years ago I arrived at this ground on a dat so chill that the man at mid-off was wearing a ski-mask, like someone fielding for the UDA in the 1984 Northern Ireland inter-faction terrorists one-day final.

So wish me a westerly breeze. After all, it'll probably make it warmer for you, too.

technical entry for May 3