Shark attack!

Samedi dernier je suis allee voir mes petits Waratahs qui ont gagne contre les Sharks, qui comptent dans leurs rangs Frederic Michalak, oui, le monsieur des pubs McDo, bientot ce sera pour L'Oreal Men Color .. pauvre petit, il est sorti au bout de 10 minutes de jeu le genou meurtri.. c’est moche..

mais le match etait grandiose !! Des essais, du spectacle, pas de pluie et ma collection d’autographes qui s’agrandit.. Les Tahs sont 2eme au classement – derriere les Crusaders - sauf catastrophe on va jouer les ½ finales, a Sydney, ce serait formidable .. difficile de ne pas s’emballer et envisager une finale Crusaders contre Waratahs..

Anne-Ga, j'ai pense a toi hier en lisant cet article .. j'ai rate quelque chose! Finalement tu as peut etre raison, je devrais rentrer au bercail.. y'a pas qu'a Sydney qu'il se passe des trucs!.. et a Canberra aussi .. haha

A part ca.. RAS..

Sydney 'one of the greatest cities'

Sydney is one of the world's greatest cities, with residents finding it a "pleasant, clean and charming" place to live, new survey results show.

A global survey of urban lifestyle trends in 14 cities interviewed 8,500 people, 630 who live in Sydney. Results show the harbour city is among the top three of the world's "easy to live" cities, praised for low levels of population density and closeness to nature, with residents reporting they are optimistic and not very stressed.

The Veolia Observatory of Urban Lifestyles examined the relationship between city dwellers and the places where they live, questioning residents from Alexandria in Egypt, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Lyons (France), Mexico City, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Prague and Tokyo.

Chicago and Los Angeles were the other two cities ranked in the top three "easy to live" cities.
"The research found that Sydney is a pleasant city to live in," Veolia Environment, which conducted the survey, said in a statement.

"(Sydney) is clean, relatively quiet and liked by residents.

"Sydneysiders claim to be satisfied with their living conditions, housing and area. In particular, they appreciate the cultural and leisure activities the city offers, the diversity of the people, and have an above average opinion of the city's safety and cleanness."

Furthermore, survey respondents associated Sydney with the word "happiness".The survey found Mexico City "frightening", with residents reporting negative feelings about safety and urbanisation.Tokyo was labelled "cold", appreciated for its convenience but lacking friendliness.
In Australia, surveys were conducted with people living in the City of Sydney, aged between 15 and 70.

Je synthetise pour ma non-anglophone preferee (c'est-à-dire ma momette)... un sondage sur la vie urbaine realise dans 14 villes (Alexandrie en Egypte, Pekin, Berlin, Chicago, Londres, LA, Lyon, Mexico City, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Prague et Tokyo), aupres de 8500 personnes (dont 630 a Sydney) agees de 15 a 70 ans, revele que Sydney est la troisieme ville au monde ou il fait bon vivre (apres Chicago et Los Angeles - ????!!!). Ses habitants se disent optimistes et peu stresses, satisfaits de leurs conditions de vie. On y est proche de la nature, on s’y cultive et on s’y active.

Vous savez quoi ? Je ne suis pas d’accord ! Sydney devrait etre #1 ! Mais c’est vrai qu’on s’y sent bien, avec la baie, les plages, le cricket, les Waratahs, etc… Mais au moins les lyonnais ils ont de la rosette...eux.

Je ressemble a une celebrite

http://www.myheritage.com/celebrity-collage

A qui vous ressemblez, vous? Moi, pas besoin de ce truc pour savoir que je suis un melange de …Juliette Binoche, Punky Brewster, Nana Mouskouri

The lighter side of finance

Now that I am a working girl in the finance industry, I have become an avid reader of the Financial Times … ???!!!... OK.. OK.. only on Thursdays… and I only read the Dear Lucy column…v funny! Check it out for yourself...

Lucy Kellaway also happens to be a writer.. I highly recommend Who moved my Blackberry, it’s hilarious..

I'm smiling at you

Lloyd Jones - The Book of Fame

This novel is based on the 1905 New Zealand rugby tour of Britain, when the All Blacks achieved huge success, winning thirty-three matches, losing only one against Wales. Everywhere they went, the crowds followed.


Our first points on English soil came within three minutes of the start. Fred clears from a scrum to Billy Stead, a sweet transfer to Jimmy Hunter. Jimmy runs hard at the defensive line; the Devon men try to wrap him up but Jimmy's legs keep pumping and that's when we first saw the alarm on the faces of the Devon players. You saw the Devon men back on their heels, hands in the air. Jimmy was supposed to fall over. Every other player they wrapped up falls over. They weren't used to Jimmy's civil disobedience. But a horse wouldn't have stopped Jimmy. Behind his maddening release of energy were six weeks at sea, hours of shipboard training, hours spent imagining such a moment as this, through ice storms and tropical heat. Jimmy spins free, as easy as passing through a revolving door and goes over near the posts for Billy Wallace to convert. That was just the beginning. George Smith crossed for four tries. Carbine got three. George Gillett went over for a try with one hand holding on to the brim of his sun hat. We scored twelve tries in all and were up by fifty points before Devon answered with a penalty goal.

[...]

'The first impression of the New Zealanders was interesting. Their whole costume is black. Black jersey with a silver fern leaf, black knickers, black stockings and boots. One funny item was that the whole team came out in pink elastic knee bandages and anklets which had a very peculiar effect…'

[...]

Throughout the night, at railway stations across England, men, women, and children waited up to cheer us as the train came through. They lined up the station platform and threw their hats in the air. Nodding in and out of sleep, we woke to cheers and urged one another to our feet for another haka. Then as the train sought the darkness of the countryside we fell back into our seats and pulled our hats over our faces and tried to sleep.

The demise of cricket?

It’s got everyone talking at the le moment: the Indian Premier League (a twenty-over per side cricket competition). The purists loathe it but let’s face it… Twenty 20 is fun to watch and once again I was up in the middle of the night these past few days to watch my beloved sport! For the next month or so, this is how it’s going to be.

After the “busy” summer the Indian and Aussie players had, I think it’s great to see them play for the same team (especially Ponting and Ganguly, it’s priceless) and a few others from NZ / SA/ SL all mixed together. McCullum was on fire, M Hussey v Lee was a treat!

How about the legends like McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist in action for a little bit longer? Brilliant! And if the players can make a few (big) bucks along the way, I say why not??

The big question is though .. what will happen to test cricket and ODIs if players know that Twenty 20 is more lucrative?? It’s not worth speculating about what’s going to happen, only time will tell. Yes, some will say test cricket is boring, but they don't know what they are talking about, one-day games are awesome and Twenty 20 is fun!

Another season of IPL next year? Bring it on!

Thank goodness it's Friday

This time, I'm not going anywhere fancy .. though it would have been nice, just to forget this horrendous week. Anything work-related put me in a not-so-very-good mood and to quote one of my favourite expressions in French "tout me courait sur le haricot"... grrr!

To make matters worse, I've been deserted by my good buddy Lionel, who's gone back to France.. the cheek!

Anyway.. a bit of R&R&R (rest, read and rugby Waratahs v Lions - yay!) should do the trick, with a little help from my favourite Anonymous friend who will entertain me tonight!

I'm smiling at you