Chad Van Gaalen

Beautiful things can come out of a basement in Calgary:

Willow Tree (mp3)

They wore whites!

Cricket whites! Vivid against still green grass with yellow leaves falling from a bright blue sky.

For the first time ever, I saw cricket live today, and it was astoundingly beautiful. In Riley Park they play every summer weekend, but normally I work weekends, so I've never been able to get over there to watch. Today I had the day off, and in spite of my bed calling "sleeeeeeeeeeep", I dragged myself over there. (It's an epic transit ride, especially when the LRT is down for maintenance.)

I knew I'd made the right decision when the red ball rolled over the boundary line straight towards me to just a meter away from my feet as I walked up. If I hadn't slowed down I could have picked it up before the fielder. I was afraid I'd accidently crossed into the field! But there was a park bench still in front of me, and the painted boundary line was just a foot or two in front of that. I spent the afternoon blissed out, mostly from that bench, for a while in the shade on another, a few times teary-eyed at the pure joy of watching it all. Two matches were going on, one in front of me on the large field, one just off to the side and behind on the smaller one. I was too far away from either scoreboard to track those details, but that didn't matter. I was there to watch — and listen to — the play.

The little things surprised and delighted me:
• The non-striking batsman really does stand in that classic leaning pose, lounging on his bat while waiting for the bowler to throw. So elegant!
• They really do shout like crazy for a call from the umpire. Once the fieldser in front of me and I both heard what sounded like the ball hitting a pad. He started to shout! But then none of his teammates joined in, so he let it die. But that batsman was walking funny afterwards, I'm sure of it.
• They really do polish the ball on their....thighs.
• Freaking seagulls, they really are stupid! We're 1000 km inland, over the Rockies!, not even a lake to be seen for god knows how far, and still there were seagulls wandering around the field.
• Batsmen really do swipe the grass with their bats when they take that walk away from the pitch after losing a wicket. Is there any walk so lonely and so long?
• As bizarre as the names already are for the fielding positions, they really could be stranger yet. Cover and mid wicket (I think; I'm still not 100% on these, and I was flying solo) should be called rabbit and squirrel, they way the leap and dash about after the ball. I saw some amazing catches, though. And no gloves, of course, except for the wicket keeper. Very strange from a baseball/hockey/etc. perspective. My hands still sting in sympathy.
• They have a batting cage. Surprised me! Don't know why it did. More of an alley, really, but well of course they do.
• This is either the slowest fast game or the fastest slow game in the world. Nothing happens nothing happens nothing happens and then wooshbangwhoaomgwhoopswow and relax. I caught fielders of each game watching the other match in progress instead of their own at times.


So many wonderful, gorgeous moments, but I think I had two favourites:

On one field, a batsman popped up a fly ball so easy that even I could have caught it. The fielders were jeering and hooting, and I expected the poor guy to stomp off the ground in humiliation. But he just took off his helmet, grinned, tried a bit of an explanation to his teammates (yummy British accent), and finally just laughed, while he walked off the field.

On the other field, after a wicket where the pegs went flying, there was a moment when the umpire was holding the stumps while the batsman pounded them into the ground again. Of course, this batsman's job after that would be to protect them. I wondered what he was thinking while he bashed them down. Against the western sun, he looked fiercely intent.


(Monday Update:
I've figured out I was watching the Star XI Vs Glenmore (I) on the small field. I think it was Stuart Robinson who popped that easy one. The results aren't up yet for the large field, but it was the Crown Vs Cavaliers (I) scheduled.)

Carrot or Stick

Calgary commuters going green, says study

Calgary residents may still love their cars, but more are walking, cycling or taking transit downtown than are driving, according to a new study by the city.

The report shows 55 per cent of morning commuters arrive on foot, bike or transit. That's up from less than 40 per cent a decade ago, said John Hubble, the city's transportation manager.

"The community has put a lot of investment into public transportation and I think these numbers validate that investment and they show that we are on the right track," he said.

[snip]

"Colleen McCracken, a spokeswoman with local environmental group Sustainable Calgary, said people are ditching their cars because they are too expensive to run, parking is expensive and traffic is terrible.

"I am not sure if the city can take credit for this in their policies, but I think people are changing and it's up to the city to catch up to that change."

This would all have happened a lot sooner if we'd been paying the true monetary cost of being a fossil fuel society.

I've lived here since 1992 and never owned a car. Only three things can momentarily make me wish I had one: missing a bus (and thus knowing I'll not catch the connections and be late for an appointment. Happened yesterday with the bus pulling away from the corner as I was crossing the street to get to it. Bastard driver, who idled there for minutes before the light changed, saw me running to get to it, I know it!), wanting to go to Banff for the afternoon, or needing to lug home a purchase from IKEA.