Thursday, April 03, 2008

An Evening at The Cricket

So I know this post is later than usual ... but I'm just not in the right mood for sharing this morning. It has not been a fabulous 24 hours and even tho everything has been resolved, it's that kinda aftermath where the feeling of hopelessness kicks in (or is that just me?). I swear, when I first moved to Jhb, it took me 3 months to find a job and I fell into a depression like 3 days after I got one. It's like your body & mind keep things even keel until it's safe for you to really break down. Because if it happened before then, then nothing would come right. I've also experienced the same sort of thing when I'd fallen really badly on some rocks and I was all alone. I only broke into tears and felt the pain when I got back to my family at our beach cottage (after a walk up the grassy hill) and I knew someone else could look after me which meant that I could then collapse and not have to be strong. Weird, huh?

Anyway, so I'm hoping that's what this is ... well, a minor version of it because to be fair nothing too terrible has happened.

I got home to find our gushing river replaced by a mud-slick. The problem had been fixed, not an unimpressive task. Admittedly they happened to leave our house's water switched off, but we set that right this morning in time to miss the shower at the gym!

And then it was off to The Kaboom Room at Supersport Park in Centurion (practically Pretoria!) for the Pro20 cricket. Now I can't find much on the Kaboom Room online so let me explain ... because I didn't know what it was before yesterday either. And aside from the Free Drinks, I wouldn't bother to be going again. Standard Bank has set up their Kaboom Room on the grassy knoll (The best place to be at Supersport Park, the same does not apply at Wanderers). Essentially it is a tent with minor elevation and they provide you with branded outdoor chairs - which we sadly did not get to keep :( Now this might sound like an almost ideal way to watch the cricket ... especially since you have your own free bar with no queue (the Kaboom Room fits *maybe* 30 people max and it wasn't full yesterday) But sadly the tent is rather ill-suited to cricket watching and our view was regularly impaired. After almost every big shot, people were craning their necks in order to see the replay on the screen or the scoreboard (even tho there was a 2nd scoreboard opposite us, it's numbers were barely legible). And they did provide the promised snacks in the form of a half-time snack-packet. A brown paper bag with a burger, a salad (no dressing), an apple and an Energy Bar. But, most people were eating from the outside stalls well before half time.

Oh, and there was *no* atmosphere inside the tent. Every time I spoke to Varen I felt I should be whispering as if in a cinema (although I do NOT talk in the cinema, but for those of you who insist on doing it, I wish you would whisper!!) So, yeah, not an all round fabulous experience. And this was increased by the fact that it wasn't the most entertaining game of cricket (although that hat-trick of wickets by the Cobras was damn impressive!). We left shortly before the end and enjoyed a traffic-free drive back home to Joburg. Hell, I still don't even know who won ... but if it wasn't the Cobra's I'd be rather surprised!

Sadly the evening was further ruined by bickering between Varen & myself (or rather plenty of not speaking to each other). Sigh. So all that along with a minor lack of sleep has left me in this blue funk this morning.

Oh, and the SA Blog Awards were held in Cape Town last night (I'm guessing fate was trying to even the score of my inability to attend by allowing me to win the tickets to the Kaboom Room). Sadly I didn't win, but that wasn't terribly surprising. Thanks for the support shown by all of you who did vote for this blog tho :)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why in heavens name would one move to Jhb, for the money?

phillygirl said...

@bob - Truthfully? It was originally for a boy (shock, horror!), Bean. Now I stay for a boy (Varen).

Even more truthfully I am slowly trying to connive a move back to Cape Town (with him in tow) next year. Sigh, 4 years is a long time to be away from my family.

Anonymous said...

Wow. It must be so hard living so far away from them. I'm sorry you had a crap day, it's horrible feeling that way. **HUGE HUGS**

phillygirl said...

@jane - thanks, hon.

Bellinda said...

Hi Phillygirl,

We're disappointed that you didn't have a great time in the Kaboom Room - but your comments have been very useful.

The Kaboom Room is situated in the best stadium position given practical limitations of surrounding space, elevation, the slopes, etc. so the “best location” will always be a matter of opinion – some people LOVE being square onto the wicket, others hate it (as an example).

We also noticed the rather sterile environment in Centurion - (the home team losing didn’t help matters) and from today (starting with Bloem), the sound will be linked directly to the main DJ Tower. Lighting has already been added in the roof and it will flash in sequence as 4’s, 6’s and wickets happen.

Our logistics and event activation team is in Bloem and will monitor the effect of the changes that have been made.

We will also hand out the catering in over 5 of the first innings and see if that improves things.

Thanks for the comments, please keep them coming!

Regards,
Bellinda Edge

Standard Bank
Online Marketing

phillygirl said...

@bellinda - I am actually quite impressed that someone from Standard Bank's marketing took the time to a) read the review and b) leave a constructive comment.

I appreciate the feedback and am thrilled to hear that you guys are going to try and make improvements for the next game :) I'm not sure how long the Kaboom Room has actually been up & running ... so perhaps it is currently a bit of a "work in progress". In which case, I'm sure the experience will improve greatly because of your taking our experiences into account and equally because you are clearly keeping your ears to the ground :)

Thumbs up to Standard Bank's Marketing for this one!

Bellinda said...

@Phillygirl - thanks for the support.

Yip - the Kaboom Room is new this season and we will always be looking to improve it. Your comments were great.

Since your initial comments in SuperSport Park the Kaboom Room has been significantly improved from a sound and lighting perspective – definitely adding more vibe to the environment.

From Durban last night, the Kaboom Room had plasma screens inside feeding directly off the replay screen content, adding further immediate value to the “Kaboom Roomers”.

Catering is still “basic” but has been handed out earlier – to greater effect.

Thanks again for helping us improve. Hope to see you at another game soon!

Regards

Bellinda Edge

Online Marketing
Standard Bank

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