Is this guy a cabaret act or England's new wicketkeeper? Read on...

Wow! That was some long weekend.

Thursday and Friday were spent sobbing into my low alcohol beer at the Sydney Cricket Ground as England contrived a swift and humiliating finale to the Ashes series. Not sure what I can say about this other than what you will have already read if you’re interested, other than Australia were obviously the better team but England were still pretty shameful. The wrong team were picked, the players were lackadaisical and the attitude all round gave us no chance. I’m reluctant to use terms like “moral strength” or “lack of character” in sport but if they can ever be applied, it's with this shambles.

It was great to be at the ground, though, especially for the final day for both McGrath and Warne. Great players both and Warne is surely the most important player of my lifetime. Hats off.

Saturday was Mum’s birthday, so we made it a big one. First up we went for a walk around Bradley’s Head and Clifton Gardens on Sydney Harbour. I can’t believe we’ve never been there before – the views are the best of Sydney Harbour that I know, the path feels like proper bushland, and Clifton Gardens is like a beach only with less sand – perfect. The half-day has now been installed as a core component of the Goodfellow-Player Sydney tour (standard version).

In the evening we took in an excellent restaurant and followed it up with La Clique at the Sydney Festival. The show was a circus/burlesque treat featuring naked magicians, a midget belly dancer, strongmen, trapeze artists and so on. My favourite act was the hilarious contortionist comedy of Captain Frodo, but strangely M, Mum and Jenny all preferred the preposterously handsome German David O’Mer frolicking about in a bathtub. If you’re in Sydney this month, I heartily recommend it.

Mum’s heading home tomorrow – back to reality, as somebody once sang.