Cricket and Ships

Not quite sure what I've been getting up to over the last week or so !

Wait. I know ... Lots of cricket watching mixed with lots of internet spaceships. England narrowly drew today against the Aussies with a very scary fast bowler emerging on the scene.

There we go. Perfect pic for the thumbnail.

It's been a while since I actually played the cricket but I still have a few of the memories. Perhaps mental scars even. I definitely didn't enjoy seeing Steve Smith hit yesterday by what was nearly literally a death ball. Because he turned his head away*, the ball missed the area that the helmet protects and got him on the side of the neck probably close to the vital weak spot that caused the death of Phil Hughes a couple of years ago.

*This is most certainly NOT a criticism of Steve Smith, more a recognition of human behaviour. I suspect that we'll all break from training and conditioning after being hit in the head by a cricket ball once and unconsciously attempt to avoid the blow by turning the head away when it's actually better to look right at the ball and let the helmet or grill take the blow. But that rational thought definitely doesn't come into play the second time you're hit in the head by a cricket ball.

I've actually been hit in the noggin three times by a cricket ball. The first was the Nose Job, which was nasty (and scary in after thought) enough considering I wasn't wearing a helmet. The second was a similar incident, where the ball hit the grill at the side of the helmet where it attaches. I can remember batting out the innings in dangerous conditions (with a dangerous fast bowler in the opposition who mangled the keeper's fingers too), anchoring our side to a comfy win, watching the guys at the other end bash runs. And then I was nearly sick in the changing room after the game.

I rarely actually get that kind of sick, unless there's alcohol involved ... in which case watch out.

(My third hit on the head saw it hit me in the gob, doesn't count though as an avoidance or not incident though because the circumstances meant that I barely saw it until OUCH).

But yeah, having that kind of injury and the aftermath of it does something to your mindset and I was relieved that after having Nose Job 2 to straighten my nose, I got the chance to bat again before the end of the season and put the potential psychological demons to bed.

One thing I'll say though to conclude this part of the post though, if someone you know has had a head injury, keep an eye on them. They probably don't know whether it's affecting them more than they realise, I certainly didn't realise how badly Nose Job 1 affected my memory until years later. And my memory is still affected 16 years later.

Spaceships time !

Last time saw my ship blasting off from an icy planet with blue canyons ...

I've since been to some rather rugged locations;

Had some close encounters with spaceborne organisms. (As always, click for bigger with these).

Generally racing around the galaxy partly powered by the boosts off Neutron Stars like this one. There is a cost here though, the last 40,000 light years were blighted by having to periodically wait for "FSD Malfunction" to sort itself out.

There was an occasional stop to look back at the full glory of the galaxy. This was while nearing Magellan's Star at the Eastern edge of our galaxy.

Another rugged planetary location. The screenshot is titled "Next stop Edge of Galaxy" (.jpg). Spoiler ... I didn't actually get there because there wasn't a suitable route though. In Elite, the ships get around by making hyperspace hops from star to star but there is a limit to how far the hops can be. In Chrissa's New Potato, I could go 62 light years in a hop. In my current ship, it's more like 22 with cargo, or 28 without. More on the new ship later.

Ship was getting as tatty on the outside as the hyperdrive was getting on the inside, so it was well past time to head home. While peeking at the local nebulae of course.

Also nebula. And a little bit of far off civilisation. A quick stop off for repairs (and fresh paint) and we're off again.

Finding spooky locations in space ....

And a crashed ship in the same system. But ...

It became time for the Potato to be retired to a very special hangar. That's Jameson Memorial in the background, which is only accessible in game to pilots who have gained an Elite ranking and I'm there for Exploration now.

That's the Black Sheep, which is an Imperial Clipper ship which will be put to work in the service of the Federation. I have a weird sense of humour sometimes.

Last one for today. That's the Black Sheep closing in on an engineer base to get some shield modifications in.

Other thing before I close ... I mentioned a zombie hard disc in the last post ! It's still going. Had to reboot Meltdown due to a Windows Update and the ancient zombie drive came back for more. Tough little beastie.

Happy travels, fly safe.