CASH ON TOUR

First, let me declare an interest. My Cash Generator shops in Maidenhead and Reading sell foreign currency. That gives me a vested interest but I am writing this as a parent and a traveller, not as an advertisement. I thought I would just say what I intend to do about travel money. Make of it what you will.

Argentina’s local currency is the peso, symbol $ (US Dollar prices should be shown as U$D but beware a little deliberate confusion). The A$ is not tradeable outside the country so you cannot buy any before you travel (and any unspent money you bring back with you will be worthless). The Argentine Government tries to manage its external exchange rate within a range of A$2.90-3.10 to the US$. Current open market rates are around A$3.80 to the US$, or just under six to the pound. Most shops, traders, hotels and restaurants will accept US$ cash in payment but you will probably get only around A$3 for U$1, so changing money will give you a significant edge, if you can be bothered. Uruguay has its own peso, and the open market rate is currently UR$23 to US$1, or around thirty to the pound. I would guess the street rate will be UR$20 per US$ and US will be accepted everywhere.

I have checked with Iberia and you can find their London-Madrid flight menu here:

http://www.iberia.com/ibcomv3/content/COMUN/PDF/tumenu_1005.pdf

(3Mb pdf)

Soft Drinks are €2.50, Breakfast €7.00 and a typical Sandwich and Soft Drink combo €10.50. Only Euros or Debit Cards are accepted on board, no other cash. On the flights between Madrid and BA, all food and drinks are complimentary.

It is slightly different for me as I am going on the trip but, if I were sending my son unaccompanied, I would give him €30.00, US$100.00 and £100.00 cash. I would make sure the US$ was in small denominations, say 3 $10s, 8 $5s and 30 $1s. At today’s exchange rates in my shop, the foreign currency would cost £93.60. He would have money for the short flights and Madrid airport, plenty of small dollars for local expenses, and a chunk of money to change into A$ and UR$ if necessary, or bring back if not. That’s a fair amount of cash to carry around for a lad so I would suggest he deposit all but a day or two’s worth with the management.

A little bit of cash will go a long way on essentials – empanadas can be had in Argentina for A$3, a large plate of pasta in Montevideo for US$4, a steak as big as a pillow for US$10 in Rosario, according to my research. Watch out for manufactured goods, though. An official replica Pumas 2009/10 shirt will set you back around US$90 including sales tax (up to 27%, which may be reclaimable on departure, I don’t know). So give the little darling some more money if you want an expensive present as well as a postcard!

COMMUNICATIONS ON TOUR IV

Deadline for Cellhire local Argentina SIMs is Friday 02 July.

SPORTS RESULTS

Wycombe Wanderers have signed right back Danny Foster and prolific striker Ben Stevens from Brentford.

Reading will open their season against the Scunthorpe "Irons" on 7th August.

Otherwise a quiet day in football terms.

Im Westen Nichts Neues.

AND NOW FOR THE NEWS

Anyone else with time on their hands interested in exploring the local papers in Buenos Aires? No? Oh well.

http://www.clarin.com/ is the biggest,

http://www.lanacion.com/ is the best

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/ publishes in English but requires a subscription to read more than a few pages per day. A few pages is enough.

Uruguay has www.elpais.com.uy

Like newspapers everywhere, all of these have a particular agenda. Half the fun is working out what that is, and why...

Here's one thing I would not have known: Last year the age of majority in Argentina was reduced from 21 to 18.

TEST CARD

Testing Video Upload.

WEATHER REPORT

Last night someone asked what weather we might expect on tour. Here:

http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/argentina/buenos-aires/ext

...you will find a 14 day forecast that suggests the day before our arrival (yes, it is only 15 days) will be mild, 16-18 Celsius, with a 58% chance of light rain in scattered showers. Lovely. Note the short day - sunrise at 08:00, sunset at 17:58.

You can always follow the USEFUL LINK "Time now in Buenos Aires" below and click through to this forecast.

NEW IMPROVED TOUR INFO, FREE, FRESH

Tour Itinerary updated today. Main news:

• Tour Kit will be issued 4 July after training.
• Players will not be billeted first night in Argentina. Tour party will take a late meal together and all will stay at the hotel.
• Opponents in Uruguay confirmed as Uruguayan National Select XVs. First international caps for Maids!
• Chance to watch a (RWC 2011 qualifying) full international match Uruguay vs. Kazakhstan while in Montevideo. Vamonos los Teros!
• Small gifts, budget £10 maximum, suggested for each billet host(ess). Something of local Maidenhead interest? Maidenhead Heritage Centre suggested as good source.

USEFUL LINKS below refreshed - St Brendans and Universitario de Rosario club websites found, Uruguayan national union added.

ANDY RIPLEY 1947-2010, SUPERSTAR

When I was at school, the England Number 8 Andy Ripley was one of my heroes. He was a cavalier among roundheads, a tall, long-legged, long-haired flash harry who played in the forwards but ran like a back. In truth, the England rugby team were pretty rubbish at the time, finishing bottom of the Five Nations year after year, even scoring fewest points in the 5-way tie in 1973. But, weirdly, they beat South Africa in Johannesburg in Jun 1972, New Zealand in Auckland in September 1973, and Australia at Twickenham in November 1973. He travelled with the Lions on their 1974 tour of South Africa but was kept out of the Test team by the great Mervyn Davies.

After his international rugby career ended in 1976 he became a hero all over again by winning the BBC’s Superstars competition in 1980, surely the tallest and heaviest man ever to do so.

Why am I posting about him here? Well I heard an interview he did a couple of years ago about his prostate cancer, the disease that has now killed him. He spoke matter-of-factly about the symptoms that he had ignored, too busy to get a checkup in his early 50s. Early diagnosis is very likely to mean you die with the disease, rather than from it. By the time he did go to the doctor, it was too late for him. I remember him saying that if just one man took action because of his testimony, his own life would have been worthwhile. So I wanted to mark his passing.

http://prostate-cancer.org.uk/

COMMUNICATIONS ON TOUR PART III

Sorry for the delay, haven’t been well for a couple of days.

So, cutting to the chase, I have found two companies who can provide prepaid simcards for Argentina:

http://www.planetomni.com/SIM_CTRY_argentina_DTL.shtml

and

http://www.cellularabroad.com/argentinaSIMcard.php

I am not going to detail their charges because they both offer service based on callback, where your outgoing call is converted to an incoming one through a VOIP virtual exchange so you might wait a minute for a connection, call quality can be very unreliable, and charges may be levied on the other party. Have a look and make your own mind up.

These are the people I intend to use.

http://www.cellhire.co.uk/products/international/simcards/argentina

This is not a prepaid service, but they will send you an email alert when the bill reaches an agreed level. They are UK based, which makes me feel comfy. They have two offers, one of which (O2 World) is a little cheaper than just roaming from the UK. It’s the other one I recommend.

The Local Argentina SIM option costs £10 (or £20 including a rental handset, if you do not have an unlocked phone which will work in Argentina). Then you get local calls for 18p a minute, local texts for 14p each, calls back to the UK (including calls to UK mobiles in Argentina) for 45p a minute (texts 25p) and all incoming calls are free.

There is a snag with this solution - the local Argentina SIM will not work in Uruguay. Sadly I have been unable to find a way round that one. I plan to take my UK SIM with me and use it (as little as possible) when in Montevideo. I think that inconvenience is a small price to pay for affordable communications during the majority of the tour.

If you want to do business with Cellhire, you can go via the website or contact their Account Manager, Ms Lindsay Wilkinson, on 01904 616771, 07831 640090 and at lindsaywilkinson@cellhire.com. I will have some handouts at the Tour Meeting Tuesday 22 June for those who want them.

COMMUNICATIONS ON TOUR PART II

In my last post I explained the huge bills you could easily run up using your mobile phone in South America. I don’t want a bill for £180 when I get home, but I do want to stay in touch. So, what can we do to manage this?

If you have a Pay As You Go mobile, you can obviously limit your exposure by just buying no more credit than you are prepared to spend. Simple but not guaranteed to keep you in touch, as the network operators charge you for incoming as well as outgoing calls. (If you have a Monthly contract, you could get a PAYG sim on the same network with the same advantages and disadvantages, and just change your number for the tour). Neither of these strategies reduces the cost but they will give you an upper limit.

So I looked at buying a local PAYG sim and putting it in my phone. You can find the same sort of websites we have in the UK, for instance:

http://www.claro.com.ar/

Now, I can hablo a little bit of Espanol with the best but I would struggle to work my way through this. I considered going to a phone shop in Buenos Aires but can you imagine how long that would take?

Then I found this company:

http://www.phonerental.com.ar/english/asp/index.asp

Fantastic! You can rent a simcard and a phone for about £19.00 and they will deliver it on arrival at the airport and collect it on departure. Here are the rates, with Orange numbers as comparison:

In Argentina
Local Calls Made £0.44 (£1.75) per minute
International Calls Made £1.25 (£1.75) per minute
Calls Received £0.24 (£1.00) per minute
Local SMS (text) £0.19 (£0.50) each
International SMS £0.67 (£0.50) each

In Uruguay
Local Calls Made £1.26 (£1.75) per minute
International Calls Made £3.66 (£1.75) per minute
Calls Received £0.97 (£1.00) per minute
Local SMS (text) £0.97 (£0.50) each
International SMS £1.26 (£0.50) each

(Rates are calculated including 27% local sales tax and at an exchange rate of £1=US$1.30)

At these rates, the usage I calculated at £180 on Orange would cost £93. You still do not have a guaranteed upper limit, but we are making progress.

Is this what I recommend? What I am going to do for myself, Pam and Leo? Nah, still too dear.

More tomorrow.

COMMUNICATIONS ON TOUR

Everyone has probably read the horror stories about massive bills for using your mobile phone abroad. There was the woman who was billed £8,000 after downloading movies in Paris, the man who spent £600 in three days updating his Facebook status. Last Wednesday a woman complained it had cost her £1,200 to listen to Radio 4 while in Italy for a week. It couldn’t happen to you, could it?

I checked my provider (Orange) for their charges for service in Argentina and Uruguay:

Calls Made £1.75 per minute
Calls Received £1.00 pm
SMS (text) £0.50 each
Data/Internet £5.50 per megabyte

Orange will give me a 20% discount on these rates if I pay a £5 upfront fee. No bundles of minutes and texts are available.

I thought I could probably live with these figures (even though if I call another UK Orange customer while we are away, it will cost £2.75 per minute between us); just be sensible about how I used the phone, and obviously avoid using the internet.

Then it occurred to me that 38 sixteen-year-olds used to 24/7 social networking and unused to household budgeting might conceivably bankrupt the lot of us.

For example, 15 texts per day, 4 calls made and 4 calls received doesn’t sound unreasonable, does it? The bill? £240 when you get home, nearly half the cost of sending your boy in the first place. Even after a 20% discount, that is £180. And how many of the little treasures send just 15 texts per day? This is without using any data. One megabyte will give you around 20 web pages or 5 picture messages. Lurking on Facebook for the odd idle hour? It does not bear thinking about. (By the way, iPhones and some other smartphones receive automatic firmware updates for which you will be charged while roaming).

Simple solution: leave the phone at home. Well, no. I think we would all wish to have direct contact with and between the boys, coaches and supporters while we are away.

There are a number of ways to go on this, and each of us should choose what’s best for us. There will be another post here tomorrow with the options I have looked at but, in the meantime, if you have any suggestions, please use the Comments function or email me on grmsmth6@gmail.com.

SPORTS RESULTS

England and Argentina were playing yesterday, did anyone notice?

England lost 27-17 to Australia, monstrous set-piece grunt overwhelmed by mobility, imagination and, well, by rugby. You know, passing the ball, generally running about, that sort of thing.

Argentina beat Scotland by two tries to nil but lost the game 24 points to 16 as Dan Parks kicked 6 penalties out of 8 attempts and dropped 2 goals. Yes, yes, I know Parks was born in New Zealand but he is every bit as Scottish as Shontayne Hape is, er, English.

I wonder if James O'Connor has an English grandparent?

BE CAREFUL WHEN TAKING THE TRAIN

What language do they speak in Argentina and Uruguay? That’s easy, you say, they speak Spanish. Well, yes, up to a point.

There are some significant differences, however, between the Spanish you may have learned at school or on holiday in Majorca, and the Spanish they speak in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, some of which could cause great embarrassment if you get them wrong:

http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/information/castillian_spanish/

So don’t get your tortillas mixed up with your tortillas. Ask for Servesa, not Thervetha, not that the boys will be asking for either, remember that papa is a potato and that taking and giving can be fraught with risk.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

The day after we arrive in Argentina, 9 July, is a Public Holiday celebrated as Independence Day. Most people have the day off from work and Government services and facilities are closed.

Here’s an explanation of Argentina’s celebration of 9 July which does not reflect so well on the British:

http://blisstree.com/live/independence-day-in-argentina-405/

Here’s one that is a bit more encouraging, given that it was the British who led the alliance that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte:

http://www.totallyargentina.org/show_gallery.php?id_gallery=19

So it would not have happened without us, right?

Here is a curiosity from four years ago:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Argentina_celebrates_its_independence_day_covered_in_white

…hopefully they are right to say this was a once-in-a-hundred-years occurrence!

Confusingly, Argentina also celebrates 25 May as an anniversary of independence – this was the date in 1810 of the first declaration of self-government of the wider United Provinces of South America, including Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay, whereas 9 July 1816 saw a formal and final declaration of independence and the founding of the modern state we now know as Argentina.

Loads of countries have independence days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_day

Britain does not because we have never been a colony, (except of Rome, and we were probably sorry rather than pleased to see them go. They took all the roads and sanitation with them. And the spaghetti and pizza, and it took us more than a thousand years to get them back).

Because it is the bicentennial of the May 25 events, we can probably expect the 9 July celebrations to be major in scale. Practice your Viva Argentinas!

PAM'S POPPIES

They only bloom for a week

TRAIN TIMES

Training plan published:

SUNDAY 13th JUNE : 10.30 – 12.30

SUNDAY 20th JUNE : 10.30 – 12.30

SUNDAY 27th JUNE : 10.30 – 12.30

WEDNESDAY 30th JUNE: 19.00 – 21.00

SUNDAY 4th JULY : 10.30 – 12.30

TUESDAY 6th JULY : 18.30 – 20.30

(I imagine the last one might be modified in the unlikely event that England are involved in either of the Fifa World Cup Semi-Finals which start at 19.30 UK time on Tuesday 6th July).

Note that the 3rd Place Playoff is on Saturday 10th July at 15.30 Argentime and the Final itself at 15.30 Sunday 11th. Argentina vs. England in one of those? It couldn't happen, could it?

ARGENTIME

Here is a useful little site for those who can never quite work out time zones, (and for those who want to know what the weather is going to be like on the touchline).

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=51

Speaking from experience, travelling long haul to somewhere four hours behind UK time is not so bad. The flights we are taking are long enough that every gets some sleep because of sheer exhaustion. You arrive in the late evening and feel pretty tired but the excitement keeps you going. When you finally get to rest you get some quality kip and you wake up early raring to go while the locals are still away with the fairies. You might be a bit sleepy on the first and second evenings but will be fully adjusted by Day 3.

Coming back, well, who cares?

As to the weather, BA sits at 34 degrees South whereas London is at 51 degrees North so their July is not equivalent to our January, if you see what I mean, although they sit on the East coast of their continent and do not have a Gulf Stream to warm their waters up. I imagine that their Westerly winds are dry and their Easterlies wet, the reverse of ours. There is a 14 day forecast on the site showing 13-14 degrees Centigrade a fortnight from now. Average daytime highs in July are 15 Centigrade (UK January 5 C), average rainfall 95mm (UK 42mm). Sounds like luxury weather, at least for rugby supporters used to Newbury or Reading Abbey, but you might need a mac!

JABS

Just had Hepatitis A and Typhoid Boosters. Had a Swine Flu jab as well - that's enough needles, thank you.

OPPONENTS

Our first games will be against the famous Buenos Aires Cricket and Rugby Club. Here is what Wikipedia say about them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_Cricket_y_Rugby_Club

(MRFC doesn't have a Wikipedia page to itself, although Maidenhead does).

Then we play St. Brendan's College.

And third is the Universitario de Rosario club. There is a photo on their Facebook page of their 2008 U14s, some of whom will probably play Maids this year, although Junior rugby in Argentina seems to be divided by year of birth, rather than our school year approach. They'll be a bit bigger now.

Our final opponents are still to be confirmed, but look likely to be a Uruguayan national selection of some sort.

THAT MATCH AGAIN

Windsor U16s 17 vs. Maidenhead U16As 26
18 April, 2010

Thoroughness of preparation has long been a hallmark of Maidenhead U16s management team. Even so, suspending all air traffic over Windsor in order to ensure picture postcard conditions for the climactic match of the 2009/10 season really does break new ground. (Apparently O’Flaherty spoke to someone close to Eyjafjallajokull.)

So, with all the senior royals gathered on the Sainsfoins terrace of the castle looking down on the splendid sight of Home Park bathed in warm spring sunshine, with the glorious cherry blossom accenting the serene beauty of the mature plane, oak and horse chestnut trees, the scene almost approached the ultimate Berkshire rugby panorama – that of the municipal waste amenity site at Braywick.

As you would expect on a hot day, the pitch was hard and dry. Recently scarified, it looked like the coarse surface of a cheese grater and all the players soon blossomed cherry red knees and elbows as a result.

Windsor started at a furious pace, flinging the ball left and right and tearing into the Maidenhead defence. It took only two minutes for the first try, scored by the Windsor inside centre on an outside break from a quick tap penalty.

Maids came back with a long individual run by Laurence MacSwan up to the 22. A series of reset scrums led to both front rows getting a long talking to by the referee but there was not much doubt that Maidenhead had the advantage in the set piece, disrupting and stealing Windsor’s ball and winning several free kicks for infringements including feeding. “You’re not playing Rugby League, son,” said the official at one point.

Despite this edge, Maids were still under the cosh. Windsor were running everything through their centres and impressive full back and eventually the latter hit a pass at full tilt and took the score to 10-0. Was it the end of the Champions' hat trick dream? No, of course not.

So far Maidenhead had not really started to play. What little ball they had seen in a free flowing game had been slow and awkward. Windsor were not competing at the fringes but were throwing the ball wide and trying to get outside and behind. Perhaps Windsor were too ready to kick and chase when the ball through hands was a better option but, nonetheless, they were threatening to run riot.

The first inkling that Maids were still in the hunt came from an innocuous maul 15 metres out on 17 minutes. Instead of quick ball on the home side, out came Dominik Bart with classic tough, ugly possession. Never in the clear, always with one or two opponents clinging on and trying to stop him, he twisted and struggled and bullied his way over for the score.

The second quarter was scoreless, despite Windsor’s backline running power. They frequently beat the first tackler with a sideways step, a swerve or burst, but not so often the second, and most of the fireworks took place in midfield areas where no great damage was likely. Maidenhead absorbed the pressure and survived on scraps and solid defensive organisation.

Maidenhead’s second half restart was short of 10m but they won the resulting scrum against the head and Seb Coric picked up and ran to the 22, found MacSwan in support and his inside ball to Michael Anderson almost gave Maids the perfect start. Windsor ripped the ball from the resulting ruck and tried to run out of trouble. Back came Maids and pressed again, only to drop the ball and turn it over again. Surely Windsor would kick for safety? Of course not – they ran it once more and made it all the way to 22 before being hauled down. Back came Maids with good hands and hard running to the right and back left with Michael Anderson racing clear until caught by the cover only 10m short. The ball was kept alive and Maids’ repeated close fringe assaults finally saw Mike Winter go over to level the scores. Maids were level after 10 minutes of the most frantic and entertaining rugby of the season, and Bart seasoned the asado with chimichurri by converting from wide out.

That was it for the Windsor challenge, in truth. They started to get into the referee’s bad books with continual backchat and their earlier swagger disappeared along with their concentration. They were still unable to secure their own scrum ball – the Maids' front rowers completely on top – and their lineout produced only pain, with Iain Whiteford taking over where Kaya Baxter had left off. Indeed it was a lineout steal by Coric which set up a try for Luke Thomas after a great run and offload by Winter. Bart converted for 10-19.

The next try was made by Leo Smith’s break, bursting though tackles in midfield and drawing the last two defenders before popping inside to the tireless Coric in support. Bonus point, Bart makes it 10-26, game and championship over with 8 minutes to go. The vaunted Windsor backline, so dominant earlier, were no longer at the races.

With fully nine minutes of time played after the scheduled end, Maids threatened to score more but actually it was Windsor who notched a consolation comedy try. A bouncing ball found its way to a frankly startled Windsor player closest to the Maidenhead tryline and he sheepishly tumbled over. Pyatt’s conversion made the final score 17-26.

The watchword of this record-breaking season has been cool intensity. Maintaining concentration in the face of the opposition and accepting the referee’s decisions with maturity. You say it best, when you say nothing at all, in fact. Maids have never given up and always believed in themselves and in their teammates. In four years of Berkshire Youth League competition, their record speaks for itself:

2006-10 (U13-U16)

Played 26
Won 25
Drawn 0
Lost 1
Points For 943
Points Against 118

Squad:Alex Avery, Mark Hine, Callum Hull, Nic Jones, Jamie Tolan, Mike Trevena, Kaya Baxter, Jacob Sanders, Iain Whiteford, Dom Bart, Calum O’Flaherty, Mike Winter, Seb Coric, LD Basson, Luke Thomas, Leo Smith, Markus Olivier, Laurence MacSwan, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Michael Anderson, Dhruv Surya, Tom Eckles.

COUSINS

This is all a bit experimental so far so this is mainly to test how to upload photos. Here is one of my favourites after ten years of following the age group.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the semi-official Maidenhead Rugby Under 16 tour of Argentina and Uruguay 2010 blog. The intention is to help non-travelling supporters stay in touch with the tourists with at least daily updates of our on and off-field progress.

It's semi-official in the sense that content and comment here is going to be published by me and not by the club. If anyone has any problems with anything, please email me directly at grmsmth6@gmail.com and I will respond.

Otherwise, please feel free to add comments and get involved.

Come on Maids!