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chaoticaptendyte · 1 year

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Get to know me :3

Was tagged by @grippysockgang :3

1. Are you named after anyone?

Apparently after a sri-lankan first lady

2. When was the last time you cried?

Uhhh well yesterday afternoon i had a terrible bout of acidity after lunch and everything hurt so bad that tears came to my eyes, does that count?

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, i mean i am only 20. But i want to one day, two kids, I'd love if they're twins too

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Uhhhh not really no, i use it to the normal extent ig

5. What is the first thing you notice about a person?

Hm, damn i people watch on the train everyday and yet i cannot for the life of me tell u this. I suppose the way they're dressed? And then their hands maybe 👀

6. What is your eye color?

Dark chocolatey pools for you to drown in :)

7. Scary movie or happy ending?

I am actually scared of horror so no, not scary movies EVER unless i have someone to cuddle into and can hide my face in their chest okie. Once my friends forced me to watch conjuring, i spent a month thinking my mom's possessed. Happy movies ftw. Forever.

8. Any special talents?

Hmmmmmm, idk lemme see. I think I'm kinda a decent photographer. I can cook well, don't do it often cause college and I'm kinda lazy and my mom does it for us anyway but yea. Oooohhh, I'm the official taster in our family. Anytime anyone is cooking anything and they need to know if the balance is right or something they come to me :3 which is pretty cool, i guess that counts as special.

9. Where were you born?

In an operation room ✌🏻. I was a C baby. Refused to grow any further so they had to pull me out.

10. What are your hobbies?

Um well it's been a while since I've done some of them tbh butttt- cooking, painting(watercolours), writing poems and fanfic and stuff, origami?, stargazing on my roof, doodling(which i do all the time actually), uhm watching shows and listening to music if it counts? There's prolly others too, just can't think of it rn. Ooh reading too, but it's been a while.

11. Do you have any pets?

Nope🥲, I've always wanted a dog though, a little shih tzu or fox terrier. And somehow my feed everywhere is always full of cats. I used to have goldfish but they kinda died extremely brutal deaths 💀💀💀 they kinda got sucked into the water filter cause the suction was too strong and got kinda uh shredded and another time one of the fish kima uhhh ate all the others 💀💀💀 so haven't got anything after that

12. What sports do you/have you played?

Rn i don't play anything, but i used to play pretty much all of em in school- badminton, tt, basketball, throwball, volleyball, football, cricket. Oh and i played pool once tho idk if it counts. Board games too lol.

13. How tall are you?

5'6 ^w^

14. Favorite subject in school?

Science :3 especially physics and biology. But i also loved English just as much tbhhh. Had a phase where i was super into history and geography too and also in like the fifth grade and twelfth i was super into math, like the satisfactionnnn of solving a problem is just *mwa*

Basically I've liked everything at some point

15. Dream job!

Honestly, not having one. That's my dream. I just wanna live in a nice little cottagecore world and bake pjes and cookies and just take care of the house and chill in the farm and look out at the world everyday and be content. If i could I'd love in the 'Anne with an E' world. Or in the hundered acre woods in a treehouse with Christopher Robin <3

This was funn, @astr0-j4y @gamerboyafterdark @alt3r-ego wanna join in?

#me #mine

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devitalise · 1 year

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now i’m curious what ur top 5 of this year are 🤔🤔🤔🫡

hiii this ask is SO long omg tried to be succint but talking about things i like is so.... <3

shows

the bear - easily one of the best shows i've watched this year. episode 7 is a headrush

succession - technically season 3 was both new in general and to me. my sad little baby girl out from under logan's thumb and then spending 9 episodes desperately trying to get his siblings to respect him and realise all that he's suffered for them??? sooo eldest male daughter of him

industry - took me a while to get round to this. so juicy and dramatic and fast paced, and i loved not understanding any of the finance talk!

ugly betty - watched this for the first time as an adult at the beginning of the year and it's just so funny and fun and heartwarming i know it's an older show but i'm counting it

pachinko - tied between this and severance for what would make the top 5. this show is just such a masterpiece in storytelling and cinematography like just genuinely stunning and so moving

movies

i don't know if i've been that much of a film babe this year actually. i liked nope and the batman. i did watch cruel intentions for the first time this year and i liked it but that same weekend my laptop broke so it's a complicated situation

books

open water by caleb azumah nelson - i'm never going to shut up about this book! a Black british photographer meets a dancer one night in london and they become best friends and fall in love. both poetic in its prose, and unflinching in its reckoning of trauma within and outside of the Black body- my favourite book.

a passage north by anuk arudpragasam - one of the most tender books i've read this year. a guy gets a call that his grandmother's carer has died, so he makes the journey to the north of sri lanka. he reckons with the shrinking of his grandmother's world as she succumbs to her illness, the trauma and despair of outliving your own children, the spoils of war, religion, identity, mortality and politics. so beautiful

transcendent kingdom by yaa gyasi - i'm going to read everything yaa gyasi ever publishes. i loved reading homegoing last year, and this book just didn't disappoint. short but so substantial, a med grad prepares for her final project, trying to make sense of what makes an addict, an addict. caring for her depressed mother, she tries to bridge the gap between faith and science, as her family of 4 is now 2. there's just so much heart and care in this book

tell me i'm worthless by alison rumfitt - my horror book of the year. so twisted and malicious, a haunted house exposes the worst parts of a fascist society preying on a trans woman and her ex-girlfriend. this book is genuinely so insane, so menacing, and fucking incredible.

outline by rachel cusk - a writer travels to athens to teach a writing course. a novel in 10 conversations, she meets people who divulge their deepest desires, regrets, hopes and realities of their marriages, parenting, and what they think freedom looks like. i love a good monologue, and i got 10. cusk wields english in such an inspiring way

music

major music year. gonna do top 5 albums :)

AMERICAN GURL by KILO KISH

sexy by coco & clair clair

CRASH (deluxe) by charli xcx

renaissance by beyoncé

three dimensions deep by amber mark

thank you SO much for asking and reading if you've made it this far <3

#imo inquiries #zombietrait #i need a tag for this bc i'm reblogging all the responses it's so i love people talking about things they love #top2022

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mi4019mariaperera · 3 months

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Podcast Assessment - Intro

We were told to get into groups and to do some research on 'different design universities in SL' and create a podcast.

For the moment we were give 3 questions we have to answer based on our experience studying at AOD and school life.

The answers to these questions are down below.

What academic challenges did we face last year?

Story writing (In general I don't have much experience in writing stories. This was a good opportunity. However, it was definitely a challenge to come up with a good story.)

Time management issues for submissions (I understand how important it is to be able to take time management into consideration when submitting work. However, assignment submissions aren't something I ama used to as someone who studied the local syllabus. This is something I have to improve on by myself.)

2. In what ways do you expect university life to be different from school/college and what challenges is it likely to offer?

In all honesty, studying at a convent is quite the harsh and limiting ways of schooling. It was even worse knowing the fact that I had to study the local syllabus during my entire school life.

Studying for local O/L s and A/Ls exams is one of the toughest, stressing, mentally draining, sleep depriving, and competitive things to study due to the unfair syllabus. Students must sacrifice most of their free time just for the sake of passing these exams because their future depends on it and the MOE simply doesn't give a damn about students.

If I were to compare how my life at AOD is compared to my school life, I would say AOD definitely provides a much healthier and free environment to study in. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying AOD is perfect. Management/ Administration definitely need A LOT of improvement. However, I prefer to study for 3 years at AOD rather than re-live 3 years of my school life ever again. Plus, the lecturers are friendly, chill and understanding unlike my past schoolteachers.)

As for the challenges faced in AOD, I would say the sudden shift from' harsh schooling system' to a' university that encourages creativity and freedom of how I do my projects' would be the challenge since I'm not used to having any freedom in terms of studies. I actually love the change, but it's something I'm still getting used to.

3. Reflecting on your experience this week: write down 3 things you feel went well. Write down 1 thing you feel you'd like to have to been better.

What went well:-

I absolutely loved the' beach clean-up' that our portfolio lecturer Maria organized. Doing the beach clean-up was a fun, fulfilling and educational experience.

The' final presentations' related to the plastic pollution in Sri Lanka is also one thing that went well. I got to see so many amazing creations made by my peers. I learned that we as designers can come up with amazing solutions on how to use recycled and upcycled plastic to create something meaningful and useful.

I think that the class assessments we got were quite good. They definitely made me challenge myself and help me to see how I could create something next level.

What could be better: -

'Brief updates' must be done as soon as possible for the students to have time to go through them and for the lecturers to explain in depth to clear any doubts the students may have.

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a-spell-a-rebel-yell · 4 months

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January 2024!!!

hello friends, i made it in time before January ends! hahaha

i got my very first GPA! and it's... drum rolls please... 3.95/4! 🎉✨ alhamdulillah if it not for Allah's numerous help, wouldn't be here 🥺 now it's time to prepare and plan and strategize for second semester and keep up with the good work!

here comes the best part of January: my coldplay Singapore trip! this trip is the first time i'm taking my sister with me as it's also her bday gift from our parents, and as you've probably guessed, i took care of everything lol even from renewing our passports to making itinerary list and public transportation route maps... but it was fun! i love making sure everything is under control 😂

but of course things don't always go by our plan because my flight to Singapore got delayed for almost four hours, and we arrived at Changi airport close to midnight. that also meant the last MRT train to city had already departed, and we were forced to take taxis. then of course yet again taxis are so hard to find it's so jarring the difference of night life in Jakarta vs Singapore lol so we had to take Grab Car ride which was a lot more expensive (S$ 32.4 or roughly 378,000 IDR! by cash!) i literally almost tried to kip a night at the airport but decided against it at the end because in the morning we have to be at the stadium 🤪 (spoiler this trip is all about rushing here and there lol) so yeah took a 13 mins car ride to our hotel and met kak Regina, my first coldplay twitter mutual i'm meeting on this trip! 12 am and exhausted from the flight, we all went to bad after a lil chit chat.

next morning is finally d-day! Jan 27th 2024 i won't forget you ever 🥺 i was gonna be super ambitious of getting barrier to the point i want to leave the hotel at 6.30 AM but you can't deceive your age lol ok well i was just so tired and i have early entry ticket anyway so i deferred a bit and went to the stadium at 8 AM instead hehe. fun part is kak Regina was told by local uncle a shorter route to reach Singapore Sportshub complex and that's the route we took, so instead of spending so much time at the MRT and walking to the station, we took a short bus ride and then walk a straight line from Geylang road to the Sportshub outer door near Nicoll Highway. surprisingly (not) i love the walking route because masyaAllah Singapore is so clean and i loooooove walkable cities it's my dream to live in one 🥺🥺🥺 we arrived at the stadium at around 8.30 AM, and of course there was no queue yet and the Kallang Wave Mall wasn't even open yet, so what did we do? sit down next to the entrance gate and enjoy the morning breeze, no pollution whatsoever... it was so calm and peaceful!

at 10 AM my sister left us to go sightseeing at Orchard rd with her friends while me and kak Regina decided to go eat breakfast at Kallang Wave Mall, to eat at this food court named My Kampung. this was the time i met three of my coldplay mutuals! one from is Sri from Pekalongan, Indonesia and two are ate Andrea and ate Abbie from the Philippines! it was nice all of us talk a lot about coldplay and lil bit of kpop, exchanged gifts, and took pics 💙 also here in this mall everywhere you look you'll find so many people coming down after finishing their workouts. again i envy Singaporeans so much they have this sports complex where you have ALL you need to accommodate their sports activities and then a living public area to shower and eat after, all connected to every line of public transportation system...

12.30 PM i left the group because i had to collect the special fabric wristband for early entry VIP ticket holders, and there was a lil queue, not much people start queueing. here i met another coldplay mutual bang Tulus from Indonesia!

(edit: 29/02/2024 - it's always the coldplay show posts that i procrastinate bc i have so many things to say YET no time to write it down!)

after getting my Kubik blue fabric wristband, came the dreaded part of going to concerts: queueing 💀 i swear to God, Singapore's temp was so hot that day, it's funny because days before it was full raining... not sure whether to be grateful or not because if it rained it'd be damp, if the sun's scorching hot we'd be sizzled. and sizzled we were! bang Tulus introduced me to his two other friends, the lovely kak Afi and bang Reza, both who have had the lucky opportunity of meeting Chris before! we set a strategy on how to get barrier, and thankfully i reserved a spot on the very front of the queue line.

4 PM, it was finally the time to enter the venue! (not yet the stadium, YES there were two different queues) and thanks to our organized strategy we got barrier when we were allowed to enter the stadium 🥺

(edit: 15/03/2024 - lol i’m buried in my assignments i’m so sorry for the very late update 😭)

barrier spot is always the best for me, though the minus point is that you don’t get the full view of everything - but i get to see Chris, Jonny, Guy, and Will sooo up close! almost got a fist bump from Jonny but his hands were too far 🥲

anyways again i can’t write down the whole story because honestly it’s an experience where i think words can’t do it justice! i just remember how much fun i have, seeing coldplay tour crews walking around (Anna Lee the tour photographer took a pic of us!!! and our pic is included in the band’s tour app gallery!!! and also Mike the camera guy he was in our section a lot hahah), the confetti cannons in front of us literally shooting hundreds of confetti into our mouth and pockets lol.

i’m always so emotional every time i get to the end of the show, listening to A Wave as the credit title rolls, seeing people leaving the stadium… listening to the studio mastered ver of it is already a tearjerker moment but hearing it live at the end of your show? man. i got so overwhelmed i think i spent a few minutes just taking it all in. trying to permanently carve the memories onto my brain. i’m so lucky i get to find happiness in everything everywhere everyone i’m so so so happy!!!

also at the end i get to meet Isha finally! we were separated at the start of the concert because she wanted a spot near A stage. we took pics with confettis and i’m sure we were one of the few who exited the stadium the last 😂 in retrospect i was one of the first to enter with my early entry ticket and the last one to leave? 😂😂 that’s so on brand of me 😆 then i went to the merch exchange spot to get the early entry special package and i’m so sad they cut off my fabric wristband! 😭 then i said goodbyes to kak Afi, bang Tulus, bang Reza… what a wholesome bunch 🥹🫶🏻

this show i’m only sad about not getting to meet Tugce (from Germany) and P’Bogey, P’Nummon, and P’Pang (from Thailand) because i was already in queue line and couldn’t get out 😭😭😭 next show i will make it through ☝🏻

11 PM, finally i went back to my hotel, the MRT was so packed i’m glad kak Regina knew a trick to make sure we don’t get stuck (from MRT Stadium you get on the train to Paya Lebar direction and drop off at the MRT Mountbatten station, then walk the rest to Geylang area it’s a straight route you won’t get lost, thank me later!) and we arrived at around 11.30.

can you believe we spent HOURS outside so we were drenched in sweat and i ordered everyone to take a shower lol and we couldn’t waste time because we have to get to the airport at 3 AM though our flight is on 7 AM (it’s our Asian blood behavior of always make sure you’re at the airport t-3 hours!!!) as the timekeeper naturally i didn’t slept at all 🤡 made sure everyone packed everything and then ordered the taxi! Isha tagged along because she didn’t want to spend more money though her flight is on 2 PM 😭

kinda a heartfelt moment when we finally part ways (kak Regina’s boarding gate is at T2, mine’s at T4, Isha’s at T3) and also thinking this is the end of such a chaotic fun messy spontaneous trip 😆 forever grateful coldplay got me into this adventure of a lifetime! my 2017 coldplay Singapore show is memorable because it’s my first but this second one… it’s so special because i get to meet so many of my best friends from all over the world 🥹

only spent less than 48 hours in Singapore but the energy i got is enough to fuel me for the second semester. my heart is so warm and full… 🫶🏻 so many things i never even imagined are happening, things i used to think can only happen in daydreams… i feel like a tide is about to turn and i’m so excited! there’s this phrase Chris wrote on his piano, “open + surrender” and it reminds me so much of the concept of tawakkul! i firmly believe in it and i’m glad i never wavered - time is indeed your best friend!

hoping for more happiness to come. see you in the next post, my friends 💙✨

#a great way to start 2024 #alhamdulillah #love you coldplay #gonna allow myself to escape reality in coldplay concerts

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icherishyou · 5 months

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tue, 19 dec 2023

the day flies so fast... 11 more days to go, and we will be in 2024.

I'm still processing how far my 2023 has been running. I had nothing to dream about but to finish my master's degree on the first day of 2023. experiencing how much struggle I had during my master's degree, and I was at the edge of my semester, I just wished to finish it, and I fought it until my last breath. Alhamdulillah I fulfill one of my dreams in vision board.

actually, there were a lot of dreams I wrote on my vision board. but since my main goal is to finish my thesis, I just went for it half of the year, and the day I got it, it was the happiest day in my life for that year. like, all of the struggles, dramas, depressions, all paid off.

after that day, everything that happened was just happiness or lessons. I'm so thankful to Allah, to make my heart stronger than ever through this process, to learn from every person I met virtually, physically, and fictionally to be a better person.

I think I'm accepted as a lecturer. something that is out of my reach, like I've never dreamt to be a lecturer or involved in the world of education. just as many things happened during 2023 which were out of my plan and just happened, I believe this is the step Allah wants me to take. Allah has managed all of the universe to work the way he wants and aligned with me.

I thought, since I've graduated, I could choose a career path I want: a digital marketer. it's still crystal clear, whenever people say I'm suitable for a teacher role, I'd say in my heart "I know myself, and this is the chance I can choose my own path, not by my parents, not by people around me". but it turns out I will be a lecturer soon. very very very soon.

it began with, my friend informed me about the vacancy, I applied, I went for the test and interview, then one of the human resources said "this usually takes a long time to process, but you have everything done in a day". and for the fourth round of interview, I just found out that the interviewer is my mom's friend dad. we are basically neighbors. and there was nothing serious during the interview, but having fun. even the human resource had to pick me up because I had an almost 2 hours interview that I think everyone knows I would be 100% accepted.

there is little sadness inside my heart like, do I give up on my own dream? do I just fulfil my parent's dream again? just some thoughts that lead me into nothing but sadness. my parents are both extremely happy because this is what they really want. but I just want to take those thoughts aside because Allah has made everything easy for me. I know Allah gives this for a reason that I haven't discovered yet, and I am just out of my comfort zone.

there is one reason that I hyphotesiscally think why, may be because Allah wants me to use my full capacity of knowledge and ability. because previously I really considered working in an administration or writing field only which needs less capability of suffering (I don't mean to underestimate those jobs but I'm happy doing administration and writing).

I know I will survive even though the salary is not that big. I'm being naive here, but I have to handle this and I will find a way to earn more money. this is just how Sri Ningsih (a fictional character from the book I just finished reading) is supposed to think. we just need to be more recourfull.

may Allah always guide me to His way, and I hope this is a good decision I take. Amin...

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mrjuicyjude · 4 years

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Journey of my life

Tap in the morning to you my fellow tumblr's

for this blog, i will talk about my journey of life in thailand from the start to where i am right now.

many of my friends, people even teachers tend to ask how did i grow up here in this country, well first of all, people always think that i'm half because of my thai communication skills, But actually i'm not, i'm pure filipino born in the philippines and use to live in the philippines

(story time, don't you sleep! reading my story,lol just kidding)

I was born in a small city named zamboanga in the south of the philippines, growing up as a kid there was quite hard because, we weren't really that rich, we were kinda in the poor side, we were living in a big wooden house that my father and my uncles build, this house contained 13 lives living inside of it, 6 of my uncles, my father, my grandma and grandpa and four siblings inluding me as the youngest, my mother was already working abroad since i was little and after 7 years in the philippines me and my father moved to my mother's workplace which was thailand, at the 1st day of july 2010, we finally arrived here in thailand and i was so excited and nervous at the sametime, the first day we were living in the hotel to plan our way going to my mother's workplace which was in nakhorn sri thammarat, thungsong

(Here are some of my pictures during the first day in the hotel in thailand)

we went straight to nakhorn by riding a train and started my first day of school in tantiwatra school near tesco lotus, you might think that i was happy there but the truth is its the oppisite side, you know why? Being the only Foreign child there was difficult, i can't find friends to talk with only some other foreign teachers that i usually hang out with, as the black sheep in the school i tend to get picked up by bullies and just try to survive every single day by avoiding all of their actions, after a while i coudn't stand all of the negativity that is happening to me so i talked to my parents and i moved to a catholic school named darunsuksa,i was quite happy being in a catholic school because im catholic and i was expecting to live a better life in this school, the first month of school was quite ok because no one really knew me back then and i could speak some thai basic sentences,i was an altair boy in the church near the school so everymorning i come to church and pray.

after a few months i was getting targeted by bullies again and that made me so depressed and frustrated so tried to convined myself to be a new person, so all the problems that i faced was pushing me to learn more thai to prove that i'm not a sand bag that you can punch me everytime you want, 2 years after all the hard work that i've done i realized that i can speak read and write thai and it made me so happy that i got respected by the teachers who tought me thai and many other people, i started gaining trust to other kids forming a connection between new friends and friends that onced bullied me. After spending three years in darunsuksa i realized that i wanted to study in a standard school and one of them was thungsong school, it was so hard for me to past the test because of my knowledge in thai but what i did was exceeded my limits and studied more for my future and guessed what i past the test and got the top three highest score in the paper i was so shcoked and happy in the same time!! and i officialy studied in thungsong school in Eng gift program (here are some pics after i past the test)

For my life in M1-M3 nothing really much happened because i already knew how to start a conversation and make new friends, but one thing i wanted to share was after i found out that i can speak 2 languages i started competing with other kids in other schools i competed a lot of competitions such as singning,impromptu speech,spelling bee,story telling and many more, my name was quite known back then because of my awards and my nationality,3 years in thungsong school made me happy i got lots and lots of precious memories during there, and after that i graduated and it was time to move on to another school.

i moved into satreethungsong school with 4 more friends that had the same goal as me and they were tonnam,arm,lin and kin, right now i'm in the last year of my senoir level and i had many precious memories here in this school i just wanted to say thank you the past me that studied so hard and achieved something that i would never imagine. Now, for those who have problems in life i would like to say that try not to fear it but face it and make it as one of your responsibility that you need to do, those who give up with problems are losers but those who stand up and fight the problems are winners

thank you for reading this blog and see you in the next blog peace

#my life #my adventure #my story

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xtruss · 3 years

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Goodbye Ted Dexter, Free Spirit, Cricket Thinker, Renaissance Man

The England and Sussex captain had aura, flair, majestic batting, and impossible glamour - and that was just on the field

— Mark Nicholas | 27 August, 2021

Ted Dexter batting in a ring of close-in fielders in Sydney, January 1963 Getty Images

I don't know when the Ted Dexter affectation started but I can guess. The last thing my father did with me before he died so young was to take me to see the 1968 Gillette Cup final at Lord's. This was during Ted's short comeback and when the great man strode to the wicket, I leapt about in excitement, cheering his name for all I was worth. He didn't get many but no matter, I had seen him live. That evening Dad bowled to me in the garden as I imitated every Dexter mannerism and stroke I had seen just a few hours before.

"There is about Dexter, when he chooses to face fast bowling with determination, a sort of air of command that lifts him above ordinary players. He seems to find time to play the fastest bowling and still retain dignity, something near majesty, as he does it." — John Arlott

I fell for the aura, and for the flair in those back-foot assaults on fast bowlers. Not for a minute do I think I saw the 70 in 75 balls against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith at Lord's in 1963 but I feel as if I did - the power, the poise, the sheer gall of it. Nothing, not even the Beatles, could drag me from the television screen when he walked to the wicket, seemingly changing the picture from black-and-white to glorious technicolor as he took guard. Frankly, much of the Test cricket of the time was pretty dull but there was a frisson, an expectation, with Ted, just as there is when Ben Stokes is on his way today. It was all too brief, he had retired for good before I started proper school.

The West Indians of the day - Conrad Hunte, Garry Sobers, Wes Hall - thought that innings the best played against them by anybody, though Dexter himself would modestly say it was just one of those days where everything came together and the bat swung freely in just about the right arc. He was well miffed to be given out lbw, however, insisting later that the DRS would have saved him. Who knows how many careers might have been changed by the sliding doors of the DRS.

The word majesty sits well with Dexter's batting, primarily because of the way in which he attacked through the off side off his back foot. This is a stroke so difficult to master that more prosaic batters choose to ignore it. It is no great surprise that Dexter thought Gordon Greenidge and Martin Crowe the two most technically correct right-hand players that he saw, citing their ability to stay sideways-on and to play the ball alongside their body as the prime reason for the accolade.

He was a huge fan of Joe Root and became near apoplectic during the England captain's relatively lean spell a while ago, when he became square-on to the bowler and was playing in front of his body. This niggled so much that he wrote to Root without mincing his words. Though at first put out, Root soon saw the kindness in a man of Dexter's age and knowledge who bothered to write, and therefore returned an email of thanks with the observation that he took the point. Who knows to what degree? It is enough to say that this year Root has batted about as well as any man could have done, and no one has enjoyed each of these innings in Sri Lanka, India, and now at home as much as Dexter.

One final appeal: Dexter (fourth from left) watches as umpire Charlie Elliot gives John Inverarity out off Derek Underwood, The Oval, 1968 Getty Images

For the best part of a year now, Ted has been banging on about Dawid Malan: simply couldn't understand why England didn't pick him to bat at three. He cited the hundred in Perth in 2017 and this year's big scores for Yorkshire before predicting near-certain success with the method that brought those runs. It is sad, indeed, that he didn't live to see the fulfillment of his prophecy in Malan's fine innings yesterday. He liked the look of James Vince and Zak Crawley too, cricketers who stand tall and play with freedom. He got a lot right, this man of Radley, Cambridge, Sussex and England.

Tall himself, strong, handsome and impossibly glamorous, Edward Ralph Dexter caught everyone's eye. With the golden Susan Longfield on his arm, they cut quite a dash and cared little for the sniping that came from those less blessed. The enigma in him - and how! - was often confused with indifference, and though cricket has remained his other great love, it was never the be-all and end-all for him - a fact that made his appearances all the more cherished and his company all the more engaging. It is remarkable to think that he first retired as far back as 1965, before returning briefly in 1968 to make a double-hundred at Hastings against Kent and be immediately recalled to the England team for the Ashes. In the brilliant photograph (above) of the moment when Derek Underwood claims the final wicket at The Oval, Ted is caught spinning to appeal for lbw with a face that smacks of a lifelong instinct for competition and achievement.

"Ted was a man of moods, often caught up in theories, keen when the action was hot, seemingly uninterested when the game was dull... a big-time player, one who responded to atmosphere, liked action and enjoyed the chase and gamble. Maybe this was the reason he was drawn to horse racing so that a dull day stalking the covers might be enlivened for him by thoughts of how his money was faring on the 3:15 at Ascot or Goodwood." — John Snow

Richie Benaud and Dexter in Sydney during the 1963-64 Ashes Frank Albert Charles Burke / Fairfax Media/Getty Images

And Snow would know for he was not the type to rise above those grey days of county cricket when the stakes were so low. Snow and Dexter, my first heroes, along with Jimmy Greaves and George Best, Muhammad Ali, the Beatles and the Stones - all of them important figures at 29 Queensdale Road, where the young Nicholas grew up with vinyl records and cared-for willow, narrow-grained and well-oiled for the garden Test matches that England forever won.

Much of the 1960s were about rebellion, revolution even, in response to the age of austerity. After the long and mainly drab post-war years, the young simply broke free and changed pretty much anything they could get their hands on. Music and fashion led the way, leaving sport's establishment to stutter in their wake. Only a few precious players could transcend the inertia, using both their talent and expression to delight the crowds and influence the young. Cricket was my thing, Dexter and Snow were the wind beneath my wings.

In Snow there truly was rebellion, against authority and the system it supported. This was not so in Dexter's case, though his free spirit and somewhat cavalier approach to responsibility gave the impression of one determined to ruffle feathers. From the outset he adored sport, worked harder than some might think at his books, and embraced diversions with the enthusiasm of a man who had more to do than could ever be done.

In many ways Ted was a contradiction: at once a conformist, as shaped by the early years of his life at home and school, and a modernist, whose lateral thinking did much to reform the structure of English cricket during his time as chairman of selectors. Richie Benaud observed that Ted's imagination and drive "will be of great benefit to English cricket in years to come. Equally, I'm in no doubt that others will take the credit for it." The rebellion in Ted was hardly radicalised but he loved to challenge conservative thinking, to take risks and to invest in his life as an adventure. Both on and off the field, this made for a terrific watch.

The best of Ted: Dexter on his way to 70 against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith at Lord's, June 1963 PA Photos

He thought the Hundred a good wheeze and admitted he would rather like to have played it himself. He was, of course, the original thinker about one-day cricket, supporting its conception as early as the late 1950s and then leading Sussex to the first two 60-over titles at Lord's in the Gillette Cup. He paid close attention to the tactics and convinced his men that following them to the letter would do the trick. Which it did. He pushed for four-day county matches 27 years before they were incorporated and he founded the idea of central contracts for England players long before other teams caught the bug.

He was proud of his part in the development of the spirit of cricket, applying golf's moral high ground to the game that made his name. Through his own PR agency, he became a pioneer in cricket's digital-technology revolution by inventing the system of Test match rankings that first announced itself under the banner of Deloitte and is now the ICC international rankings.

On a Zoom call a couple of months back, with tongue firmly in cheek, he said, "Having a rather high opinion of myself, I can safely say that had the rankings been in place sometime around the mid part of the 1963 summer, I would have been the No. 1-rated batsman in the world." We had special guests on these calls - Mike Atherton, Michael Vaughan, Ed Smith, Robin Marlar, Sir Tim Rice and more - all keen to share a drink, chew the cud and have a laugh with the game's most original and forward-thinking mind.

Champagne days: (from left) Fred Trueman, Dexter, David Sheppard and Colin Cowdrey celebrate after winning the Melbourne Test, January 1963 PA Photos/Getty Images

We cannot jump past golf without mentioning the game at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney when Ted partnered Norman Von Nida against Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. So enamoured of Ted's golf were they that Nicklaus suggested Ted follow him back to the USA for a crack at the tour. Player has long said that Ted was the best amateur ball-striker he ever saw and Von Nida just thanked him for securing the one-up triumph that day. Eighteen months ago Player told me that in their one head to head with each other, Ted beat him up the last at Sunningdale, receiving only four shots. "Little so-and-so," said Ted, "we played level!" They were due for a game last summer but Covid stood firmly between them. The last time I played with Ted, two summers ago now, he beat his age, shooting 83 round the Old Course at Sunningdale without breaking a sweat.

This was a man of Jaguar cars, Norton motorbikes, greyhounds, race horses and an Aztec light airplane that, in 1970, he piloted to Australia with his young family beside him, to cover the Ashes as a journalist. They flew 12,000 miles and made about two dozen stops at British military bases along the way.

Ted married the very beautiful Susan soon after returning from Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 1959. How she is hurting today. So too Genevieve, Tom and the grandchildren.

There was an eccentricity in him that was occasionally misunderstood but otherwise immensely appealing and it is with that in mind, that I turn to the man himself for the final word. It comes from his blog, which is a splendid read and will remain a platform for the family to share their thoughts about this husband, father and grandfather who brought us so much joy.

Dexter and Frank Worrell at a BBC interview with Peter West, August 1963 Harry Todd / Fox Photos/Getty Images

It was in my last term at Radley College when I had a hard game of rackets in the morning, scored 3 tries with two conversions for the 1st XV in the afternoon, was heard listening to operatic voices in the early evening, before repairing to the Grand Piano in the Mansion and knocking off a couple of Chopin preludes. "Quite the Renaissance man it seems" said my Social Tutor and I admit I liked the sound of it, if not quite knowing what it meant.

The Encyclopaedia Brittanica description of Renaissance man (or polymath) is as follows: one who seeks to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development and social accomplishment and in the arts. A point is made that you do not need to excel at any one activity. It is enough to tackle it seriously and see how far you get. I like the physical development bit obviously and I feel the social accomplishment bit is covered by my willingness to take on responsibilities all my life. Perhaps the arts bit is a bit shaky but a love for music, and particularly opera, and love of language - being fairly fluent in French, Italian, rudimentary German and Spanish - may be some modest qualifications."

Some different cat, huh. What a man. What a cricketer. Goodbye Ted, and thank you.

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