After a day of rain things brighten up, and the setting is idyllic.
The orbiting Cassini, meanwhile, made out "lakes, volcanoes, evidence of rain, things that could be glacial, you name it a plethora of things that looked like they came out of a textbook on Earth geomorphology".
"That was kind of a 'Rain Man' thing to say".
And even yesterday, the rain slowed things up quite a bit.
They were 192 for one when rain brought things to a premature conclusion after 28 overs.
"It's an open-air arena, so you kind of have to prepare for rain and things like that".
When the conversation veered to the weather, Manning reported, "It was a little hot, but the rain cooled things off a little bit".
"We feel climate change when the local well is dry and the extra heat is stopping the baby from sleeping at night," says Joana. "We have less rain and things grow less".
So it was 10-6 at half-time, the wind cold and swirling, and the rain making things extra difficult: Rome, Edinburgh and Twickenham on the Six Nations final day seemed a long way away, then two of the players with only minor roles on that day, Chris Cusiter with Scotland and Cipriani with England, combined to create the game's only memorable moment.
The South African quartet of pacemen who had tormented England at the Oval and buoyed now by a first innings total of 419 – riches after being put in to bat – thundered in at Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook for 18 overs before bad light and then rain brought things to a premature conclusion with 22 overs of the day still to be bowled.
