Game, Set and Match...

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling

Today would have been the first day of Wimbledon. Like many other sporting events, it has been cancelled due to coronavirus. I shall miss my daily fix of the Championships, watching matches whilst eating my tea, or listening on the radio whilst driving.

Not that I am a tennis player. I once went on a tennis course during the school holidays, but I am no Johanna Konta. More ball girl on one of the outside courts. But I do love to watch Wimbles and have even been lucky enough to head down to SW19 to watch a few shots. I have never applied for tickets, but have been part of the daily queue to gain entrance to the ground. All part of the tennis experience.

I first went to Wimbledon with the school. I loved the whole atmosphere, was fixated with the speed of the game and power of the serve. I took some photos of Roscoe Tanner (showing my age here), squeezed onto the centre court to glimpse Virgina Wade, and saw Bjorn Borg in the car park. Yep, I was mixing with the stars. 

Fast forward ten plus years. In my twenties, my friend Amanda and I decided to head down to Wimbledon for the day. We queued up in the local park, patiently waiting to gain entrance, bought a programme to plan our day, visited various courts to watch a variety of tennis players, treated ourselves to a wee Pimms and mingled with other tennis fans. It was fabulous! So fabulous, in fact, that we visited on and off for a number of years. 

After a break of about fifteen years, (fifteen - love?) I decided I wanted to go back to the All England Club and take in the atmosphere and excitement of the Championships. This time I took my friend Debs, who had never been before. We headed down for the day, walked from Southfields Tube station to the park and were greeted with a well-planned and organised queueing system, something that I did not recognise! We shuffled obediently along until we got into the ground. It was a hot day and we had taken our own Pimms and strawberries, found a seat on court number four and spent a happy couple of hours taking in the game. We wandered round the grounds stopping to watch various games on the outside courts, bought another Pimms and headed for Henman Hill or Murray Mound to watch a centre court cliff-hanger match on the big screen before heading home in the evening, tired but happy.

So I, for one, will miss my yearly fix of match points and extra-ordinary shots, the John McEnroe & Tim Henman commentary and retractable roof, the sound of ball on bat and the ooo's and arrrr's of the crowd. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the Championships were last cancelled in World War Two, so hopefully it will be back in full force next year. There may even be a visit down to South London next June...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Socially Distanced Alternative?

Image
Matchlock Musket or Brown Bess?  As debate rages whether the Prime Minister will reduce social distancing from 2m to 1m tomorrow, I think we may have the answer for our visitors. Like many other businesses, we at the Museum have a range of posters and floor stickers in production, hazard tape at the ready and a socially 2m safe layout in the pipeline. Or  perhaps we should consider alterna tives to ensure people don't get too close... Let me introduce you to the Brown Bess, o r 'British (Long) Land Pattern Musket' to give it  it's proper name,  used between 1722  and 1838. There are plenty of variations to this flintlock weapon, but at a metre and a half long, it is well on its way to being a useful tool in social distancing. Although the len gth of the Brown Bess did decrease during its long and illustrious history. The Brown Bess was the standard musket of the British military, used in battles such as Culloden and Waterloo. It was the first mass-produced weapon for th
Read more

Once a Guide, Always a Guide...

Image
T onight is another night out in the garden camping. Tonight we are having a Ranger Guide campout with all the girls either camping in their garden or inside their house. We have arranged a call at 7pm and may even burst into song with a virtual campfire. We have all arranged to photograph the evidence of our group sleep out and post it in our WhatsApp group. Luckily the weather is good and it is set to be a warm night so we shouldn't have many mishaps. We were due to go camping as a unit in July but this is unlikely to happen. It is good to encourage the girls to enjoy the great outdoors and camping is an excellent way to introduce them to this primitive way of living outside. I have camped since I was a Guide enjoying weekends, weeks and even longer camps all across the Country from Cornwall to Scotland, Yorkshire to Norfolk. Obviously the weather is a factor in making camp a wonderful experience but it is good to teach the girls that you can still have a great time in the wind a
Read more

Anti-Bacterial wipes for the Medieval Castle?

Image
As part of preparations for opening the Museum staff volunteered to go round the Castle to check out preparations for opening tomorrow.  Not everywhere on the site can be open (medieval castles are not known for social distancing) but one area that could prove interesting will be the dungeons in the Keep. These rooms are all the more fascinating as they are home to the infamous 'licking stones.' I was once asked by a friend to help with her infant class on a visit to the Castle. Obviously, they got all the spiel spiced with kiddie-friendly humour and when we entered to dungeons, I built up the tension and relayed the Jacobite 'licking stone' story. 'Errr' many of the kids commented when I shared the licking stone story 'that's horrible!' which why it was more surprising when one of the wee kids said to me 'Miss, miss. I've just licked the stones!' Joy, oh joy. Not sure that was on any risk assessment. Now I am not actively encouraging vis
Read more