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Famous Kipling Quote
I had to ask the guard to take this photo for me. The Kipling quote is posted just above the player's entrance to Centre Court Gangway 210, Row J, Seat 352. That my dear friends, is my seat in Centre Court, Wimbledon, Friday, June 26, 2009. I got to see Novak Djokovich take apart an American named Mardy Fish. It was almost embarrassing rooting for a guy named Mardy,and a last name Fish. But the crowds were clearly rooting for him, as they hate Djok. He is known as a poor sportsman, and uses every bit of the rules to his advantage. This would be frequent potty breaks and "injury" timeouts.
I arrived a little later than normal, but it still takes over three hours to do the queue. I met the nicest family from Dallas, the Korineks, and four of their five children. One son, Alex is an aspiring junior player, who may make this show one day. We split after going into the gates, and joined up again for the Centre Court extravaganza. However, I must say that although Centre Court has its mystique, I much preferred the ambience in Court #1.
I also had another helping of fish and chips, by far their best food item here, not counting Hagen Dazs. It was much cooler today, since it rained a bit
Another Queue for Centre Court
This queue starts at 10:31am, but I got in line about 4pm. last night. I did break out my rain poncho from Peru for about 5 minutes only. But the queue was fun with my new friends from Dallas.
Now for the best part, I met Ross, a crazy Brit who was pitching a British flag tent for Saturday's big tennis matches. They say Saturday is the only day that requires an overnight stay just to get in the queue. He said he has been doing this for 21 years. He wore the British jack T shirt, slacks, hat, and underwear.
I also met a couple American teachers, visiting from Fez, Morocco, where they teach at the International School. They were originally from Dallas, and enjoyed talking to my new friends. They said trying to learn Arabic is VERY difficult.
I sat next to two more Brits at Centre Court. Both guys are plasterers. I seem to attract them, as I did yesterday. They said the two Italian ex-pat Venetian plaster guys from yesterday are just a bunch of hucksters trying to sell crown molding.
I climbed up to the top of Henman Hill around 2pm and took a 20-30 minute nap. I guess the full days, standing in queues, watching tennis, and carb loading has taken its toll on me. Plus I have not had any alcohol, other than the Pimms #1 on Day 1.
Tomorrow, I will take a bus tour to famous Stonehenge. I have been looking forward to it for many years. I just was not interested in going there on my previous trips here. I will try to make the big Harrod's Annual Sale before the bus tour.
The day before, I met a bunch of crazies on Court 4. First, an ex-pat who said he was having trouble meeting British women. Second, a bunch of locals who were drinking at 10am. Third, some totally off the wall Germans who have been coming to Wimbledon for 28 years. But at least they knew about our dog, Buddy's breed, the Jagdterrier, or German Hunting Terrier. Quite common back home they chorused in unison.
I got to see some great matches, including the 8th seed, Gilles Simon, the fabulous and popular Williams Sister Act, and the new English women's sensation, Elena Baltacha. But the highlight was making my way to Court #1, where I saw a great match with Fernando Gonzalez, the 10th seed from Chile. He is quite the entertainer. They even did the wave for him to get him charged up. I only had to wait in the queue for Court 1 for about 30 minutes. I met two crazy Italian expats, who tried to sell me some Venetian plaster.
Nothing against the Brits (Tom, excuse this), but they have some horrifically bad breath or Britishtosis, as I call it. It is tough to take. They make the Italians smell like walking Listerine bottles.
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