A day at the tennis

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The weekend after Cardiff was spent recovering from a small cold that had mainly been caused by running around in a sleeveless top until 5 or so in the morning whilst in Cardiff. Surprised I have not learnt from that one as yet! To add to my woes the temperatures hit a sweltering 29 deg Celsius on the Sunday and so the pressure was on to be outdoors, tanning and eating ice-cream. This line up of activities was eagerly supported by the girls of the house, except me. Being South African does not automatically equip me with the ability to withstand heat, or to appreciate the sweat dripping down as I lay in the sun with a grin on my face. I failed at handling the heat, sat under a brollie for most of the time (despite being ridiculed) and when I couldn’t handle the heat anymore, I moved inside. What had happened to the London weather I have come to know and love? Dark, grey skies, drizzle all day long, doom and gloom? Sorely disappointing. Fortunately I have another month here, so am looking forward to some real UK weather.
So when it was suggested that we do the famous Wimbledon queue on Monday, I had mixed emotions. Actually I was super excited until it had clicked that the Monday was set to be even hotter than the Sunday. Like 31 degrees. Oooh. Dear. London transport system is by no means prepared for heat. Cold they can do, central heating the have. Airconditioning, however, appears to be both a foreign word and concept for them.
On Monday morning I awoke with the same kind of excitement that one has when you are a kid and it is Christmas day. No trip to Wimbledon tennis is complete without strawberries and cream, I was told. If you are going to do the tennis, you have to do it as the stereo type dictates. So, I packed a picnic bag with ice packs, some ice-lollies, cream, strawberries, water, a brollie (incase it rained but more for the imminent heat I was to expose myself to), and a jacket. When one goes out in the UK one has to learn to prepare, even if proven unnecessary at times, for ALL weather conditions. As I was standing at the train station patiently awaiting my train into Wimbledon, I was somewhat protected from the heat, by the cooling effect that the back pack provided. It was only when I got on the train that I realised it was so cool because the bag was leaking and I now had a big wet patch situated on my lower back of my dress. Not the look I was exactly going for! Met Kel at the police station (as she works there) and got a lift to the tennis grounds.
And then the waiting began. We started our hard work of standing in the queue at 2pm. Finding various things to do to keep our mind off by the fact that we were standing in the queue for 3 hours, was interesting. Being allocated a queue number and being in a queue that has strict rules governing it, gave us the opportunity to go off every now and again to buy something cold to drink, sit on the grass and eat strawberries, and just chill. We finally reached the gates a little after 5pm and got in to the very full tennis in time to watch the Nadal Vs del Potro game from Murray Mound. The place was packed, but the game was a very good and close one and we enjoyed just being around in what had become a beautiful summer’s evening. After a bit of tennis watching, eating the rest of our food we had brought, having a coffee and walking around the tennis courts, we headed back home by 9pm happy and content that we had made it in and managed to watch some tennis. It was really an experience and I am very happy I braved the heat to stand in the queue. The Wimbledon queue is a long standing tradition, many thousands of people stand there in the hope that they will get tickets to the grounds, and some even camp overnight. I am now and always will be, a part of that long standing tradition, and very happy about it. I don’t do queue’s but would do this one again in a heartbeat!

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Photos

The Queue
Famous Queue at Wimbledon Tennis grounds

Game from Murray Mound
Game of Nadal Vs del Potro shown in huge tv screen on Murray Mound for those of us that never bought centre court tickets

water feature
pretty water feature in the Wimbledon Tennis grounds