Strawberries and Cream

This is my favourite time of year. The evenings are long – not getting truly dark until about 11pm – the mornings are bright, the weather is (sometimes) glorious, the trees and bushes are at their height of greenness and there is Wimbledon on the TV and radio.

As you know, I am a bit of a sports nut. Football is my main game, but I have always loved Wimbledon fortnight. It is something that I have grown up watching, always on the BBC, and I fondly remember listening to the tennis on the radio, in Victoria Park in Bath, after my exams had finished when I was a student in the city. Nowadays I always make a point of taking leave for at least one of the two weeks of Wimbledon, so that I can fully enjoy the vibe of the fortnight.

Last year we were extremely lucky to get tickets on Centre Court for the second day of play, and got to see Venus Williams, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray all play. It was a dream come true, and the actual experience of being there did not disappoint after all those years of expectation. Of course, we obviously had to do the “Strawberries and Cream” thing while we were there, as seen here:



Dori blogged about our trip to Wimbledon at the time, check out what she had to say here.

As this is Wimbledon fortnight, I have been on leave since last Friday, and we have had a quiet week so far. The untimely passing of Michael Jackson, on Thursday evening, left us both feeling rather flat for a good few days. It has been difficult getting up the enthusiasm for doing much of anything. Over the last couple of days though we have stirred ourselves into action and started to get some of those “I’ll do it when I get time” jobs completed. This morning it was gardening and mowing of the lawns, which we completed earlier in the day as it has been getting quite hot in the afternoons over the last few days. Doing the jobs early in the day also means that the afternoons are free to enjoy the tennis :-)

Today is men’s quarter-finals day, and, as I write this, Roger Federer is already through to the semis and Andy Murray is trying to emulate that feat. Here in the UK there is considerable excitement and anticipation that Murray could become the first British male player to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry way back in 1936. Of course, there is still a good deal of work to do before that could happen, and I think Federer must still remain favourite at this point. But if the first full match to be played under Wimbledon’s new Centre Court roof is anything to go by, Murray could provide a lot more thrills and spills in the coming few days!

Now, back to the tennis.....