Whasblog

Well (it seems such a good word to start a blog with), I suppose it I think about it, I do have quite a lot to report on. I’ll start with Wimbledon as John mentioned it at the end of his last blog. Alas, I do not want to fall into the same trap as he does when he works at Jessops as I could quite easily write an entire essay on the subject.

We (Damian, Ophelia, my sister Dionne and her husband Martin) went to SW19 on the 23rd June, the first day of the tournament. We woke up at half past 4 (it was worth it) and caught the train at about 6ish. When we arrived at Wimbledon, it was about half 7. There was only one queue to get into the grounds this year (if you hadn’t bought a ticket previously) instead of two so instead of queueing up just outside on the road, we were sent to the far end of a VERY large field and about 20 minutes later, were told that we just over 3000th in the queue. Luckily, the weather was nice and we spent the next four hours queueing for coffee and doing sudoku as well as having friendly arguments with fellow queuers about who we were backing for the trophy.

After looking at the order of play, we went to court 11 and stayed there for pretty much the whole day. We saw Elena Baltacha win her first round match and Alex Bogdanovic lose his. This actually proved to be very useful as last year, I managed to get Elena’s autograph. However, I was confused as it appears to say ‘Billy’. Apparently, her family call her ‘Bally’ and we joined it screaming “Come on Bally” at the top of our voices. Then we had a real treat. The third match scheduled for our court was Martat Safin!! He is even taller in real life than on tv although that was highlighted by the fact that his opponent was Fabio Fognini who looks as if he could comfortably rest his head on my shoulders. Fee and I were so excited that we spent quite a lot of time persuading the court attendants, who had the reserved front row to leap out of the way at the end of the match so we could scramble down and get his autograph. Which we did, very successfully. Although I did feel a tad bad as poor old Marat was totally surrounded by people and he looked petrified! Who could know that a scribble on a piece of paper could mean so much?

By this time, it was about half past 8. So we wondered around the shops etc and went on a few more courts to catch the last few glimpses of live play. By about quarter past 9 we were shattered though and decided to call it a day. We got home about half 11 and were totally exhausted. We were pleased to know that we were on tv for quite some time both in Elena’s and Marat’s matches. Fee asked Elena for her autograph so we were on the highlights.

Just more, briefly, on the subject of Wimbledon. I have never been so emotionally drained as I was on finals day. Coverage started about half 1 (although they didn’t start playing until about half 2 due to rain delays) and I was glued to the tv until half 9 when the match finally finished. I was in tears before they’d even started playing, just hearing Roger and particularly Raphael give their rendition of the poem “If”. I love his Spanish accent..I went through the highs of Rafa being 2-0 sets up and the fear of knowing that the world’s best tennis player wouldn’t give up so easily and wondering what was going on and the lows when Roger levelled the match and even got ahead in the 5th. I was on my own towards the concluding stages of the match and I was so nervous and had to jump in my car and drive up the hill to my sister Adele’s house because I couldn’t stand watching it alone! But the joy (and relief) I felt when he won was immense. I used to ridicule people (if not openly, then mentally) who cared so much about sport. But it was the best match I’ve ever seen in my life and I will never forget watching Raphael drop to the ground whilst screaming at the tv in happiness..it was great.

Enough of that. Other news. Hopefully, I will be going back to college soon! I talked to my boss about the possibility of becoming a dental nurse and he said that he is happy to train me. So I have applied to a course that begins in September (as you now have to have the piece of paper as well as the experience to qualify). I have already started learning the odd few bits and pieces but I’m just really hoping they’ll accpet my application. So I’ll keep you guys posted.

Something else which I find really exciting is that our big assembly at Twickenham is coming up again. Every year we have a drama (about 45 mins long) of a Biblical scene that we can learn from. It’s always a highlight of the three days but Damian is actually participating this year! For us, it is a massive privilege to be asked and I can’t wait to see him with his sandals and tunic- plus, it’ll be great to see him a bit browner as they have to wear fake tan to be more authentic. 25,000 is pretty good for your first audience!

Hope you are all well.

Robyn.

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