Category Archives: Events

Tantrums and Tiaras at Battersea Park

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Tonight Sandra arranged for a group of us to go see the Bonfire and the Fireworks at Battersea Park. It didn’t hit me until I got there that she was the only one from the south and that the rest of us had to travel from the north to get there! LOL. Well, organisers privilege as they say. Going back to Battersea Park brought back some fond memories of my first ever Guy Fawkes night as it as was actually my first bonfire night in London way back in 2004.

Apparently over 41,000 people were expected to come to Battersea Park tonight and I’d say that was a fair call. Surprisingly it wasn’t too hard getting to and from the park though we were packed in like sardines in the trains from Victoria.

We got there just in time for the bonfire. However we somehow managed to lose James and Trish within the first ten minutes of arriving. They went off to look for food and we didn’t see them for the rest of the night! Granted there were so many people in the park and on their phones that we couldn’t even get through to them on the mobile network. The bonfire was nice and huge, even though a bit of me felt a bit a twinge for the environmental impact, so I hope that wherever they ended up they enjoyed it.

The fireworks started not too long after the bonfire had burnt down though it was a bit delayed actually getting started. The fireworks of course garnered the usual oohs and aahs though at the end of it I didn’t feel THAT impressed and the display didn’t go for as long as I was expected (just over 20 minutes which I guess is still quite reasonable.) On the other hand the music that accompanied it was well chosen and suited the fireworks.

Unfortunately my expectations are so high now as I’ve seen so many now that I’ve been spoilt! Still – I could watch fireworks all day and all night irrespective of quality. Heck put a sparkler in front of me and I’m happy.

Video footage is here.

Latin American Fiesta

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Every year Bertha helps out the Anglo Latin American Foundation to raise money for the children of Latin In the TaxiAmerica at the Latin American Fiesta. This year she invited us along, so Mirela and I thought that instead of attending as visitors we’d volunteer to help out. The Fiesta brings together the regional foods, drinks, arts and craft and music of the Latin America countries including Honduras (which was our table), Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Repulic, Mexico, etc.

The day started fairly early for us as we had to transport all the masses of food from Bertha’s flat to The TV in the TaxiKensington Town Hall. Since we had so much to bring with us we took a black cab. I love traveling around in black cabs though I think it has been about two years since I’ve been in one! Interestingly ours even had a little tv screen to entertain passengers.

Setting up our stall was a little disorganized and Mirela and I were running around the table constantly Honorary Honduranstrying to work out what was happening. Eventually we got set up and not moment too soon as even before the fiesta opened at noon we already had customers from the other countries around us! It didn’t actually take too long for a steady flow of the public to come by. In fact right up until about six, when Mirela and I left because we were so tired, the people flow didn’t actually stop. I think we managed only because the Honduran ambassador kept buying us shots of caipirinha! Bertha was a star all day – I don’t know where she got the energy but she was able to spell us a few breaks so we could go check out the other food stalls and the dancing and arts and craft in other areas of the town hall.

It was great fun and I absolutely loved hearing all the Spanish around me. Interestingly a couple of people randomly asked me where I was from in Latin America – and this wasn’t even when I was at the stall. Very funny. Here are some photos from the day:

Australia goes down in 2007 World Cup Quarter Final

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So, today Pauline, James and I had planned to watch the Aussies battle the English, our vanquishers in the final of the 2003 World Cup Final, with Pauline and I hoping that the Aussies would get a little revenge on the English and take the game. Sadly, it was not meant to be. The signs were really all there from beginning when we didn’t find a venue to watch the match until well in the first half despite turning up at the Walkabout an hour and a half before the match began!

James and I met up at 12.30pm at Temple Walkabout, the match started at 2, and by then, even though it had only been open for about half an hour, it was already heaving. Pauline was meeting us later so in a not so brilliant move and with our stomachs leading us James and I thought we would leave and go for a quick walk to Embankment to grab some lunch first. By the time we got back to Temple at around 1.30pm the line to get in was huge and was going nowhere very fast. Pauline and I headed up to the front of the queue to see what the odds of us getting in were and we got a resounding Not A Chance from the bouncer. You can see just what James and Pauline thought about this:

We decided to cut our losses and try other venues so we tried Porterhouse which was absolutely manic inside and out but especially down in the basement. The funniest moment was when we were trying to find somewhere to stand down in the basement and it was so crowded that you literally had to push people out of your way to even get anywhere and suddenly Pauline and I lost James. To this day we don’t even know how it happened but all I know was that suddenly all I could see over Pauline’s head were some really tall people. From there we went on to try the Covent Garden Walkabout which had its own line to get in and finally we headed back to the Bell and Compass where, even though we didn’t have the greatest view of the TV and at all times weren’t really sure what the score were, at least we had some seats.

As you can probably tell the game wasn’t the greatest (from an Aussie point of view) so what all this blog entry has been about is our journey to the pub. After the game we decided to head back to Temple Walkabout to see what was going on. What a surprise – yet another line to get in. We waited it out this time and managed to make it in. Crazy. Our lesson from this is get there at opening or get there early and get one of the stamps that allows re-entry which James demonstrates below. And if you really care – England took the game without scoring a try 12-10:

The Line Again The Stamp

AFL Grand Final 2007

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Roof of WalkaboutAs I mentioned in an earlier post I got up at stupid o’clock this morning to join Big Screenhundreds of others at the Shaftesbury Walkabout to see the Geelong Cats battle the Port Adelaide Power in the 2007 grand final of the Australian Football League.

These two teams finished one and two in the premiership this year and therefore were fitting finalists. The Cats, however, clearly had the support of those in the Walkabout although the small pocket of Power supporters did their best to show their support.

This kind of event is so popular that all the Walkabouts required tickets to be pre-purchased – £15 bought YumBig Screenyou entry, two drinks and a breakfast bap/meat pie. At 5am in the morning the Walkabout crowd were suprisingly, and quite scarily, eager to get to their pints. Drinking beer to me at any time of day is disgusting but at 5 in the morning – truly gross! So, despite evidence to the contrary, as in the photo to the left, I just stuck to my OJ and lemonade (boring I know!) and my bacon bap which was tasty and very welcome though difficult to eat as were jostled about by the heaving crowd. At some point Pauline, James and I even got separated from Brendan and Cameron. It was pretty mad. Managed to get in some “in the crowd” photos though:

The game was fairly good though very one-sided to the pleasure of those in the Walkabout. The Cats absolutely killed the Power and the 163-44 scoreline in The Cats favour, which smashed the previous largest winning margin in a final by 23 points, was only a small reflection of just how much The Cats dominated.

In other, and maybe more slightly interesting news to the general public who have no clue what aussie rules is, but who may have more of a clue about Neighbours we were joined at Walkabout by none other than the current Vegemite Tales stars: Blair McDonough and Jonathon Dutton. The funniest thing was that it was Brendan and Cameron who first spotted the two “celebs”!

Here are some stalkarazzi shots (though note that some were purely coincidental like the one of Blair making out with his girl – it wasn’t my fault they were standing so close to us and they “happened’ to get into my shot – and its purely coincidental that all the photos focussed on the hunky Blair …)

England v. Russia

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Hail Michael Owen as he scores a double to lead England to victory in tonight’s match against Russia.

My “results” so far at Wembley for England matches have included a draw and a loss so today I was looking forward to England bringing home a win so that my scorecard could at least read 1-1-1. This is the first match I’ve seen England play that has actually had something at stake, being one of the qualifying matches for Euro 2008. Strangely enough there was less atmosphere than there has been in the previous matches that I’ve seen against Brazil and Germany. On the other hand I seemed to be sitting next to some of the more raucous supporters and I’m pretty sure I’m temporarily slightly deaf in my right ear as a result!

The good news from tonight is that England came up with the goods in their 3-0 defeat of Russia. The bad news is that whilst play was particularly energetic and spirited on England’s behalf in the first half of the game the second half was a rather dreary display. The result could have been so very different if Russia’s goal in the first half hadn’t been disallowed.

I felt a little disappointed for the players when the crowd started to leave the stadium about 10 minutes from the end of the game though I could understand the motivation for trying to get to the tube/train as quickly as possible. Once again on leaving Wembley it took us nearly an hour to get on to the tube. Ah well.

England v Germany Friendly

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It seems that now that Jules, Sandra and Fatkins have joined as paying englandfans obtaining tickets to England’s international matches has become a lot easier. The tickets this time were apparently in the band section so although we were going to be close to the ground it was guaranteed to be a noisy experience with the band behind us.

We decided to head to Wembley from Baker Street which was a bit closer than Piccadilly Circus. The area around Baker Street itself was absolutely heaving with revelers with everyone spilling practically on to the road in the nearby pubs. Despite the apparently mania however things were fairly calm and there was no sign of trouble anywhere. The Met Line into Wembley was quite quick although once again packed to the seams and very warm. No singing and dancing by supporters this time though as there was hardly any room to do so.

The Build-up

As anyone who knows history would have probably realised there was going to be quite a bit of feeling around this “friendly” between England and Germany. As a result the England and German fans were notably separated from the outset though that didn’t stop taunts being shouted across the barriers:

This spirt continued on during the match and I almost felt a bit sorry for the Germanys as the English were almost abusive with their cheering. As expected the band were in great form and were a constant source of support for the England fans and the England team.

The Game

It was a disappointing 1-2 loss by England as I think that at the very least they should have come away with a draw. When England scored early I thought the team was on target for a good result but then an awful error by the England keeper let Germany back in to level the score at 1-1.

Despite England seeming to have all the opportunities throughout the game it was Germany who managed to capitalise on their chances and sadly England walked away with 1-2 scoreline.

It wasn’t all a loss though as I had plenty of up-close views of Mr David Beckham, and he was in fairly good form.

Getting home from Wembley

Our seats were waaaaaay on the wrong side of the stadium to make getting to the tube station easy so by the time that Fatkins and I got there the queues stretched all the way up Wembley Way. To ensure that no one on the platform was accidentally pushed off and on to the train tracks the queues were being held up at various stages by lines of horses. It took us over an hour to move about two hundred metres but at least we weren’t fighting to get on to the tube once we got to the platform.

More photos here.

The Festival Edinburgh

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How to report about our Festival Edinburgh experience and do it justice. This is the dilemma that faces me. Its certainly one of the best times to visit Edinburgh and I think something worth doing again. The buzz, the high spirits, the festivity, the all around general good time feeling is one that shouldn’t be missed. Okay – enough with these adjectives and on with the show! Photos here.

When? Mid Aug 2007
Why Go? I think I’ve covered myself in the introduction – the buzz, the opportunity to see lots of cool acts, just all general good fun times.
Hints The Tattoo. Do what you can to get tickets to the Military Tattoo (sell your first born child if you have to … kidding) including calling every opportunity you have to get resale tickets if at first you don’t succeed. Its worth it – trust me!
The Fringe. If you want to see the bigger more famous acts at the Fringe try and get tickets before you get to Edinburgh – chances are they would have sold out by the time you get there. Or, if you like to fly by the seat of your pants and don’t mind giving the lesser known acts a go wait until you get to the city and get your tickets from the half price booth. Either way, getting a Fringe guide ahead of time helps you sort through the literally hundreds of performances on offer. All is not lost however if you don’t do any sort of planning (like us) as if they do what they did this year, there will be a tent where they had a tent which allowed you to browse for shows online and purchase the tickets right then and there. Brilliant idea.
Accommodation. Book as far in advance as you can!

Festival Edinburgh truly offers a lot to the visitor but the reason I was drawn to Edinburgh at this time of year was mainly the Fringe Festival and the Military Tattoo. When we arrived in Edinburgh on Friday the choices on offer for the Fringe was so overwhelming that we had to put off buying tickets until we’d had a chance to review the Guide so our first “event” was the Military Tattoo that evening.

The Military Tattoo

Technically a military tattoo is a military drum performance (thanks wikipedia.) There is apparently a historical singificance in that it was used to call the soldiers back to the barracks to turn in for the night. Nowadays it has become a big show and the Tattoo in Edinburgh is definitely one of the biggest and broadcast to millions around the world. Actually the night we went (and the next few nights after that) were being filmed for tv so there’s a miniscule chance we’ll get on the tube!

The Tattoo is held in a courtyard in front of Edinburgh Castle which is pretty cool. There were drums and of course bagpipes galore during the evening but my two favourite performances came from Taipei First Girls’ Senior High School who put on a brilliant display of air rifle throwing (I’m sure there’s a technical term for it) and marching and the The Imps Motor Cycle Display Team who demonstrated a few tricks on the motor cycles (name sort of gives it away doesn’t it.) The tricks included riding their bikes backwards and forming pyramids. I think the youngest rider was about 4 years old and didn’t he have the most adorable little mini motor bike. Too cute! We had some interesting international performances as well including the musical Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra and The Band of The Moscow Military Conservatoire where some strange man (or woman I guess!) in a bear suit was dancing around.

And, to Sandra’s delight, we even got a few fireworks. It was a really good night though it must be noted that the seats are very very cosy indeed!

The Fringe

Early Saturday morning we decided to hit the ticket tent and sort out our shows for the weekend. We must have been quite comical because we kept running outside to check the half price ticket booth and then running back into the tent to check out the reviews for the show. It was madness but funny at the same time. We ended up with a fairly good variety of shows I think but it was only really after we’d seen all the shows that I realised just how busy our schedule was. Actually we made most of our shows with plenty of time to spare except one – which was the result of another show starting late and therefore running over and then us rushing to the wrong venue!

Here is what we saw and here is what we thought!

What? Say What? My Thoughts Sandra’s Thoughts
Breakout Think JUMP! but set in prison. Extreme Dance Comedy. Breakdancing and beatboxing. The breakdancing was awesome and the beatboxing was not too shabby either (though sometimes it went on a bit.) The comedy wasn’t too bad though sometimes it descended into cheese. Some of the guys had very nice bodies. I was impressed that the girls were in there breakdancing as well as hard as the guys. Strange story. Could do with some work but before long I’m sure we’ll be seeing them in London’s Peacock Theatre. Its okay. Nothing special. Please explain what the frog was?
Sista She and The House of the Holy Bootay Three ladies bring us comedy set to hip hop. There’s singing, there’s rapping, there’s dancing and costume changes. In a word brilliant. This show was probably my favourite of the weekend – it had me in stitches and I could bop (safely in my chair of course) to good music at the same time. The ladies somehow seemed to tackle a few deeper issues without making it too obvious and depressing as most comedians tend to get. Amazing voices. Fairly funny. I think I would have been more comfortable if it was a bigger audience. It was quite light-hearted.
Eurobeat Its Eurovision in sunny Sarajevo. Very well done and has all the feel of a Eurovision contest right down to an introduction by that dude who makes the critical (but funny) comments on Eurovision. Lots of crowd involvement and probably the biggest show we saw. Quite funny in the obvious way. My country won (Grace’s comment: Setup!). It was good. The man in PVC pink hot pants was cool.
Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical Described as: Lisa loves Dick, Dick’s into Debbie, Debbie wants Dallas … but will she go all the way to get there? ‘Legally Blonde’ meets ‘American Pie’ in this ultimate porn-again party night out! Cheeky cheerleading fun! The title says it all. All the um um is implied of course though there is some nudity at one stage. A very funny musical with songs that were surprisingly good. The audience is quite close to the stage which gives it a level of intimacy that could have been awkward if the musical hadn’t come off (pardon the pun) so well. Favourite for the festival. Well written and easy going. Could be on West End with a bit of work.
Jerry Sadowitz Comedian, Magician, Psychopath A comedian, magician and psychopath is pretty much what we got. I found him outrageously funny and I liked how he combined his comedy with his magic. He definitely picked on people in the audience including in his victims a gorgeous blonde woman, a man in a wheelchair, bald men and a woman with, er, a big chest. Although funny, he was that typical offensive comedian making plenty of off colour jokes including the McCanns. He was however quick to pick on himself at the same time. Didn’t enjoy the comedy particularly him joking about an audience member in a wheel chair. Magic was okay although very high street. What you would expect to find in Hamley’s.
The Devil, Chess: A Burlesque! Cabaret theatre I’m still reeling from this show. I think this is what the Fringe is about – something that allows a true artist to put his work out there. This was the show we were actually late for and Sandra and I got placed into different parts of the room. I don’t even know where to start with this one except to say it was very in your face with the burlesque dancers, both men and women, in very little clothing sitting on your laps at times. And all of this was happening in a very very small room. I’m sure there was quite a bit of meaning to the play but all I could think of was how hot I was (from having to run to the venue) and wondering how the girls were not falling out of their tops! My young innocent mind has been scarred for life.
Ali McGregor’s Late-nite Variety-nite Night Basically a sampling of perfomances from the Fringe. This was a very interesting concept. Ali McGregor, who was a comedian and had a show on her own right, was MC to this variety night where we saw comedy, music, circus, skits, fantastic tricks, and a strong woman. I totally enjoyed myself though at 2am in the morning it was lucky most of the acts were quite engaging. I thought a perfect way to finish the Fringe (though it would have been a good way to start the Fringe as well as it gave you an idea of what the acts could deliver in their own shows.) I liked the unrehearsed feel of the night as well. Its very late.

In addition to the paying shows there are heaps of street performers to entertain. Interestingly enough for the ones we saw (mainly involving circus type performances like acrobatics, juggling, etc.) they all seem to use similar sorts of jokes during the show including the “hide in the crowd and pretend I’m part of the audience trick” (they get you to clap loudly to attract passers-by who get curious and join in not knowing what exactly is going on), the “step on the grey brick” joke for audience participants (all the bricks are grey), the “get two men to hug and kiss” joke and finally when asking for donations at the end the “its not funny now is it” joke. Still, each show was original and funny in its own way and is definitely worth a gander.

And that concludes a very long-winded review of Festival Edinburgh. Festival Edinburgh will not disappoint!

Cowes Week(end) at Isle of Wight

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This weekend was the closing weekend of Cowes Week at the Isle of Wight. Cowes Week is apparently the longest running regular regatta in the world starting way back in 1826! but never mind how old the regatta is Sandra and I were more interested in trying to find a hunky dude who owned his own boat who we could marry and sail into the sun set with. Sigh. LOL. That we also got the chance to explore the Isle of Wight was also a bonus.

Photos here.

When? Mid Aug 2007
Why Go? The Seafood and The best chance of guarantee Sun this summer
Weather Generally hot and sunny
Hint Public transport is available though very slow and surprisingly expensive. Get a car if you can!

Cowes

As the journey to the Isle of Wight was going to take a few hours we decided to take Friday afternoon off to get there – and luckily we did because getting to Cowes from Ryde (which was the only place we could find accommodation) proved to be quite a journey with our bus seemingly winding its way through every small nook and cranny between the two towns. Finally, after about an hour on the buss we only had a 5-minute chain ferry crossing the River Medina from East Cowes between us and hunky sailors. By this time it was early evening.

There’s something about islands and crossing the sea that makes me crave scampi so getting dinner was a priority (though lets face it I don’t really need an excuse to chow down …) Cowes was fairly heaving with people so we were lucky to find somewhere relatively quickly to get some scampi. After our meal it was off to find a spot to watch the legendary fireworks. Now I’ve seen some amazing fireworks in my time, most especially at any of the Disney’s I’ve visited, but I must say the fireworks on Friday night were AMAZING. They went on forever and they had these really smart fireworks that finished with smiley faces, or love hearts, and other shapes burned into the sky. Very cool.

Saturday we headed back to Cowes nice and early to catch some sailing action. It was a gorgeous day but those perfect conditions for us land lubbers meant not so perfect conditions out on the water – with not a breeze to stir so the sailing was postponed some. We decided to sign up for a sailing lesson and a spectactor boat ride scheduled later in the afternoon with the hopes that the wind would pick up so after running around to try and find some shoes for sailing (the shoes we got were so sexy), for which we rewarded ourselves by getting some yummy ice-cream, we then staked out a patch of stone to sun ourselves. It was perfect.

Although there are various business offering boat rides about the harbour and you can watch the racing from the shore the spectactor boat is a great way to see the racing up close with the boat taking you right into the action. Its amazing to see the skill of the racers as they weave their way around you. I had no idea what I was looking at but it was nice to be out on a boat … no matter how drenched I got from the waves! Plus Sandra and I got to try out our Shark and Vampire impressions as per the photo to the right. Just go with it.

After some more scampi for lunch and some more sun catching and sailing action watching it was on to the highlight of the day – our sailing lesson! Five of us got taken out on to a I think it was 36 foot boat? or something like that and we each got a turn to take the tiller, work the jibs, and work the main sheet. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be but I get the feeling our boat was pretty much self-sailing! Anyway for a little while at least we could pretend what life could be like on a boat – not too shabby!

Unfortunately though the day ended without Sandra or I finding a hunky guy who owned his own boat. The closest I got was a girl who gave us her VIP drink card with one free drink on it. She was quite friendly. 🙂

The Rest of the Isle of Wight

Sunday we dedicated to exploring the rest of the Isle of Wight. We hadn’t planned on the buses taking us so long to get around so we couldn’t really travel too far from Ryde. We probably could have planned it a bit better but for some reason the tourist office was never open when we were there! So the best option for us seemed to be the Open Bus Tour around the North East area. Here are the things we fit in:

  • Robin Hill Country Park. Although boasting the Island’s 3 biggest rides I guess “biggest” has to be put into perspective of all the theme parks I’ve been to in my life and the Time Machine, entertaining I’m sure for the little ones, was a little blah; Colossus, a swinging pirate ship, on the other hand, though not seemingly that big was actually frighteningly good fun; and as for the 3rd biggest ride unfortunately at a critical moment it started drizzling so the 400m Toboggan Run wasn’t running so I couldn’t judge. At the Country Park there are also lots of attractions for the little ones including a Wooden Maze, the Rabbit Run (which consists of lots of really little tunnels) and Squirrel Tower. This is a park probably more for the little ones than the adults though there is no denying it is set in some gorgeous woodland and you may get to seem some of those precious little red squirrels.
  • Amazon World Zoo Park. I was actually fairly impressed with this Park, and you can probably tell from the number of photos I took (I couldn’t resist getting a picture of this little one on the right sunning itself), as you got to actually see quite a few unusual endangered creatures including sloths and anteaters (loved the medium-sized ones who appeared to wear overalls – so cute) plus it is a fairly well designed layout which lets you follow everything through in a logical manner without getting too overwhelmed. The birds of prey display was pretty fun as well.
  • The Garlic Farm. Though a stop on the bus getting to the Farm involved about mile hike with no footpath! Go there only if you really want to buy all things garlic otherwise you could probably give it a miss as it seemed to be nothing but a, well, farm and shop.

So unfortunately we didn’t really get to visit the bigger attractions on the Isle of Wight like Needles Park and Blackgang Chine nor did we get to ride any bikes which means another visit to the Isle of Wight in the future.

Not that I’m too disappointed if I can indulge in some more really good seafood at reasonable prices and of course the requisite seaside 2p machines!

Justin Timberlake The 2007 FutureSex/LoveShow

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I wish I could marry JT. He seems to have it all – the looks, the moves, the talent and also, despite all you read about him, he genuinely seems like a nice and funny guy. But on to tonight’s performance.

Luckily for us Justin put on an extra show tonight for this London leg of his tour so our trip to Iceland didn’t meant we missed out completely.

Tonight the performance was being held at the O2. Its been four years since I’ve even been near what used to be the Millenium Dome and I last walked by here when I was visiting Christy and Scott back in 2003. How time flies. Its interesting how they’ve kitted out the O2 and smartly enough they put in a large number of restaurants around the arena itself so, despite the rather long lines outside the restaurants, there is actually quite a bit of option if you get there in enough time.

After grabbing some dinner at Spur we strolled into the Arena to catch most of Justin’s supporting act – FERGIE. I was pleased to note that she sounded infinitely better than she did at the Diana concert and the performance as a whole was a lot better even incorporating about three costume changes. We were in the lower tier but even from our seats and with low lighting photo taking was difficult so a small clip of her performance can be found here.

Finally, it was time for the main act.

After much build up and fanfare JT was on stage at last! And didn’t the crowd show its appreciation. It is clear that JT is a class act – his concert just oozed style. He had an innovative way of projecting his image to the larger audience as well so instead of using straight-forward video screens he had this gauze that surrounded him on stage and his image was projected on to that. Honestly I’m not sure if it was his set up but it work fairly well. His song choice was fairly spot on playing many of his latest hits though it was clear that the songs that got the crowd going were the ones were he showed his moves. Surprisingly he spent a lot of his time playing instruments – whether it was the piano, a piano/guitar, a guitar etc. It was a good display of his talent but honestly I would have loved to have seen him dance more.

There was no interval as such though Timbaland came on to entertain. The music was good through strange to not hear the original artists singing.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the night though as I mentioned above some more dancing by Justin would have been appreciated. He had a nice little encore at the end which was quite touching. Lots of people missed this as they were streaming out concerned about getting home. (Silly people as it turned out that we didn’t have any problems getting on to the tube luckily and it was a fairly straight forward journey in the end.) A compilation of tonight’s performance is here.

Wimbledon 2007

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Apparently yes I did make it three in a row for Wimbledon this year! Akh came through once again and was successful in the Wimbledon ballot. He even went one step better and won Centre Court tickets! AND as we later found out we couldn’t have been too much closer to the action without getting on court ourselves being about only 4 rows back! Brilliant work for him. However, unlike my previous two visits to Wimbledon the weather was misbehaving something awful and as it turns out for the nearly 8-9 hours we were there we must have seen only about 2-3 hours of tennis! That didn’t stop Wimbledon being packed out though!

More photos here.

The line up on Centre Court promised to be brilliant:

– Amelie Mauresmo v. Nicole Vaidisova
– Andy Roddick v. Paul-Henri Mathieu
– Venus Williams v. Maria Sharapova

We did get to see the entire match between Mauresmo and Vaidisova with Vaidisova upsetting the defending champion in three sets but played over about four hours and through at least three rain interruptions. I’m sure as annoying as it was for spectators it was probably not doing wonders for the players’ concentration and it seemed of the two players Mauresmo was the one paying for it.

We also saw the start of the Roddick/Mathieu match at the beginning of which we were given the disappointing news that the Williams/Sharapova match was being transferred to Court 3. As much as I was enjoying the power of the men’s game the Williams/Sharapova match sounded a much more interesting prospect so partway through the first set I dragged Akh over to Court 3. Luckily for us Court 3 was unreserved seating so we had this opportunity though unluckily for us by the time we got there the court was packed to the seams meaning the prospect of lining up for a very long time without any guarantee that we would get in. Then the rain came and the thunder and the lightening. Not good news. Though this did send a number of spectactors scuttling allowing us to find some seats it meant that for the rest of the evening the rain came and went and after only playing 3 points the two ladies were told that play wouldn’t go ahead and that their match would be re-scheduled for another day.

Mauresmo and Vaidisova walking on to Centre Court Mauresmo Close Up Akh’s view point
Vaidisova Cliff Richard A novel approach to stop the rain
Akh’s favourite shot Vaidisova’s delight Heaving Wimbledon store
The boys Roddick Mathieu

Despite all this chaos caused by the rain I still enjoyed myself at Wimbledon and maybe it will be four in a row for next year with hopefully a bit more sun …