Wimbledon - Day 7
A hot morning to start the day. I chose to wear long pants, though I may regret it before the end of play. Still, I wanted to wear my sandals, and since I wasn't quite sure how they would be received, I decided pants would at least mask the fact that I don't have on socks. Honestly, I don't think anyone would care, there are a ton of guys around here wearing jeans, even the venue folks, but I still like to try to play by the rules, and business casual generally means a bit dressier than just casual.
I a now faced with the bother of getting laundry done. Hotels generally use laundry service as a cash cow and this hotel is not any different. The prices are outrageous. There is a cleaners across the street that offers laundry by the pound, and BJ has used them in the past and has dropped off laundry this time. My only concern comes back to the cash issue. More expensive at the hotel, yes, but I don't have a good feel for the payment methods available at the laundry. If I have to tap into my cash, that could prove annoying. I'll figure it out, especially since I can't be smelly boy at the venue (though admittedly that would be hard anyway as a couple of the other folks here are a bit pungent.)
It is getting hotter as we progress. There is talk about low 90s by Sunday, though if we're lucky, that will be a day off anyway. I haven't really seen any rain indicators in the weather forecast, but it is England, so I am sure there is some coming soon.
I did forget to mention I managed to score another mini-jumbo tennis ball. Now, that's of course a non-sequitor, but the premise is that instead of the jumbo tennis ball, it is still larger than a standard tennis ball. I now have three, one from each event. They all cost right around the same amount, which was a relief, since I feared a fairly expensive souvenir here. If I can only convince the French to make one, then I will have a set, one from each event.
I had my first three brushes with greatness today. Wimbledon is a pretty tight environment, so it is likely that you'll encounter tennis stars walking around the grounds, and we are eating in the media cafeteria, so tennis stars from past years are also to be seen. On our way to the office, we ran into Ai Sugiyama on her way to either her first match, or a practice court. Either way, I was the only one to actually pick her out. Then, while I was having lunch in the cafeteria, I walked right past Vjiay Armitraj, who I recognized from his playing career, but one of the other guys only knew from Octopussy. The last one was a bit more dubious, but I did sit at the table across from John Barrett who is here for the BBC and is an outspoken critic of today's tennis. Not too shabby, in my opinion.
Lunch and Dinner were both at the cafeteria. I actually managed to eat well for lunch. Salmon with Broccoli and Cauliflower with a cold chick pea salad. I found it all very tasty. For dinner, it was beef stew, mushy peas and a very large curd cottage cheese. It may not have been quite as good diet wise, but it was reasonably tasty. I find it interesting that I have not managed to exceed my faily badge allowance, but was told it would be virtually impossible to keep below the limit. I guess I am just frugal. Either that or I am not eating enough. :-)
The night ended late again, but instead of the Rose and Crown, we chose to walk to Southfield station, and there was a Free House pub just around the corner. We stopped in, and it was much quieter, much less crowded, and offered a variety of beers from England and around the world. Trading hours ended at 11, so we only managed two pints. Instead of a taxi, we took the train back to Earl's Court station and found another Free House Pub there that was open until midnight. The ratio of seriously drunk patrons to tipsy was probably pretty high, but it also offered a variety of beers, and so we popped in. I will say that this was probably my best night pub wise since I got here.
Came back to the hotel and called Colleen. It was very good to hear her voice, even if she was a bit sleepy, especially since I woke her up from her nap. Still I get goofy when I miss her and I really wanted to just hear her voice. She is my sweetie, and if nothing else it brightens my day to hear her just talk to me. I know I gush a lot on this site, but I hope she understands how much she means to me. Fell asleep watching Highlander on ITV 2 and had my fourth pint, one of the beers I bought at the store.
Cheers!
I a now faced with the bother of getting laundry done. Hotels generally use laundry service as a cash cow and this hotel is not any different. The prices are outrageous. There is a cleaners across the street that offers laundry by the pound, and BJ has used them in the past and has dropped off laundry this time. My only concern comes back to the cash issue. More expensive at the hotel, yes, but I don't have a good feel for the payment methods available at the laundry. If I have to tap into my cash, that could prove annoying. I'll figure it out, especially since I can't be smelly boy at the venue (though admittedly that would be hard anyway as a couple of the other folks here are a bit pungent.)
It is getting hotter as we progress. There is talk about low 90s by Sunday, though if we're lucky, that will be a day off anyway. I haven't really seen any rain indicators in the weather forecast, but it is England, so I am sure there is some coming soon.
I did forget to mention I managed to score another mini-jumbo tennis ball. Now, that's of course a non-sequitor, but the premise is that instead of the jumbo tennis ball, it is still larger than a standard tennis ball. I now have three, one from each event. They all cost right around the same amount, which was a relief, since I feared a fairly expensive souvenir here. If I can only convince the French to make one, then I will have a set, one from each event.
I had my first three brushes with greatness today. Wimbledon is a pretty tight environment, so it is likely that you'll encounter tennis stars walking around the grounds, and we are eating in the media cafeteria, so tennis stars from past years are also to be seen. On our way to the office, we ran into Ai Sugiyama on her way to either her first match, or a practice court. Either way, I was the only one to actually pick her out. Then, while I was having lunch in the cafeteria, I walked right past Vjiay Armitraj, who I recognized from his playing career, but one of the other guys only knew from Octopussy. The last one was a bit more dubious, but I did sit at the table across from John Barrett who is here for the BBC and is an outspoken critic of today's tennis. Not too shabby, in my opinion.
Lunch and Dinner were both at the cafeteria. I actually managed to eat well for lunch. Salmon with Broccoli and Cauliflower with a cold chick pea salad. I found it all very tasty. For dinner, it was beef stew, mushy peas and a very large curd cottage cheese. It may not have been quite as good diet wise, but it was reasonably tasty. I find it interesting that I have not managed to exceed my faily badge allowance, but was told it would be virtually impossible to keep below the limit. I guess I am just frugal. Either that or I am not eating enough. :-)
The night ended late again, but instead of the Rose and Crown, we chose to walk to Southfield station, and there was a Free House pub just around the corner. We stopped in, and it was much quieter, much less crowded, and offered a variety of beers from England and around the world. Trading hours ended at 11, so we only managed two pints. Instead of a taxi, we took the train back to Earl's Court station and found another Free House Pub there that was open until midnight. The ratio of seriously drunk patrons to tipsy was probably pretty high, but it also offered a variety of beers, and so we popped in. I will say that this was probably my best night pub wise since I got here.
Came back to the hotel and called Colleen. It was very good to hear her voice, even if she was a bit sleepy, especially since I woke her up from her nap. Still I get goofy when I miss her and I really wanted to just hear her voice. She is my sweetie, and if nothing else it brightens my day to hear her just talk to me. I know I gush a lot on this site, but I hope she understands how much she means to me. Fell asleep watching Highlander on ITV 2 and had my fourth pint, one of the beers I bought at the store.
Cheers!
posted by Derek Botti at
7:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home