Highlights From The Actual Tennis

While I've commentated over the past two days on first the queueing at Wimbledon, and then the impact of the sunny weather at Wimbledon, I've mainly glossed over the tennis. So in summary, we saw two full matches and the tail end of a third, so this was what we saw:

The hope of Canada that is Milos Raonic, seventeenth seed, dispatched Carlos Berlocq comfortably in straight sets while looking mostly untroubled.

Untroubled is not what you could've called the ballgirl who was on the receiving end of a Raonic serve. The Canadian is one of the game's best servers, and when his opponent mised it, a lineswoman ducked and the ballgirl just stood there unsighted, it crashed into her arm. There was pain, tears, a shocking display of compassion from what had previously appeared to be an emotionless droid of a lineswoman and the subsequent appearance of a substitute ballperson - something I didn't know existed.

Berlocq didn't have a much better day; there was a louder cheer from the crowd to salute the efforts of a nimble ballboy - who lept salmon-like to pluck an errant ball out of the sky one-handed - than anything the Argentinian accomplished on the court.

Second match saw Karolina Pliskova against thirteenth seed Nadia Petrova, and was the first time I'd ever seen a seed knocked out. Truly, a momentous moment.

Petrova started off sluggish and was hopefully carrying an injury - if only as an excuse for her refusal to run for drop shots. Her power was impressive but it became clear that if the ball was significantly far away from her, there wasn't going to be much effort in getting it back. As the match went on, the effort dropped. It started with the drop shots. Then balls that wrong-footed her were too much effort to turn for and attempt to get back. Then balls that were in front of her but not quite within her reach. Then anything that involved movement. As a result, Pliskova won in straight sets.

The final match on the court was unscheduled - the other three having finished in double-quick time they moved one of the floating matches onto the court as a final treat. We got to see Daniela Hantuchova against 32nd seed Klara Zakopalova. In a topsy-turvy match featuring repeated breaks, the seeded Czech went through in straight sets.

Most amusing was the subtle photographer in the corner of the court - making himself discreet by using a flash in decreasing light. He only seemed interested in taking pictures of the players poised to recieve. And that only when the slender Hantuchova (as opposed to her slightly bulkier opponent) was receiving. Not that I'm casting any judgement on his motivation, of course, but it gave the impression of being less than pure!

From our seats we could see the large scoreboard on court 3, allowing us to track the progress of the game between Agnieska Radwanska and her opponent. We were curious about the prospect of a shock as the unheralded Yvonne Meusburger broke the fourth seed to take the first game - and were then amused as this had clearly riled the Pole, who went on to win the set 6-1. Undeterred, the unseeded Austrian had the temerity to win the first game of the second set, this time on her own serve. The lesson had not been heeded - the next six games all went the way of Radwanska for a 6-1 6-1 victory. If only she could turn up for the first game of sets ...

Overall there was a good amount of tennis that we did manage to catch once the queueing had passed, and it was worth all the waiting once we did get into the grounds!

Two Years In A Row

The most annoying element about going to Wimbledon last year was that I got badly sunburnt in the queue. It hadn't seemed that hot - and had indeed rained for part of the day too, so I had no idea how it had happened. All the same, I turned out rather red and was the recipient of much mockery from work the next day.

This year I was determined to avoid a repeat - if only to avoid the reception at work, as to make the same mistake two years running would be hideously incompetent.

So I prepared. We brought sunscreen. I applied sunscreen liberally at 9:30 as we arrived in the queue, and replenished a couple of times throughout the day. I wore a cap for part of the queue to shield my forehead when we were standing while not moving and in the direct sun, particularly as it approached the middle of the day.

All of this I thought would be sufficient, except that once we were in the grounds, at the end of the first match we watched a guy who currently works at Reed (who joined after I'd left) had happened to be on the same court as us, seen us, came up to us and after initial hellos had said 'You seem to have caught the sun Andy', to which I felt instantly puzzled - had I? Perhaps a tad, but I'd been prepared.

Later, when I looked in a mirror, I had clearly caught the sun. My face was red - I have no idea how, having coated myself in sunscreen, although looking closely the following day I could see a slightly paler line across my brow where I may have had more success in the sunscreen application. I also have an odd spot from my right elbow up to my sleeve where I had clearly not gone round the corner and the angle of the sun had been such to expose this at some point during the day.

So despite having thought I'd prepared this year to combat the threat of sun, I was in fact entirely inadequate in my preparations and clearly need to remedy this next year - three years of such incompetence is just too much!

Wimbledon Repeat

Yesterday we headed to Wimbledon, as we typically do because we are spoiled and live very close to one of the most iconic events in the annual sporting calendar. Myself, Chrissi and former colleagues Matt and Myles met at around 9ish (after much incompetence on my part at taking the correct exit from the A3 which delayed us by about 15 minutes), and headed to the grounds.

It was busy, as you'd expect. It's always busy. Nothing that we were surprised by - but despite arriving at a similar time to last year we were told on reaching the gates it may be 3pm before we were let in. We joined the queue and waited, and as the rows in front of us were marched towards the gates it looked promising. We had a relaxed time, playing cards, chatting and otherwise passing the time by complaining about the queue. When we got moving, however, we then got stopped by about 1:30pm when it became clear that they were letting no more people in, the grounds were at capacity. We were left with a dilemma - abandon the already four-hour long queueing epic, or keep waiting.

We kept waiting. Had we wanted to change our mind, the time to do it would've been in the morning when we arrived. After we sat down and started to queue, it made no sense to leave. Throughout the afternoon we slowly crawled forward - it was a one out, one in policy so only as people left the grounds were others allowed to enter. A sudden surge got us within sights of the bag check area - the real finish line - by about 4:30, when we then were halted until just after 5pm when the crowd was unleashed. We got into the grounds not long after.

After around 8 hours of queueing, we wouldn't have been surprised if fate had conspired against us by then bringing down rain. It didn't. We had around four hours of tennis that we could watch, and it was worth it. Even if it didn't feel like it throughout the long afternoon!

Next year we will have to go earlier, although I'm wary of an arms race where everyone arrives earlier each year just to maintain their spot in the queue ahead of others who also arrive earlier because they were too late last year, and so the pattern repeats itself!

Abandoned Hobby

So as I'd mentioned yesterday, I've recently stopped playing World of Warcraft. I'd say that I've given it up, but it was more of a gradual drift away - I barely played much over May (not helped by being rather busy too!). I'd also gotten a bit bored in April - unusually this coincided with my subscription nearing its end.

The usual rule of thumb is at the point you start to wonder if you should stop playing, you have without realising just renewed for another six months. You then enter a painful cycle - concluding you might as well get your money's worth out of that six months of gametime, you throw yourself into it wholeheartedly. You are at the verge of accomplishing something you have been working towards when your subscription renews again, and a month later you begin the cycle again when you start to lose interest once more.

I hit upon the inspired concept of actually cancelling my game account when I was feeling bored with the game. Even when I occasionally logged on over the next month and a bit, I didn't have any great inspiration or events to get me playing again. I actually happened to be online as my subscription ran out - it gives you an hour and then a 15 minute countdown - and managed to accomplish one of the niggling easter-eggs that I'd been chasing before my time ran out.

Despite Chrissi playing a little this weekend, I've not had the slightest inclination to pick it up again. I may go back at some point. But there are other games too, and equally I'm actually getting some value out of my weekends and evenings at the moment and accomplishing a little more - perhaps coincidental, perhaps not, we'll let it run for a while and see what happens!

Weekend Highlights

While low on major achievements or notable excitement, this was a successful weekend in many respects - awake at a decent time both Saturday and Sunday morning, many mundane tasks accomplished and an overall sense of purposeful activity. So, to summarise - some key or not key moments for the weekend:

Game 2 Down After getting the milestone first play of (relatively) new board game Eclipse under our belts, we went for a second go this afternoon. It was quicker and easier, as we actually understood what was going on, although I'm still not sure we have it wholly nailed! Our strategies and approach may need some refining, particularly as we ended up finishing before having really got started - we're probably being a little more cautious than we need to be, particularly with combat.

Role Reversal Last night I went to bed around midnight as I was tired, leaving Chrissi downstairs playing on World of Warcraft. It was an odd change in roles, as traditionally I was always still playing while Chrissi went to bed. As I no longer have an account I can't do this - it was amusing to be on the other side of the fence.

Extreme Ironing On a bizarre run of motivation, I was ironing several t-shirts - unusually without even needing to do this to have one to wear for the following day / the current day. To keep myself entertained I was listening to randomly selected music, this time the album of choice being the amusingly named Rock Against Bush, a compilation effort. At some point during my listening I realised the absurdity of the scenario; nothing says more punk than ironing on a Saturday afternoon.

The coming week threatens to have activity - some is planned, so it should do - so I may or may not update as a result. I also know I want to recap on several subjects from the last few weeks I haven't covered, such as the two concerts I went to in at the end of May / beginning of June. I'm back in the writing groove so we may have some updates on these over the next few days!

Eventual Completion

This evening's main accomplishment was the completion of a game that was bought back in March. That evening we got as far as unpacking the pieces and looking confused at the rules, and that took us an hour. We then put it away again as we'd ran out of time to understand the game.

This evening, as we had a large amount of time, we decided to give it a go again. It again took around an hour (or slightly more) to take the various pieces out of the packaging and set them out on the board. The board, while impressively put together, is an arse to actually balance the various components on. With the experience of one game under our belts, we now know that at least the majority can be held in reserve and so don't need to be set out from the start.

Once we got under way, the game itself requires us mostly consulting the rules as to exactly how we went about it. The slow progress we made was enjoyable and I think, with more famliarity with the rules and the ability to move a bit faster, we could actually play properly. It may've been a fun game - it certainly had lots of nuances and potential for lots of different ways to win - but as we weren't quite sure what we were doing, neither of us knew who was winning until the end.

I apparantly had won convincingly. I had thought I was losing most of the game. I think reviewing the victory conditions at the start would help with planning a strategy for future games.

We've left the board up for tomorrow - after that setup effort, we might as well get two games' worth out of it - so we'll see how we do under more familiar conditions!

Naming the Day

Two days so far this week at work we have been treated to our Canadian classic rock station (Toronto's very own Q 107 I have now learned). The classic tracks and cliched North-American adverts have been enjoyed by all, but it does spark confusion on a few points:

It's not Friday. Canadian Rock Radio used to be a Friday morning treat, then gradually expanded to encompass all of Friday's listening hours. I suddenly have a suspicion that the weekend is upon me - an even more frustrating uncertainty when this happens on a Monday.

The timing is all wrong. By selfishly living in a different time zone, the radio presenters confuse me by talking about morning in mid-afternoon, and the breakfast show starts at 1pm.

The weather is wrong. I listen to the weather news on auto-pilot and suddenly wonder why it's talking about weather nothing like our own weather forecast.

There are upsides - I have a much better awareness of what's happening in the baseball from the sports reports, although I really only learn about how the [Toronto] Blue Jays are getting on. I also hear information on the NHL should that take my fancy. Oh, and the music is pretty good. But I think keeping it to Fridays is a better call from now on - you can have too much of a good thing.

Songs Named After Girls

A conversation at work the other day led to an unusual playlist concept - solely incorporating songs named after girls. The 'song named after girls' theme is a well-travelled road, and even on my list of barely 1500 songs on my phone I can put together a reasonable list (which I may be able to pad a little with the songs on my computer that haven't made it onto my phone yet).

There are, however, difficult decisions to be made as to whether you include or exclude certain songs. To that end, Green Day's ¡Viva la Gloria! got left out, but Haushinka made it onto the list (only by virtue of the first line, 'Haushinka is a girl with a peculiar name'). I was left with a list of 18-20 songs depending on how strictly I police it, including girls named Ada, Amy, Ashley, Clara, Jenny, Josie, Louise, Maria, Mae, Tessie and aforementioned Haushinka, plus some others including second names. No bonus points or points of any type if you can match the band to the song above.

I then tried to repeat the trick and to see how this worked out with boy's names. Surprisingly there are more, but it again depends how rigorous you are with the line - does the additional hey render Foo Fighter's Hey, Johnny Park! as an invalid inclusion? Am I allowed The Gaslight Anthem's Miles Davis & The Cool as our titular male is bringing along the cool? Does aforementioned girl's name song Ashley count as a boy's name song as well by virtue of the unisex name even if the song is about a girl? All difficult decisions to make. I was even tempted to try and sneak in Coldplay's Death And All His Friends, as the 'his' in the title and lyrics clearly indicates Death is male, but thought that might be stretching it a little too far.

However, one thing that is clear to me is that - surprisingly - the list named after males, men or boys has by far the best tracks. While songs such as Coldplay's Charlie Brown, The Who's Happy Jack, Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia, The Clash's Jimmy Jazz and Feeder's Buck Rogers make it a clear winner, the inclusion of The Who's Baba O'Riley makes it a runaway victor, leaving the girl's name list far behind in the distance.

Points in the Bag

A busy week has meant I've not blogged - we've been out one night, I've been out one night on my own, we've watched all ten episodes of Game of Thrones series three - and having done that there hasn't been much time for anything else at all!

Today at work one half of my birthday present for Chrissi belatedly arrived in the post, and I seem to have banked some kudos points for a good while with this one judging from her reaction when I presented her with it this evening. It was a replica of the iconic Tom Baker-era Doctor Who's scarf. She's spent most of the evening either wearing it or cuddling it (and it's not as if it's that cold to warrant it) - at some point I may persuade her to pose for a picture.

It's good and I'm pleased with my sudden decision to get that on a whim. I get the impression I did well with this choice.

Different Medium, Same Story

So having caught up over the weekend with Season 2 of Game of Thrones - thanks to a boxset kindly lent by a colleague - I was almost at a loss for what to do without my new timesink. However, I decided I'd make a start at the books. Chrissi received them as a gift for Christmas but hasn't read them yet - she prefers to do one series at a time, and as her typical series is thousands of books long, it takes her a while to get through them.

As a result, these remain untouched so I politely asked if I could read - it somehow felt rude to read her books first, as if my eyes reading the words would sully them forever. I started with an early night around 10pm and read for a little while - or so I thought. When I put the book down having stopped it was 2:20am. This wasn't supposed to be happening this way round!

I'm planning to read a little before bed tonight - I may have to set an alarm to remind myself to stop reading and actually to go sleep!