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!