Two nights in London now, and one day of Wimbledon to speak of - that day split into some tennis and some precipitation. Two additional matches were played thanks to the roof on Centre Court. More on that in a later expression.
I am located about a minute from Paddington Station - a perfect spot from which to shoot out to Wimbledon and anywhere else I may want to go while I am here, though where that may be I struggle to think.
Also that places me about a 5 minute walk from Hyde Park and Kensington Park which both straddle the Serpentine and provide such a peaceful retreat from the busy life of a Londoner.
As for the hotel accommodation it is cleaner than the two star in Paris, and that is the positive. Oh and breakfast is included. This room is adjacent to the lift which is tiny enough to warrant a circus performer license to fit luggage and owner of cases in at the one time and be able to open/shut door.
Only after I had managed all that did I realise my room was also a mere six or seven steps from ground level. It must have been an interesting decision to turn the 3.5 square metres space left after installing the lift into a room. Lucky I didn't bring a cat cause I wouldn't have been able to swing it. When I take the half step after arising from bed and hit my face on the window with a view, I notice the view is of a building six inches away - sorry I'm already talking non metric - half a foot away. Enough of my Lilliputian lease - it is of little importance, literally.
On the first day of the Championships my intention was to find out all the necessary information for when I would actually enter the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon. With tickets for the semis and finals plus Court One for two other days already in my possession (and warranting extra security for my life) I wanted to queue for ground passes at least twice in the first week starting on the Tuesday or Wednesday. However, after sorting out the trains, and working out directions once at Southfields Station, and checking what I could and couldn't take inside the venue, I found that hardly anyone had queued for day one and I virtually walked in and purchased a pass. That was after all the security measures that the Lawn Tennis officialdom could muster, short of strip searching (that may be a week two requirement)
After the compulsory deep breath in awe of the place, it was down to some tennis watching. With Centre Court and Courts One Two Three and Eighteen unavailable to ground pass holders, the schedule and I agreed to watch Israel's Shahar Peer play Russian Ksenia Pervak. The 22 seed Peer reached the second round last year, and after a tough battle in the first set, her superior groundstrokes suggested that round two would be at least the destination once again. 7-5, and solid again in the early part of set two, in the face of the Russian lifting her game and the volume of her screaming.
Peer began to be inadequate for the power of shot chosen and executed by Pervak, and fell behind a break, and with an inability to find the legal region of the court on big points, that was sufficient for Ksenia to tie it up winning the second 6-4.
Things took a similar course in the third set and most were surprised that it was Shahar who failed to come up with the shots when required, and a seed left the tournament early, a great win for another screaming Russian 5-7 6-4 6-4.
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