Gerry and Jacky hit London
Wimbledon Quarter Finals, The Pop Choir, Golf,
Prosecco on a rooftop garden, The Sky Garden, South Bank, Italian food at it’s finest.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I love London so
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I think of her wherever I go
I get a funny feeling inside of me
Just walking up and down
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I love London town. – Hubert Gregg
We drove down from Preston after staying at Duncan’s house for the last time on this UK trip after our Ribchester house sit. As usual, coming or going to the north of London is not an easy trip as there is generally lots of traffic and roadworks. We arrived pretty close to estimated time and Dawn was waiting for us at their lovely home in Muswell Hill. Dawn prepared a delicious seafood pasta for dinner and Nigel managed to keep our fluids up with a sumptuous red. England has a great selection of wines from all over the world with Australian being one of the most popular. The quality of the Spanish and Argentina wines was very high according to our taste buds. We retired for the evening preparing for a big day to follow as Jacky and Dawn had organised for Nigel and me to go out for a golf game as I had been mentioning constantly that I hadn’t seen many courses in England, but there were heaps in Scotland.
The course was very high standard for a public course and had had no rain for six weeks. The company was even better as Nigel brought along a good friend, Pete, whom he had just been to Spain with a few weeks earlier. I was very pleased with my golf game, even though I had plenty of excuses lined up (like I had not played in two months, no golf shoes or glove and someone else’s golf clubs) if I didn’t play well. If you don’t play well and your golfing partners hear you used to be a professional, it can be a bit embarrassing.
Then we caught up for dinner with the girls at a quaint Italian restaurant after enjoying a relax in the sun on the roof top garden of Susie and Pete’s beautiful flat.
The next day was going to be epic, little did I know. Since the start of the trip, I had mentioned to Jacky that I would like to try to get into Wimbledon for the Tennis Championships. Originally we weren’t going to be in London when it was on, so I had not mentioned it further. Jacky said she had always dreamed and could actually see herself watching a match on Centre Court. She looked up the price of the tickets, for two of us, even in the first week, cost around $600 Australian. As luck would have it one of our house sits got cancelled and we asked Dawn if it was OK for us to stay with them for four days before we went to Cirencester. I worked out that Wednesday would be a good day to go to Wimbledon as England was playing Croatia that night in a World Cup Semi-final. Also, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were playing that day, two of my heroes. I suggested we line up early for a ground pass and watch the quarter-finals on the big screen outside Court 1 and soak up the atmosphere. On the Wimbledon website, there was very little info about ground passes other than the cost and standing in line at least two hours before the gates opened at 10:30am. So we had to leave at 7.30am in order to get there. That is the time we woke up. I still wanted to go but was happy to take our chances of arriving later. We had breakfast and headed off around 10.45am. A lady on the bus heard us talking and gave us directions on which were the best trains to get to Wimbledon as she had been earlier in the week. She also said we probably wouldn’t get in but should go and soak up the atmosphere while standing in the queue.
When we arrived at the station there were lots of volunteers being helpful with directions. Gate 10 car park was our entry for the queue. No One There! So we took a few photos and strolled along the fenced qeueue line, expecting the line to be packed with people as we went around the corner. But no lineup yet, only some stands with people giving out free Lavazza coffee and various other fruit drinks. We weren’t allowed to take the coffees any further so we stopped in the paramedics tent, finished our drinks and had a chat with one of the nurses. Still no line-up! We went up and down a set of stairs to cross a road and the next thing we knew there was ticket booths. No one there! Had we come to the wrong event or the wrong day? No way we were in! £20 each and a gateman greeted us with words we will probably never forget “Welcome to Wimbledon”.
A look through the merchandise shop and then I checked my phone for the time, it was midday. It had taken us just 1.25 hours to walk, catch a bus, two trains and another walk from the north side of London to the south, then into Wimbledon Park. Could this really be happening? Had a bit more of a look around the courts and then headed to the hill to get a good spot to watch the action of the quarter-finals on the big screen. Jacky went and got us a beautiful Cornish chicken lunch with a fresh salad. We got a seat on the hill (an actual seat not on the grass) and watched some fabulous tennis as Rodger Federer just got beaten in an epic 4.75 hours of thrilling tennis. We took a stroll around the grounds after that and had a beer at one of the tents and then headed back towards the ticket resale area as I had a hunch there would be some tickets available for Court 1 where Raonic and Issner were playing. When we got to the ticket resales, Centre Court was available where Nadal and Del Potro had started their match and it was in the third set!!! Jacky asked me which court I would like to go to and I chose Centre Court as I knew it was her dream to watch a tennis match there. We got the tickets and raced to the court only to find there were two games before a changeover and we could get our seats. Jacky was busting, so she went to the toilet and I kept the tickets.
Just after she left Del Potro won the next three points on Nadal’s serve, which finished the set making it a changeover. The security guard asked me if I wanted to take a seat and leave the other ticket with him so he could give it to Jacky as it would be another 3 games before we could enter again. I said OK and took my seat and texted Jacky to get back as quick as possible. The good fortune just kept coming as Nadal took a toilet break as well so that allowed Jacky to get in before the next game started. What a thrill for us just to be sitting there! Then the tennis took on a whole new level with the crowd giving standing ovations, it seemed, at the end of every rally. Nadal came back and won the next two sets to win the match in a thriller. We couldn’t have written the script any better. J: Quite easily one of the most exciting anf fulfilling experiences in my life! Sitting at the side view of the court, it differed greatly from what one watches on TV. The ball is moving so fast and barely clears the net as each shot is played. The crowd were electrified throughout and we saw two hours twenty of enthralling tennis!
As if there we had not had enough synchronicity for one day, on the Tube ride home we met a young couple who asked about our Mascot Yogi. When I told Laura what Jacky and I were up to in the UK she got all excited as I mentioned Yoga and TRE. She mentioned she was interested in doing Reiki. I told her Jacky was a Reiki Master. She beamed and she said she knew now why she was on the train and that was to meet Jacky. Since then we have organised a workshop during our last week in the UK, in London, which Laura will be attending. They were so kind that they walked us to the bus stop for Muswell Hill.
England had lost the World Cup semi-final so the mood was a bit subdued as we returned to Dawn and Nigel’s house. When we opened the door we were greeted by a chorus of around 15 people singing and dancing around the kitchen. The Pop choir, who Dawn and Nigel belong to, came over for the game and stayed on to do a little practice session. We joined in where we could and thank goodness there were some really good singers there to help carry us. What a day!!
Although we were both exhausted the next day we managed to get to Alexander Palace and watch the RAF Flypast past Buckingham Palace to mark 100 years of the RAF. That night Dawn had organised for us to go to dinner at the Sky Garden in London City centre and then a stroll along Southbank. It was fantastic to see all these historic places, plus what an energy around the place, as it was buzzing. But the previous day had taken its toll and we literally collapsed into bed.
We needed a good rest as the next morning we were off to Marston Meysey to look after Scrappy and two rabbits. Also, Donald Trump was arriving in London, so it was a good time to head out of town. London wasn’t big enough to have us all there!
