All is well in the house of Tref. Avocado toast with a side of bacon consumed and now sitting in the conservatoire with a cup of tea. The door is open to the garden where a gentle breeze flutters across the border. THG has been out surveying her domain. It is good drying weather and the clothes line is already loaded.
The luxury of the Sabbath. My first Sunday at home in ages. What do others do on a Sunday morning? Wash the car? This is what the hand car wash around the back of Tesco is for and there is always a queue on Sunday morning. Did those queuing used to do it themselves on the drive? Is washing the car on a Sunday morning a compulsive thing? Mine gets done perhaps three or four times a year. Defo need to get the inside valeted. Don’t think it’s ever been done, properly at least. In three years! Will get it done before our big trip to France.
It is only the beginning of July. Height of summer but plenty of summer left to go at. The holiday season very much approacheth. I went through a phase of not bothering to take holiday during the summer. When I used to work in an office the month of August being in the office was very much like being on holiday. Half the people would take the first two weeks off and the other half the last two weeks. In consequence there was never anyone around to get anything done.
Now I work, albeit part time, with a Belgian company they don’t take two weeks off. It is practically the whole month. Cool. People need to have a good break. They work hard. I try to do as little as possible although there are times when I do get v busy. Not in August though.
Wimbledon starts tomorrow. I like this. I never used to be a Wimbledon fan. It was always this thing on the telly for a couple of weeks every July. Then I took our youngest son John and discovered that it was a great day out.
John was a member of the Eastgate Tennis Club and used to get tickets every year out of their allocation. It was a little hit and miss but most times we got something and it was usually Centre Court. Anne and I used to take turns to go with him, except for his last membership year where we both went and stayed the night in London.
Instead of paying a pound a strawberry I used to buy a large punnet or two together with some double cream from a supermarket en route. We would then pinch a couple of pint glasses and plastic spoons from the catering concessions inside Wimbledon together with some sugar and have a pint of strawberries and cream each. Retail value about fifty quid from official Wimbledon sources. It wasn’t so much the money. Who on earth wants only five strawberries 🙂
Over the years we saw all the big names of the era: Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Venus and Serena. Loads of others. We were even there the day that the longest lasting set happened where it went to a ridiculous number of games. Didn’t see that one but saw the scoreboard. It was on an outside court.
A slightly disappointing day was the ladies semi finals. Serena won in around 52 minutes. Both matches were quite short. Best value is men’s semi finals where you likely get to see two matches lasting a good four hours each.
I would consider going to Wimbledon on a corporate jolly if someone else was interested in going. Not this year though. Too much on. July and most of August are our quiet months during 2023 and we need the time at home. Anyway I will have Wimbledon tennis on in the shed in the background. It is something I can occasionally glance up at whilst doing other stuff.
Something else I’d consider going to is the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. Never been. The problem, I understand, is the traffic getting in and out. Still I’d quite like to go once. A helicopter could be the answer. Find somewhere local ish to stay down. I typically don’t watch F1 as apart from the start I find it quite boring. The start is only interesting because anything can happen. Crashes, overtaking etc. Maybe next year. Already a lot in the plan for next year!