Sunday, July 15, 2018


Home again, safe and sound. I’m just touching base at the moment. I hope to be back in the saddle tomorrow evening. The cats are well, although my absence doesn't seem to have made them fonder of each other; quite the contrary.

The cruise was wonderful. It is sad to think that we 12 will never assemble again. The Hebrides are beautiful, and fascinating. Dolphins skipped along beside our boat, clearly having fun. I’ll tell you about it in bits, with at least some pictures. I got quite a bit of knitting done.

Then, on Thursday, I went down to London, for Wimbledon on Friday, despite Federer’s loss. Rachel and I were there – you may have heard of it – for the longest semi-final in Wimbledon history, and the second-longest match of all. It was incredibly tedious. By the beginning of the fourth set, if not the ending of the third, all one wanted in the world was for it to end. The idiot calls of “Come on John” and “Come on Kevin” were joined by “Come on Somebody”. And, once, "Come on, chaps -- we want to see Rafa."

I wondered whether they would put the next match on at all – the one we all wanted to see. They did, at 8 p.m. or so, Nadal v Djokovic. Rachel and I stayed for three games, and saw the sort of tennis we had hoped to see all afternoon, sharp and intelligent and strategic. Then we went sadly home. They played until 11, and we watched it on television with our supper. I was too tired by then to grasp the finer points – who was serving, what the significance of the point. But I could see the beauty of the play.

I missed the end yesterday, due to the journey home. Rachel says it was one of the great matches, and, she hopes, as we tell the story in later years, it will gradually turn out that we saw all of it.

But I wanted to post this early today, before kick-off, to say how much I hope to see Kevin Anderson humiliated this afternoon – the Grinch who stole Wimbledon, the man single-handedly responsible for depriving me of the lifetime chance to see Federer play, and Nadal, and Djokovic.

13 comments:

  1. Welcome back. Glad to hear the cruise was lovely and sorry to hear tennis was not.

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  2. Lovely to see you back!

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  3. Anonymous1:23 PM

    Welcome back!
    So glad the cruise was wonderful - you definitely deserve it.
    The blog readers look forward to seeing your photos when you are ready.
    LisaRR

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  4. Have missed you, morning coffee just doesn't taste the same when I don't read your blog. Glad you had a good time on Hebrides cruise.

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  5. Glad you had a wonderful trip!

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  6. I'm so glad to hear your trip was a success, and that you were able to see the tennis. Looking forward to the pictures and details of the cruise.

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  7. Welcome back from your numerous adventures.

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  8. Anonymous8:31 PM

    So excited to see this post, Jean and so happy you had a wonderful time. Will divide your post into two parts so I will have something to look forward to tomorrow morning. Saw that interminable match yesterday but missed the Good One because of family events. Maybe it will be re-run. So good you got to be there for at least part of it. Don't forget to see the latest Andrea and Andrew. Chloe

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  9. I’m anxious to hear about your cruise. So glad it was a success! Robin

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  10. Welcome back, Jean! Looking forward to trip account and photos. No tennis in our house - I watched the exciting and controversial World Cup final once with most of the world, and again with husband when he got back from golf.

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  11. Really looking forward to your report on your cruise. Always a sign of a good group if you miss them, rather than being glad to see the back of at least one of them.

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  12. Anonymous9:03 PM

    Glad to see you back. I'm looking forward to hearing about the cruise in-depth. Too bad you missed the tennis matches you really hoped to see. Take care - Joe-in Wyoming

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  13. Nice Content Thanks for sharing ,Gunmetal 

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