Wimbledon

I have just had a wonderful day at Wimbledon Tennis Championships. We got up at the crack of dawn and walked for an hour to get to the queue for Wimbledon. Actually getting to the grounds took 45 mins but another 15 mins was spent rolling down the hill to get to the Car Park 10 where the queue began. We got there before 7 but guessed that would not be in time to get show court tickets. We were 4149 and 4150 in the queue. After buying a Guardian with free sun screen and rain poncho we read for a bit and people watched.
At a bit before 8 I joined another queue for bacon rolls and burgers (although I had a hot dog!) I don't think I have ever queued so long for food and I promised myself that what I ever I ate at the end of it would be the best tasting food ever because I had queued so long. 55 minutes after joining the food queue I was finally sitting back on the rain poncho enjoying my hard waited for grub!

Just before 11 we got into the grounds and made our way to court 18 to see Sugiyama's match. We sat amongst a big groups of Japanese people here to support Sugi or Sugi-san as they called her. The match was much closer than the score made it seem.

The match was quite long for a 2 setter and we didn't get lunch until nearly 3. I had pimms and a Dutchee for lunch. A dutchee is a very posh sausage in a baguette with onion marmalade. Delish!

We then went to Court 3 for two matches first there was Petrova narrowly beating Azarenka (below) and then the ladies doubles with two British women, Ann Keothavong and Melanie South. Excellent match and a great atmosphere.

I didn't get home until 8 and was able to catch the end of the Nadal match on TV - bizarre!

A wonderful day, some very odd people, some great tennis and gorgeous food. Brilliant!

Apology for not posting

Sorry for not posting much recently. Too much stress at work last week left me very tired. Things are better now though. Jase is in Japan so I am missing him a lot. I have been keeping up the running training and enjoying the tennis. I am going to get up early on Saturday and go to join the queue for Wimbledon tickets with a couple of friends. I have not been to "Wimbledon" for 10 years so I am really looking forward to it.

Not a great week

This week has been a very odd one. Work has been difficult in many ways.

Outside of work my running training is still going well. My one woman protest to not watch Big Brother until Alex the bully was removed is now over, as Channel 4 saw sense and removed her from the BB house.

This story today about a Welsh police helicopter crew spotting a UFO made me chuckle. I like the fact that the story points out that the helicopter did not attempt to give chase! I also wonder if the sighting of UFOs over south Wales has anything to do with the presence of Torchwood in Cardiff. I mean Torchwood is real isn't it? There really is a space/time rift thing in Cardiff so of course the odd UFO is likely to pop through now and again! :-)

This week I also got very cross about Boris Johnson removing the anti-racism message from the Rise festival, here is a video clip about it.

Rest day

I was on a rest day from my running training but I thought that it would be a good idea to do some gentle exercise so I went for a 4 mile walk! I now appreciate why there are rest days. My muscles are aching! I can feel muscles I just didn't know I had!

On my walk I went to Morden Hall Park and took some pictures of the roses in the rose gardens, they smelt gorgeous. There were no labels so I couldn't find out what type of rose they are.

I also came across some of that Jurassic rhubarb that grows by the river side!

London Pride 10K Run

In a rather foolhardy moment I signed up to run the annual London Pride 10k run (click on the link to this entry for more details.) The race isn't about beer but is about Gay Pride and money raised is for Stonewall. I started my training this morning with a session of 1 minute running, 1 minute walking x 10. It was pretty hard for me - I won't even run for a bus! But I did it with out collapsing or getting too out too much pain. My legs are now aching a bit but otherwise I feel really good about it!

I'm having a lazy afternoon now watching the semi finals to the Stella Artois Championship.

Mind the Gap

I had a lovely meeting today at work. I got the chance to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while and I was informed that a video I had contributed to a couple of years ago is now available on YouTube. Click here if you would like to view it. The film is about access to London Underground,

Disappointed

I am feeling pretty grumpy today. This is because I turned down the offer of a lovely long weekend in Devon because I had other commitments which I thought were best not canceled; I just didn't want to mess anyone around. Well low and behold those commitments got canceled this morning with a couple of hours notice. So I could have gone on holiday after all and enjoyed the sunshine in Devon!

To try and console my disappointment I went to Cavendish Square gardens to have a lunch of Itsu salmon and avocado sushi and some of their fantastic zinging detox juice. That did cheer me up for a bit. I sat under a lovely old tree and although there was hardly a scrap of free grass because everyone else wanted to sit in the gardens and eat their lunch too, it was still very pleasant, but not Devon. Still I have a week booked off in July so hopefully I can unwind then.

Acting that is just out of this world

After a lovely afternoon eating and drinking in Francesco's back garden which resembles a bijou tropical paradise we returned home to watch the Canadian Grand Prix. Jason brought to my attention this rather fabulous story about the new X-Files film. I was really looking forward to the new film, and stories about real aliens being used as extras in the film just adds to the crazy anticipation! The truth is out there ... honest ;-)

South Wales

I had a day trip to South Wales today, on business sadly but still it was nice to get out of London. As ever I was given a very warm Welsh welcome by everyone I met. Including the taxi driver who gave me a very detailed running commentary on the local landscape, his house, local business and in true cabbie style had a good moan. We may have been driving through south Wales but he still had the opportunity to criticise the London congestion charge! My meting went really well and everyone was really lovely making the 2 hour journey and 5:45 alarm well worth it.

It would have been nice to stay in Wales for a bit but there is no place like home and right now that is London. It is very quiet this evening. Jase is working late and I am having to watch Big Brother by myself.

What a strange summer tradition Big Brother is, like wasps, warm beer, rained on picnics and saturated fat loaded fish and chips on the sea front, really quite horrible but ingrained in the psyche and as much part of summer as all the nice things like strawberries and cream, lemonade and wild roses.

The new Mayor of London

I got my first chance today to visit City Hall since Boris Johnson was somehow elected as Mayor of London. As I approached, City Hall appeared to look the same as ever. Outside there were tourists milling about mingling with some very sharp suits heading to and from the More London office buildings. Entering City Hall was the same as usual. I still get the urge to remove my staff pass and say hello to who ever is on reception even though it is 4 years since I left the GLA.

The security staff were as friendly and helpful as ever - some of them still remember me which is nice. The first change I noticed was to the London Map. The map is in fact a carpet which has a google earth type map of London on it and is found at the bottom of the spiral ramp on the lower ground floor. I used to like walking around on that map helping visitors identify there house. Now something curious has happened to the map. A big table in the shape of Great Britain (no Northern Ireland) has been placed on the east end of the map of London. The outer boroughs of the London map carpet have been removed. The very boroughs that are responsible for electing Boris. What could this mean? Has a disgruntled Ken loyalist sabotaged the map defacing those outer boroughs who voted for Boris? Who knows but it does make the lovely map carpet look very sad indeed.

The atmosphere was subdued in the City Hall cafe in fact the best way to describe the atmosphere is to say it was like an intake of breath after a shock. I am guessing that is how most staff at City Hall feel right now. They are taking a deep breath and waiting for everything to settle and become clear. It looks like many people could lose their jobs.

When I got home tonight BBC London ran a story saying that Boris Johnson has refused to honor Ken Livingstone's weekly press conferences. Boris says he doesn't need to talk to the press every week and be held accountable. Even though he fought his election campaign on the pledge to be more transparent than Ken! Of course I am not surprised by this but I hope all those people who voted for Boris because they believed him when hw said that he would be more transparent than Ken and more willing to talk about what is going on at City Hall, recognise that he is not true to his word. I don't think Ken was perfect - I worked for him so I should know - but even when things were really tough he met with the press every week and allowed them to badger and question. I know how important these press conferences were because I sometimes had to contribute to the brief which was given to Ken so he could answer the probing questions thrown at him during the press conferences.

All that is wrong with the NHS

Well I had my x-ray this morning. The hospital is one of those old Victorian cottage hospitals that have now been turned into drop-in centres for tests, scans and x-rays. I was the only person there when I first arrived and so thought it wouldn't take too long. There seemed to be some strange rule though that meant that no one could be seen unless there were at least 5 people waiting! So I waited until 4 other people turned up and then the radiographer also turned up! Actually I think the receptionist just wasn't telling her that there was anyone waiting; the radiographer thought that there was only one person waiting who happened to have got there after me because our notes weren't being passed on.

Being a non emergency x-ray place the majority of people waiting with me were over 60. We all had great trouble putting on the gowns that we were given. I had trouble because the gowns had to be fastened at the back as many large print notices told me. Considering that my shoulder won't comfortably allow me to move my arm behind me, it was pretty painful tying my gown behind my neck! One poor guy was already using a walking stick to get around and obviously found it difficult to put his gown on only to find that his didn't have any tags to tie at the back! So as he put it, he had a choice to put it on backwards and have his bare arse on view to everyone or wrap it wound him like a bath robe come toga and just hope it didn't slip. His wife who clearly felt that she was "long suffering" kept telling him to sit down and stop complaining.

I noticed that the radiographer who also held herself to be "long suffering" used that tone of voice that medical professionals adopt for difficult young children and old people when she spoke to this particular man. When I am "old" I hope I will not be treated like that. The guy was only about 10 years older than my Dad I guess - and as far as I am concerned only my Mum and I can ever speak to my Dad in an impatient way!

Anyway my advice is this if you are going to have an x-ray because a part of your body is causing you limited mobility then take someone with you to help you put on your gown, and if you are over 60 don't stand being spoken to like a child: either complain or what I think I'll do if I ever get spoken to that way is say "Well if you want to speak to me as if I am a child then I'll behave like one!" and throw the biggest tantrum ever! I bet that would be quite cathartic - like the Little Miss Jocelin character who behaves like a 2 year old when she doesn't get her way. Brilliant!

So in summary I am very pleased that I got referred for an x-ray so quickly and will be able to see my GP next week and hopefully sort this out however, the whole experience was spoilt by disorganised administration, poorly thought out systems and equipment (in this case gowns that don't tie and are impossible to tie if you are having a mobility or dexterity difficulty of any kind) and staff who have an attitude towards old people. (The radiographer was lovely to me but I'm not old.) Oh and although the place wasn't dirty exactly it didn't feel clean either partly because of the age of everything I am guessing.

A new MacBook

The good news is that I now have a new laptop. My MacBook arrived today and I am using it now. It means that I can type at home with our my shoulder hurting. I am going to have an x-ray tomorrow so hopefully my shoulder will be sorted out soon as well.

Not much else going on, work is busy and I have to make a trip to Bridgend for the day later this week. I am not looking forward to the very early start that day.

Painful shoulder

I might not be able to write much for a few days as I have a very painful shoulder which is made worse when typing at my Mac at home. I have a new Macbook on the way and when that arrives I should be able to type less painfully. In the mean time I shall be having an x-ray on Wednesday.