Since jay_of_lasgalen asked, a write-up of my two days at Wimbledon.

Thursday
This was the day the Queen was there. So after negotiating the hot, busy tube, we got to queue to get our bags searched because they were really thorough. Usually they just open them, have a look and give in. But they took everything out and opened everything. Although they didn't bother with the bag my dinner was in. But they did confiscate our Union Jack for not being regulation size. No, I don't know what regulation size is either, but I did see other non-Union Jack flags being waved about, so I reckon they just took it for the fun of it.

So after all that we were in the tunnel on the way to our staircase when the Queen came onto court. And then it turned out we were as far across an aisle as it was possible to be and everyone we had to get past were sitting down. On our way there the players came out.

After that we had lunch and enjoyed the Murray match. Unlike the Queen. It wasn't too hot near the back under the shade. There were two problems with our seat: it was opposite the umpire, so I got dizzy watching the ball, and the cameraman was in the way of the scoreboard. We couldn't see if a ball was out on Hawkeye and we couldn't see the number of games the person at the bottom had. Which was fine as long as you were concentrating, but unhelpful when they put up scores for other matches at the change of ends and then you had no idea.

After that we skipped the women and spent money in the shop. I needed a new cap, new mouse mat and new pen. Then we baked on Henman Hill watching the marathon match. The big screen TV doesn't have commentary (which is good, since it also doesn't have mute for the annoying commentators) and it also cycles round the scores on the other courts. Except that it stopped and given that we were baking and losing the will to live watching the match, we wandered off a few games before it eventually ended. But we found the women had finished.

So then we saw Nadal. Who took more sets to finish than we thought, but was quicker than we thought. Especially since this is Nadal we're talking about - he never has quick matches because he's so slow.

But he finished in time for dinner. We opted not to watch the random ladies doubles match on Centre and instead managed to find standing space above Court 18 to watch our number 1 GB doubles team play a French team - one of whom had been in the marathon match. It even got chilly!

When they gave it up for bad light a lot of other people left as well, so we were queueing down the road from the tube station. Then we got there, three trains went in the other direction, so the tube was packed (and boiling) and I had to change trains. I eventually got home close to midnight.

Saturday
This time we got there ages before the match started - we even had time to eat lunch before the players came out. It was weird watching the ladies singles final because, despite all the photos and extra stuff at the start, it's easy to forget it's the final and not just another tennis match. Especially when the second set isn't even very close...

The seats don't feel that uncomfortable to start with, but they quickly get that way. Fortunately we were two seats from the end of the aisle and right by the staircase. So we went outside for a wander.

We went to the other branch of the shop this time and discovered a polo shirt for £140! And that they did Wimbledon flip flops (I don't think there's anything you can't get with the Wimbledon branding on). Said flip flops were £17 or £25 depending on the style. And the only thing different between them and ordinary flip flops was the logo on the bit that goes under your foot. Funnily enough we weren't a bit tempted...

The mens doubles got their first set over quickly, so we thought we'd better get back on court in case it was all that one-sided and we missed it all. It then wasn't so one-sided, but they still finished in straight sets. Because we weren't far round from the Royal Box, my pictures of the people collecting their trophy are a bit of spot the tennis player...

Then we stayed for the women and ate dinner since it was quite late by the time they managed to get through the first set. I can't say it was the most exciting tennis I've ever seen. All the finals were straight sets jobs, which was a bit disappointing.

It being the second-to-last day there weren't that many people round Wimbledon in comparison to before and there weren't many courts in action. It made it feel a bit sad to be so unused, really. But at least it meant the tube home wasn't quite as hot or crowded.

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