I discovered how tremendously popular I was when I announced on Facebook that I’d managed to get two pairs of Centre Court tickets in the Wimbledon Ballot.

However when I heard that my great friend Jenny, who now lives in the US, was to start her family holiday by flying in to the UK on Friday 4th July, it was a no-brainer.  Jen loves her tennis and I knew would relish the opportunity to be in Centre Court for the Ladies’ Singles Final.  Her fabulous husband agreed to take the kids down to Cornwall on his own on the condition that I was to make sure Jenny got an early train to Cornwall on Sunday.

Perfect plan… well it would have been but for a couple of reasons.  United Airlines cancelled their flight and announced that they’d be put on another arriving into London on Sunday.  After much kerfuffle, negotiation and yet more US driving, they headed for a flight out of Philly to Washington DC, then another flight to London.  This arrived on Saturday morning and it was going to be a rush to get to London and Wimbledon but fortunately it landed early and I was already there waiting.  We bid the family goodbye and raced for London.  Quick shower and change and made it to Wimbledon by 1.20pm.  A quick wander to watch a few minutes of the wheelchair doubles – utterly amazing and in awe of the power and agility of these players.

Check in at the ballgirl/boy office to find out if Abi was on court anywhere for a spot of Abi-stalking.  Then just enough time to take our seats in Centre Court for the 2pm Ladies’ Singles Final.

Gosh, can you tell we’ve barely had any sleep?

Once again blessed with fabulous seats.  Amazing to be there and to hear and see the power and strength of each shot.

The Ladies’ Singles Final:

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) [13]
v
Petra Kvitova (CZE) [6]

was sadly over very quickly.  Under 55 minutes and it felt very one-sided.  Sadly we were both supporting Bouchard who for whatever reason we felt didn’t quite have her mojo.

We had to stay for the presentation ceremony because guess which ball-girl was in the line-up?   Yes the ever wonderful Abi!  Sadly though I wasn’t able to get the ‘perfect’ picture of her as there was a pesky boy in front… but here’s a few of the better ones.

We then left Centre Court briefly to have a wake-up walk around Wimbledon and headed back in for the latter part of the next match – Ladies’ Doubles Finals

Timea Babos (HUN) [14] / Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) [14] v
Sara Errani (ITA) [2] / Roberta Vinci (ITA) [2]

A well-fought match where age and experience of Errani and Vinci won over the enthusiastic and energetic youngsters of Babos and Mladenovic.  Fair to say the final scores of 6-1, 6-3 truly didn’t reflect the amount of quality shots and winning play that was represented by Babos and Mladenovic.  I think we’ll be seeing more of these ladies in future competitions.

Once again in need of a wake-up walk and also some refreshment we headed for the nearest cafe… just as the heavens really opened.  Pots of tea with scones, clotted cream and jam… ooh and strawberries and cream.  Perfect pick me up!

Next on Centre Court was the Gentlemen’s Doubles Final

Bob Bryan (USA) [1] Mike Bryan (USA) [1]
v
Vasek Pospisil (CAN) Jack Sock (USA)

I had been fortunate enough to see the Bryan Brothers in a qualifying round for this final but chose to support the youngsters AKA Popsocks.

An incredibly hard-fought match.  Again age and experience v enthusiasm and energy.  We stayed only for the first couple of sets but could see that it would run it’s full course of 5 sets.

So very pleased to hear the final was won not by the seeded and title holders but by the youngsters, Popsocks. It would no doubt have been an utterly brilliant match to watch to the final point but we had somewhere we really wanted to be and someone who had been on our minds all day.

As we left Wimbledon we had our tickets scanned so that hopefully someone else was able to purchase the remaining time and enjoy what would have been a wonderful completion of a day of tennis on Centre Court.  The money for resold tickets goes to charity.

My lovely friend, Stephen, organises an amazing day each year at Henley Royal Regatta and I’m terrifically fortunate that he invited me again this year.

There are several of us that used to work together in the 80s and 90s that are invited and we race for busy trains to get to Henley late morning.  Not that we are creatures of habit but a stop off at Hotel Du Vin for a glass or two of bubbly start our wonderful day.  Time to regroup and take a breath before the main event.

We then head over to the Lion Meadow, Henley Royal Regatta car park, where Stephen is waiting with other guests and the very wonderful catering team from Thame.  This year, as it was so very hot and sunny, I was grateful for the gazebo and shade it created.  What wonderful food, great wines and, of course, fabulous company.

Mid-afternoon we make our way into the Stewards enclosure.  There’s always a little loitering so that we can find an area to set up camp for our group.  Once again we tuck into the ever important Pimms and bubbles enjoying each other’s company.  I have to confess it does become harder to actually watch the rowing – particularly when we are so comfortable with the sunshine, Pimms and company.

Great great fun… oooh and of course a few Regatta selfies!

When the racing had finished, a few of us headed off to Stephen’s glorious narrowboat for a glass of wine on deck as the sun went down.

All in all a super special day.  Thanks Stephen. x

Again blessed to have won the opportunity to purchase some Wimbledon tickets via the tennis league ballot.

I’m back in Court 2 for the day with my friend, Verity.

We had seats a little higher but still perfectly centre to watch some awesome tennis matches.

The lineup of matches on Court 2 were:

1. Shuko Aoyama (JPN) / Renata Voracova (CZE) v
Sara Errani (ITA) [2] / Roberta Vinci (ITA) [2]
2. Bob Bryan (USA) [1] / Mike Bryan (USA) [1] v
Julian Knowle (AUT) [9] / Marcelo Melo (BRA) [9]
3. Martin Klizan (SVK) / Belinda Bencic (SUI) v
Bruno Soares (BRA) [13] / Martina Hingis (SUI) [13]
4. Aisam Qureshi (PAK) [16] / Vera Dushevina (RUS) [16] v
Bob Bryan (USA) [2] / Kveta Peschke (CZE) [2]

What a treat to see some doubles matches. I love watching doubles as there’s always an element of ‘great mates’ playing a match. OK so obviously they’re also out there to win but somehow a sense of fun is also evident.

Wonderful too to see Martina Hingis who I saw many many years ago and, of course, the Bryan Brothers who took gold in the London Olympics.

Of course there is also a great amount of Abi-stalking.  She remains the best ball-girl and I was so very proud to be able to see her being so brilliantly professional again.

Before I start this post I’m going to acknowledge how fortunate I am to have applied in three different ballots for Wimbledon tickets and to have been allocated tickets to purchase in all three!  The first of which was for two tickets to Court 2 today.

I had an ulterior motive to my rather aggressive approach to getting to Wimbledon tickets.  Many months ago I took a call from my friend Millie asking for advice.  Her daughter, Abi, had a chance, through her school, to be a ball girl but a) wasn’t sure about it; b) didn’t know much about tennis (nobody in the family plays); and c) it would be almost impossible to do the pick up and drop offs for the months of training required after school.  So I offered my ‘Auntie Anna’ services.  My job was to be at Wimbledon each week after training and to drive Abi to Clapham Junction where she would join her Dad on his commuter train home.  I have absolutely loved my weekly 15 minutes or so with Abi between Wimbledon and Clapham.

The training started in January and was intense from week 1.  My first question each week as Abi climbed in my car was ‘are you still in?’ – they whittled the numbers of ball girls/boys down each week as the competition got closer.

I may have also told pretty much anyone who’d listen that Abi was doing the training and hopefully would make it through to Wimbledon tournament.  I just may have mentioned it once or twice.

My darling Abi is a ball girl.   Hmm I’m allowed Auntie Anna bragging rights!

Our day today started early as Millie came up to Wimbledon with Abi.  The early start meant that there was time for us to stop off in the sunshine and have a Pimms and a good catch up!

On Court 2 we saw the following matches:

Stan Wawrinka -v- Joao Sousa; Milos Raonic -v- Matthew Ebden; Angelique Kerber -v- Urszula Radwanska; Kaia Kanepi -v- Jelena Jankovic; and Vera Zvonareva -v- Tara Moore.

As you can see from my pictures we were also very fortunate with some perfectly positioned seats.  A wonderful day’s play on Court 2.

Every couple of hours we would sneak out to the Ball girl/boy office and check which court Abi was on.  They work one hour on court and one hour off but aren’t allowed to talk/walk or acknowledge us until their day’s work has truly finished.   Despite not being able to say hello, I think we managed to ‘stalk’ Abi on all courts with the exception of her last assignment.

I think you’ll agree from the montage of pictures below that she sure looks professional.  I’m so very proud.

I also knew I’d done a good ‘Auntie Anna job’ when just as she headed off for home with her Mum on the train, she shook her head, laughed and told us that all she’d heard all day was Millie and I proudly ‘whispering’ about Abi or us taking pictures or videos!

She then said ‘Oooh you’re soo embarrassing’… with a big grin on her face!

What a totally fabulous day at Ascot with the girls.  I think the montage of photos above tell you all that you should know about our day but just in case…

• A few (ahem) glasses of bubbles.
• A few pitchers of Pimms.
• Very patriotic flag waving.
• A lot of people watching.
• Men in suits!
• Watching horses run by and cheering on (in my case) the colourful jockeys and the horses with ‘entertaining’ names… that are nearer the back of the field than the front.
• A touch of gambling (Debs clearly won in notes form when I just accrued a pocket full of change – see bottom left of montage!).

Mostly though we had a blast.  We laughed a LOT.  Great company.

We looked, as described on Verity’s Diet Coke bottle, Gorgeous…. it just needs an ‘Utterly’ prefixed!

Family day at the Polo in the Park, Hurlingham Park, London started at 11.30 this morning when I was first in line to get into the Park with some rugs and suntan lotion.  I found a spot right by the pitch sideline and spread the rugs out.  We were near the children’s area, a short walk from the toilet block and in the other direction the food and drink outlets.  Perfect spot for a day at the polo.

Via an offer of substantially discounted tickets on LivingSocial we managed to round up a few friends with and without families for a day at the polo.  There was plenty of activity on the pitch for the children whilst everyone arrived – huge great big bouncy castles, children entertainers, games and sports competitions.  This was followed by a jousting display (gosh they must have been hot in their outfits!) and then the first polo match between Beijing and Sydney.  The polo play had been slightly simplified for Hurlingham and because of a smaller pitch they also only had 3 players on each team.  This didn’t however stop the fast and furious play on the pitch.  Throughout the day there were three different matches with little breaks for us and, of course for the polo ponies and teams.

So lovely to spend the day with some very special people drinking Pimms, enjoying lots of chats and conversations and, of course, watching some great polo.  A little hot at times for us all and I, for one, have an ‘interesting’ red-tinged tan!

I think this collage of pictures sums up our day beautifully.

An amazing day with amazingly wonderful friends.