"Anyone for Tennis????" a "Post-It From London" - by Kate Ayres (London, UK)

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From the Web 1.0 days I bring you The Forum. To preserve them for posterity as Geocities can no longer be found but also it's fun to re-read some of them.

28th June, 2001 

Well Good morning from a hot, steamy and decidedly Mediterranean London on June 28th. 

Well, summer feels like it might just have decided to grace us with its presence this year we’ve taken the opportunity to moan about lack of air conditioning on the trains, buses, cars; offices are too stifling hot etc, etc.. god I love whingeing poms!!!!

So what’s the buzz in London?

Well as a side note it would have been Princess Diana’s 40th Birthday on 1st July, this has spawned the usual documentaries claiming to show “the real princess”. My views are why can’t we just leave her to RIP…. It was a very sad part of our lives in the UK, she was and is much-loved but what really pisses me right off is that now, 4 years on from her death, the worms are now speaking out against her. Didn’t have the courage 4 years ago but have now!

One them was a former Professor in the AIDS clinic I was a Secretary within… He wrote a scathing article this week in the Daily Mail… I never liked him and he was a shit then…

On behalf of UK citizens everywhere we loved her, she did a lot of good, she wasn’t an angel and may have suffered eating disorders, but she was a brilliant mum, sister, niece and person and that is all that I will say on the matter… 

Its June… flaming June and that can mean only one thing - WIMBLEDON LAWN TENNIS. Well it started this week and so far the weather has been in the high 80’s Fahrenheit and Martina Hingis is OUT! Its sadly lacking the lovely Anna Kornakova… she of the plaited pigtail and large boobs… for you boys that haven’t noticed her! The telly is full of Wimbledon highlights and I have to say gives me a great chance to eye up the blokes legs in tiny white shorts, suntan and pert bottoms… aaah…. I had the luck of being on Centre Court last year watching Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter… wow what a match… I cannot play tennis for a toffee but love to watch Wimbledon.

Its always an interest to those in the UK as to who is going to have a temper tantrum and smash their racket, who’s going to have jokes with the umpires and who, god forbid, will start the crowd singing when it eventually rains somewhere along the tournament?! Its uniquely British and strawberries and cream are abounding.

The real fans have been queuing for days just to get the chance to see Henman and Rusedski play and its one of the few spectator sports in the UK with no violence and a great sense of pride comes across. The players apparently love Wimbledon for its atmosphere and we’re particularly good at supporting the underdogs who are in need of support. I really hope we do well this year, but in case we don’t we’ll cheer whoever needs our support. Personally I would like Andre Agassi to win and Jelena Dokic to win the ladies… 

Wimbledon is not an elitist place, its great to see brass bands, eat muscles or prawns from a pot or go for a full-blown three course meal with wine and Pimms. It’s a great place and the coverage on the BBC is great. I only hope I get the chance to go again… maybe next year.

Take care till my next post-it… All the best… Kate XXX

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