Wimbledon baby!

Okay, so Cath and I headed to Wimbledon, thanks to my friend Siobhan being a real star and organising us centre court tickets. We decided we wanted to go on day 2 rather than for the final as we wanted to see lots of players, and not just two. Maybe in retrospect we should have gone to the men's final - nah - I'm glad we went when we did - we got to see God's gift to men - Hantuchova - and to see her you have to go pretty early (cos she loses so early)!

Well you don't wanna hear all about what we did - you just wanna see the photies. Well these ones are all on my facebook page so if you've seen those, there's nothing new for you here folks.

CATH AND AL HIT THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS CLUB

Cath at the 'fixtures for the day' board


We headed over to the courts with the South Africans playing - we watched bits of two singles matches and one doubles.
Our doubles boys won and we saw some amazing points - one by Wesley Moodie hitting the ball around the base of the net - and another by Jeff Coetzee who was down and out against the back fence of the court, got up, got a smash back and won the point.

Here's me in the mother-flag.

cath watches one of our lads...



Below: Venus plays against... well, herself apparently. :)
Cool photies huh. we were really close to the action.



But we had a couple of 'must do's' on our list and one of which was to get some Pimms. So here's us with a glass or two... Bloody Cath with two glasses - Pimms-hog!

This is the new retractable roof that they're building for centre court - it'll be finished for next year's open.

And here's the current Wimbledon champion - Rafael Nadal - winning his first round match. Doesn't he just stick his ass out so much - I'm not the only one Carly!

Cath watching on with a pic of our favourite man in the Wimbledon
programme (must-buy number 2). She's such a poser!

So with Nadal in full swing, we headed off to the pleb courts to see some other names and to show Cath around the grounds (me, I'm a veteran of Wimbledon, this was my third or fourth visit).

First we saw Ljubicic...



Then Davydenko - losing on 'the graveyard' - as you do if yopu're a seed.

Then number 3 for our 'must do' list - Strawberries and cream.

Then a quick trip to Henman hill to rest Cath's weary feet and sit with the plebs who didn't have centre court tickets. Haha - it's WHO YOU KNOW - suckers!

Then
... drool, drool...

Hatuchova... the Slovakian goddess.

Note: Cath watching at bottom of pic below... How close can you get to the stars?

Then last but not least (before we ran off to catych up with our SA friends in a Wimbledon pub)...
A chance to see the Great Scot... Andrew Murray - sorry Madz - I don't like the little twerp - he makes me think of a weed in the wind.

Oh, and Frenchman Fabrice Santoro

Not a bad day's work.

So as mentioned, we then headed off to catch up with the London buddies... Cath had posted an invite on facebook and we were pleasantly surprised to see so many old friends there - and calculate how long it had been since we had last seen each other - I think Carlyn took the award with 5 years.

Thanks to Tanya we had a place to crash (we had stayed with mart and Inge the first night) and we headed back to Cork the next day, and work.... sigh.

Kinsale & west Cork with the group

Well these photos have been a long time coming... and that's because between the time of this trip and now, Cath and I have been to Wimbledon, Northern Ireland, had Emma and Del-boy to stay and had endless internet problems at our place (Damn you NTL / Chorus - why can't you work when it rains!!!)

Anyhoo, the ol' group of friends came down to Cork for a trip and popped round for tea (about 12 of us in the lounge - we were snug but we were happy) - and then out for a pint or two. They invited us out to join them on the next day's drive but Cath had to study. I had promised to take her to the Sex in the City movie but got out of it and decided to join them - as long as I could be back in time for work. Well as it ended up, I was a bit late for work but phew, only cos these guys pack a real weekend's worth into a day's drive.

We started off with a drive to Kinsale - and the local castle - which is actually a lot like Cape Town's five-pointed castle.

Pablo photos Maria at the castle gates, Alan photos Ben and Malu (sneaky-like).

The compulsory group shot.

View of Kinsale harbour.

We took a photie or two and the guys settled down for a bit of breakfast. they're typical campers / backpackers. Breakie was sarmies and leftovers - just the way Cath and I do it too. I felt immediately at home.



Next stop was a trip to west Cork's best beach - Inchydoney - where Ben was determined we'd swim. Okay, so I've put on a few pies - you try living in a country where it's summer is still more rainy than Cape Town's summer! Okay - poor excuse, I know.

Anyway, here we are, looking like a bedraggled bunch of misfits in the wind.

Back into the car and a drive along the coast. A quick wee-stop. Or is that simply a wee stop?


Then a stone circle ala Stonehenge on a slightly smaller scale.

And Antonia gave us an exhibition in 'How to beat up the Australian'. I approve whole-heartedly.
Sorry Ben.



All this driving around was thirsty work...



Last stop... some west Cork cliffs at.... I dunno, I can't remember the name.

Pablo and Maria take a look out over the cliffs...

Antonia

Sebestian

Ben and Pablo talk man-talk.

Maria ponders God's beautiful artwork.

Malu takes time out on the rocks.