News from Wimbledon.

I'm very fortunate to have a friend who lives in Stöckheim, (a small satellite town a few miles outside Braunschweig) who receives BBC tv on a special satellite dish.  This meant that I could watch both Wimbledon finals, and  I spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons glued to the set watching the matches.   Miss Sabine Lisicki, the German player did her best in her first Grand Slam final, but was completely overawed by the occasion.  Her opponent, the French player Marion Bartoli had played in a final before, so was more prepared the the stress of the occasion.   I cheered for the German player of course, but she played a poor game against a much stronger Miss Bartoli.  I was able to remain fairly calm watching this match, and the photo above shows the loser signing autographs after the match.

Andy Murray being interviewed after the match.

Calm was not a word to describe my viewing of the men´s final between GB´s Andy Murray and live wire Novak Djokovik from Serbia!   The match was wonderful, and I´m lucky that my fingernails survived the three set match in tact!     Both men fought their hardest to win, but it was Andy who played the better game and who, this year,  was determined to win having been the runner up in 2012.   The photo shows him being interviewed by Sue Barker after the match.  My friend is an English teacher and a member of the Braunschweig/Bath twinning group.   On the wall can be seen a map of England, a country is has visited on many occasions and which is dear to her heart.

A hot air balloon floats over my home in Timmerlah.

The tram tracks are being renovated during the school holidays, which means that my journeys from Timmerlah into the city are not as straight forward as they usually are.  I do miss the trams, which have been replaced by less frequent buses.  After the stress of watching Andy win, I decided to walk the last mile back home, and watched a hot air balloon gently drift across the skyline above my flat.   My flat is in the peaked roof house in the centre of the photo.

The first thing I did when I got home was to have a nice, strong cup of English tea and feel so pleased that after 77 years, another British player has won the Wimbledon final.