Wednesday, December 05, 2007

London escape

I escaped. Glynis and I LOVE tennis, and she and her husband gave me a ticket to the Masters tennis (the older ones) at the Royal Albert Hall as a Christmas present. Yesterday. YES!!! Glynis and I set of on the train in the morning, and after arriving at the new St Pancras Station, which is absolutely stunning (where Eurostar departs from) we managed to go through nearly all our spending money in the shops at the station. Sigh. Well, there was a Paperchase......

We bought some divine sandwiches from M&S Food and sat in Kensington Gardens eating our lunch, after wandering down the High Street, looking at all the shops. We had to fight off the squirrels. The rotten little things danced around our feet, pawing our bags. Do NOT get me started on squirrels. They are my nemesis. I wish you could see what they have done to my garden.
Here is Glynis, in front of the Albert Memorial, which is in front of the Royal Albert Hall.
Turn the other way, and here am I. In front of the Royal Albert Hall. Oh, the excitement! And just think.... I should have been at work. I had the day off (unpaid) as it was a pre-existing arrangement.

And this is what the inside is transformed into for the tennis. Amazing. We had perfect seats in the choir stalls, and we have sat there before, and really do think they are the best in the house. This is Henri Leconte with Jeremy Bates. We also saw Peter McNamara and Mansur Bahrami, and Chris Wilkinson, and Tom Gulikson (I bumped into him after his match....so I touched him!) and Guy Forget and Anders Jarryd. A real feast of tennis. Stefan Edberg was playing in the evening, and we were really sorry not to see him play. Maybe next time. And McEnroe.


And then we walked back to the tube station, in the dark, past all the Christmas lights. It was perfect. I had such a special day and I loved every moment. I told you I had great friends!

10 comments:

someone else said...

Oh what a wonderful treat! I wondered where you were.

I could picture where you walked on High Street because there's a B&B on Vicarage Gate that we've stayed in several times. I'm glad you had such a delightful time.

Susie said...

Sounds like such fun. I'm thrilled that you had a great time with good friends. I've heard of Kensington Gardens (perhaps something to do with Princess Diana?
Squirrels can be such pests. They've also done lots of damage in our garden!
xo

Dawn said...

What a wonderful day you had! Tell me, was he sweaty when you bumped into him, after his match??

I have heard the teacher who got into trouble for her kids naming the teddy bear "Mohammed", and she sounds exactly how I envision you sounding if I talked to you.

Angie said...

I know nothing really about tennis players but it all sounds very exciting. I love the SAA sign in the background. It sounds like you had a wonderful day.

Judith said...

I am so glad you got away from rearranging the house, or going to work, and enjoyed what looks like a delightful trip. Thank you so much for the pictorial tour. I loved seeing it.

Susan said...

What a fun blessing. Yes, you have great friends and I'm sure you are the greatest of them all!!
Loved the pictures and the narrative.
Susan

meggie said...

That sounded just what you needed!
Glad it was such a delightful day.

keryn said...

You lucky ,lucky thing! I love tennis too, and I'm determined to get to Wimbledon some time.

And only great people deserve great friends.

What's your email, I would love to drop you a private note....

Barbara said...

Glad you enjoyed your day at the tennis tournament at the Royal Albert Hall. I have sung and danced on that stage.
Thanks for commenting.Your weekend sounds exhausting. Can't you go to M & S for some of your stuff while you are so busy. I won't even think of my decs. until next weekend.
Anyhow don't overdo it and get some rest as well.

Crystal said...

It sounds like you had a lovely day with your friend! We surely don't make time for those kinds of outings very often, do we? I'm glad you had a day off from school doing something you really love.