Linda
27-06-2012, 22:20
Since last year I've been intending to camp on Friday for Saturday this year, but of course also tried all other ways to get tickets too. I was lucky enough to get a pair of tickets for the men's semifinals in my club ballot, but I shall be in Row T which is near the back.
On Sunday I tried for returns tickets for Centre Court - and for the first time ever, was successful! There was just one problem - I needed to ask for a day's holiday from work at very short notice! When I went into work on Monday I said to my boss "There's something I need to ask you" and he replied, "I know - you're going to see Rafa" so that was OK. :rolling: Then I found out that Jaysee had Court 1 tickets for Tuesday so we swapped mobile numbers with the intention of meeting up.
So I got up early Tuesday morning and made my way to Wimbledon with my confirmation email, order details, passport, the credit card that I paid with, my entire life story . . . all the things they wanted in order to prove that I am me. Was a bit worried because my passport photo doesn't look remotely like me - the automatic recognition things at the airports reject me but the real people always nod me through.
Anyway, there was no problem and they handed over my ticket. Of course it's pot luck where your ticket will be. Someone on here said they got the front row once. I looked at my ticket. Row ZE. Only one row forward from the very back. In fact Row ZF (where I've also been!) is better because at least there you get a shelf on which to perch your Pimm's. :rolling:
Once inside I made my way to meet the VB campers! It was great to see them again - the last time most of us had met was at Monte Carlo. I mentioned that I felt rather sorry for Jaysee who was on Court 1 so she wouldn't see Andy. Wondered aloud whether I might let her use my ticket for part of Andy's match (I did that once for RoastLamb). Then Kate said that she and Ellie would be leaving after Rafa's match so Jaysee and her friend could have their tickets! That was wonderful so I texted her to let her know.
When they let us all into the grounds proper, we all dashed straight to the practice courts and hung about there for ages. We thought that Rafa would probably practise at 11.00 or 11.30 but didn't know where. (Of course, Andy, with a later match, would be practising later, once we were already in Centre Court.) As most of the main courts were in use for matches, it seemed probable that he would be on one of the practice courts. But there was no sign of him. We saw lots of other players coming and going. Heather walked past and we all said "Good luck, Heather" and she smilingly said thank you to everyone. She seems like a real sweetie.
Then we heard that Rafa was practising on Court 11! It was the only main court that didn't have a match on it - if only we'd made a better study of the OOP we might have worked out that he'd practise there. Anyway, we all dashed off but it was quite a long way and we didn't have a lot of hope of getting near the court. On the way we passed Judy busy texting and someone said "I wonder if a tweet from PseudoFed will pop up shortly?" Actually I think now that it is more likely that Kim is PseudoFed - have you seen Maggie's new blog?
We got there - it was packed of course - but we could see Rafa over the tops over other people's heads. Cameras out! I took loads of pics - here are a couple:
626627
On Sunday I tried for returns tickets for Centre Court - and for the first time ever, was successful! There was just one problem - I needed to ask for a day's holiday from work at very short notice! When I went into work on Monday I said to my boss "There's something I need to ask you" and he replied, "I know - you're going to see Rafa" so that was OK. :rolling: Then I found out that Jaysee had Court 1 tickets for Tuesday so we swapped mobile numbers with the intention of meeting up.
So I got up early Tuesday morning and made my way to Wimbledon with my confirmation email, order details, passport, the credit card that I paid with, my entire life story . . . all the things they wanted in order to prove that I am me. Was a bit worried because my passport photo doesn't look remotely like me - the automatic recognition things at the airports reject me but the real people always nod me through.
Anyway, there was no problem and they handed over my ticket. Of course it's pot luck where your ticket will be. Someone on here said they got the front row once. I looked at my ticket. Row ZE. Only one row forward from the very back. In fact Row ZF (where I've also been!) is better because at least there you get a shelf on which to perch your Pimm's. :rolling:
Once inside I made my way to meet the VB campers! It was great to see them again - the last time most of us had met was at Monte Carlo. I mentioned that I felt rather sorry for Jaysee who was on Court 1 so she wouldn't see Andy. Wondered aloud whether I might let her use my ticket for part of Andy's match (I did that once for RoastLamb). Then Kate said that she and Ellie would be leaving after Rafa's match so Jaysee and her friend could have their tickets! That was wonderful so I texted her to let her know.
When they let us all into the grounds proper, we all dashed straight to the practice courts and hung about there for ages. We thought that Rafa would probably practise at 11.00 or 11.30 but didn't know where. (Of course, Andy, with a later match, would be practising later, once we were already in Centre Court.) As most of the main courts were in use for matches, it seemed probable that he would be on one of the practice courts. But there was no sign of him. We saw lots of other players coming and going. Heather walked past and we all said "Good luck, Heather" and she smilingly said thank you to everyone. She seems like a real sweetie.
Then we heard that Rafa was practising on Court 11! It was the only main court that didn't have a match on it - if only we'd made a better study of the OOP we might have worked out that he'd practise there. Anyway, we all dashed off but it was quite a long way and we didn't have a lot of hope of getting near the court. On the way we passed Judy busy texting and someone said "I wonder if a tweet from PseudoFed will pop up shortly?" Actually I think now that it is more likely that Kim is PseudoFed - have you seen Maggie's new blog?
We got there - it was packed of course - but we could see Rafa over the tops over other people's heads. Cameras out! I took loads of pics - here are a couple:
626627