by I’m not sure what to make of Wimbledon these days. The latter stages of the tournament have turned into something of a celeb-wank-fest (sorry for the inelegant turn of phrase), and things only get wankier when a certain Mr Federer happens to be on Centre Court. Then you’ve got the virtually-all-white rule which used to be sensible but is now taken to the nth degree. As a kid I owned a replica of Stefan Edberg’s Wimbledon-winning shirt, which had his SE initials and an inoffensive splash of colour on the front. It’s just about the only official-ish sporting item I’ve ever owned. It certainly wouldn’t pass muster at Wimbledon now. Shoes with coloured soles have been outlawed in this edition of the tournament, and most ridiculously of all, a boys’ doubles team were forced to change out of their black undies which supposedly showed through their white shorts. The greatest tennis tournament of all is in danger of disappearing up its own arse.
The tennis wasn’t bad today though, even if Federer won rather annoyingly in three close sets. Berdych fought very well. The other match between Cilic and Querrey grabbed my attention a little more; it wasn’t as serve-dominated as I’d feared. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s finale to the women’s tournament. Venus Williams, who is just two months younger than me, played at a ridiculously high level in her semi with Jo Konta, including that game-changing second serve to the body at 4-4 and break point down in the first set. If (and it’s a big if) she can scale those heights against Muguruza tomorrow, she’ll surely win.
I spoke to my parents this morning. I’d just had my second lesson with my new student and was on the bike when the phone rang. They seemed fine. Their friends from St Ives (who are also my friends I guess – I saw them when I was there in April) might be popping over to see me. I’d be very happy if that happened. I was on my way to the market which at the height of summer is just fantastic. The great big ugly tomatoes, the watermelons, all the stonefruit… and so many mysteriously white (or off-white) vegetables. Green beans aren’t green, they’re pale yellow. So are peppers. So are courgettes. White onions are commonplace, as are white eggplants. Perhaps all these vegetables are in fact whitish or yellowish in their most natural state, but in the First World they’re bred to be bright traffic-light colours because people wouldn’t buy them otherwise. There are scores of fruit and vege stalls at the market I went to today, but also butchers, bakers, people selling all kinds of cheeses and salamis, and people who sharpen knives and scissors. In the middle of the market is a kiosk with various items on shelves in the window. For maximum confusion, mouthwash, car de-icer (which you certainly don’t need right now) and vodka are all on the same shelf in similar-looking bottles. You can also buy kebabby things and there are several vending machines, one of which sells eggs. Off to the side is a café that makes nice coffee, but when I went there at 9:30 on Monday morning, most people were drinking either whisky or beer.
I gave a mock job interview in this morning’s lesson. My student coped better with it than I did. In fact, considering English isn’t her first language, I was seriously impressed with her performance.
