Coming from a family of sporty people, with Mum and Dad both being keen tennis players, I grew up with it dominating our only TV (well, it was the 70s) and it grew into a much-loved summer tradition. With the start of the tournament coming around the time of Mum's birthday and usually ending around my brother's and mine, all in all it made for happy times! And Andy Murray gave me the happiest time in 2013 by winning the championship on my birthday - the best present ever.
Watching it and bonding with Dad (off work recuperating from a back op) in between sitting my O-Levels; the living room nearly always dark and heavily curtained so we could see the ball better; Mum's home made elderflower champagne (and the year it exploded); endless strawberries; chocolate birthday cake; absolutely LOATHING Ilie Nastase and John McEnroe and their tantrums; Mum refusing to answer a ringing phone during a tense match in which a lowly Brit was about to wipe out a seeded player (they didn't); endless salads as she couldn't bear to drag herself away from the TV to actually cook (to the constant childish whine of "Oh no, Mum! Not salad AGAIN") - all of these are happy summer memories. The summers seemed hot and endless then.
Even now I feel the pressing need to 'work from home' during Wimbledon fortnight and find the sounds of the ball being knocked back and forth very soothing . . . so soothing that it makes for the perfect afternoon nap soundtrack.
(I'm well aware that all of this makes me sound ANCIENT.)
Anyway, today I plan to devote myself to an afternoon of sheer viewing pleasure and have compiled a little collection of white pieces in tribute to the tradition of wearing white at Wimbledon.
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