When I would talk to people about my trip to England, I would inevitably get weird looks and the question, "Wait, you're going all the way to England to go to a concert?" I would diffuse this by saying "Oh! I'm also going to Wimbledon." But, the fact was that I didn't have a ticket to the tennis. So, it was very important that I actually set foot inside the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, to prove my relative sanity. I did my research and I had a good plan to get inside. What is unique about Wimbledon is that every day they sell day of tickets to the first people in line, or "the Queue" as they call it. Signs for "the Queue" had the quotation marks and capitalization, I found that funny, so I'm keeping those.
I read about "the Queue" before my trip and I discovered there is a "Queue" that sells tickets for after 5pm which is easier than the day "Queue." I arrived in London about 3pm on the middle Saturday of Wimbledon. My plan was to check out the 5pm "Queue" that day, then depending how that goes, try to go on Monday. There are no matches on the middle Sunday, so I was expecting Saturday to be very busy.
I hopped on the tube Saturday around 4:30 and headed to Wimbledon. First tip is to get off at Southfields, not Wimbledon, or Wimbledon Park. Southfields is closer to "the Queue", and before the other two stops. I followed the Wimbledon signs to "the Queue":
About 10 minutes later I arrived at "the Queue." One of the best things about the U.K. is everyone is super nice. Also, they love to stand in line, and are very efficient at line standing, or queueing. Case in point, when I arrived at "the Queue" there were four nattily dressed guys giving "the Queue" advice. I walked up to one and asked where's "the Queue." He said "Oy, gov'nah, this is 'the Queue' but you are bloody well better off watching it at a pub." I should point out that in my recollection every British person I spoke to starts his sentence with "Oy gov'nah" though I think I have never actually heard a British person say "gov'nah." I said "Well, you don't have to ask me twice to go to a pub, but why do you say so?"
"Oy, gov'nah, 'the Queue' isn't moving now, and you probably won't get in tonight."
"Thanks, what if I wanted to come on Monday?"
"Oy gov'nah, if you want to get a ticket on Monday, you should get here at 6am, then Bob's yer uncle."
(he did not say "Bob's yer uncle", but that's my favorite British expression, and it fits here, so I like to imagine he did use it)
"Thanks, sir, now can you point me to the nearest pub?"
I then went to a pub near the Southfields tube station, and had this delicious meal. The important thing is I had a plan for Monday. While in England, I was amazed at how late it was light out. It wasn't completely dark until around 10:45. When Monday rolled around I was expecting to wake up in complete darkness at 5am. I stayed at an awesome hotel in London, probably my favorite hotel I have ever stayed at. It was the Eccelston Square Hotel. Each room comes with an iPad to control everything in the room. One thing you can control is the window shades. So I woke up at 5am on Monday, hit the iPad controls for the shades, expecting complete darkness since it was so light out late. I was blinded by the light that was let in, it was completely light out at 5am.
After a mixup at the tube station, I arrived at "the Queue" around 6:20. Here's what I saw:
That's just the end of "the Queue." I got to the end, and started reading my book when a celebrity came by:
That's Rufus, the hawk. His official title is (no joke) "Rufus: Bird Scarer." I pet Rufus, his handler advised me, "He likes to be pet in the front." Don't we all, Rufus. I didn't know this at the time, but Rufus had just been returned from a kidnapping!
I was then handed a pamphlet on how to stand behind someone:
Also, it started to rain. My awesome hotel came with an umbrella which had the name of the hotel in giant letters, and I brought a heavy duty rain coat, so I was fine, thanks for asking. At one point "the Queue" went by a charity collector and a "Queue" worker. I was thinking of giving some money, but all my money was in pockets inside of pockets, so it was too much of a hassle. Then "the Queue" guy said "Oy, gov'nah, are you staying at the Eccleston Square Hotel?"
"Umh, yes."
"Well, then you can afford some money for charity." Busted. I threw in some money and got a sticker.
About two hours later I spotted a tent. I assumed it was the ticket tent:
I got up to the tent and it was only the security tent. I then frantically complied with the rules and took everything out of my pockets. I then got worried that I had a 1/3 of a burrito in my bag wrapped in aluminum foil. The metal detector lady actually asked me what I had in foil, I said "Umh, a burrito."
"Oy gov'nah, jolly good then." Burritos are jolly good. Finally around 10:15 I got this:
A ground pass for only 20 pounds. On Sunday I was curious how much tickets would cost from a ticket resaler. So I went up and asked, the guy said:
"Oy, gov'nah, it is bloody expensive. 750 for Court One, 1500 for Centre Court. 150 for a ground pass." So I saved 130 pounds by waiting for four hours. I'll take that deal.
I checked out the order of play:
Seeing that I could not go in the top three courts, I looked for anyone I have ever heard of. Now, I'm no Bud Collins, but I watch a fair amount of tennis, and there was not a recognizable name in the bunch. I decided just to head over to the top court I could access:
Oh, it was still raining so all the courts were covered. Like I said, I had an awesome umbrella and rain jacket, so I plopped myself in the front row of the best court I could access. An hour later this happened:
Yay! I'm going to see some tennis. The players then arrived, after only an hour delay from the scheduled start time. I didn't even know if it was going to be gentlemen or ladies. I only knew the names of the combatants, Paszek versus Vinci.
Ladies! I didn't know which was which, so I just thought of them as older lady, versus younger lady. Looking it up later, Vinci is 29, and Paszek is 21. I had no idea the seedings, so I just enjoyed some tennis.
Action shot! Anyway, Paszek dominated (6-2, 6-2). I only later found out that Vinci was the higher seed, so I witnessed a very minor upset. Let's get some frigging strawberries and cream:
Some evil person told me Wimbledon was very expensive and to expect to pay 8 pounds for strawberries and cream. Well, strawberries and cream was only 2 pounds fifty. In fact, everything was quite reasonably priced. I enjoyed my strawberries and cream on Henman Hill, then decided to watch some more tennis. I got a Pimm's and lemonade:
That is some girls' match. I kept seeing all these vendors for Pimm's so I finally succumbed to curiosity and got one. I was not too impressed.
Then I went back to Henman Hill. Here's some pictures:
Me!
London in the distance!
Some people! I got pretty hungry so I got a coronation chicken sandwich. That's like a curry chicken sandwich with some nuts and raisins:
That is my favorite picture from my trip. It really sums up my whole vacation to the United Kingdom. I am witnessing a unique British experience, yet waving a sandwich at it, and taking a picture. Oh, I also waved a beer at the same tennis player:
At this point, the other guy complained about the conditions. So I got to witness a grown man caress some grass:
Soon after this (around 5pm), play was suspended. I was also getting pretty tired since I woke up at 5am. The rest of the day's matches were in the courts I could not access. My options were to wait it out and watch the matches on the hill, or go back to my awesome hotel. So I went back to my hotel and got a delicious kebab:
In conclusion, I went to England both for a concert and for some tennis. Also, beer and kebabs.
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