Tennis At Queens

After the orange sand of Roland Garros the green, green grass of the Queen's Club. Greg Rusedski- who I never much liked as a player but who makes a charming and knowledgeable commentator- was saying that the centre court at Queens is the best grass court in the world.

The weather has been typical of an English summer- changeable, wet and windy. This has had the effect of levelling the field- and letting lesser players perform well against the stars. 
 
We've had British Eurosport playing in the background, but I wasn't paying it much mind until yesterday- when there was an upset, a narrow squeak and a controversy.  The upset was Sela's defeat of Roddick. The narrow squeak was Nadal's victory- but only just- over Istomin. The controversy came in Murray's match against Fish, which the judges halted at Fish's request- without asking Murray- when the score stood at 3 all in the final set. The excuse was bad light, the more likely reason was Fish's dismay at Murray's growing dominance. Murray was very cross- and deserves to win when play resumes this morning.*

*Only he didn't.

En-ger-land

It's the first day of the World Cup- and most of urban England looks like this...



It makes me a little nervous. I remember a time (not so long ago) when the only people who flew the cross of St. George were vicars (from their church towers) and nazis- and I still associate it with racism and male violence.

We drove through Glodwick this afternoon- the entry level Muslim area on the far side of the hill.  No flags there. Not a single one.

Oh, Before I Forget...

The robin who lives somewhere in the vicinity of our backyard has been spotted using the new bird feeder.