My Life, My Universe, My Everything

I went to London for a long weekend to visit my friend Christine. On Friday night we went to the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho where the Tim Whitehead and Giovanni Mirabassi Quartet presented their new album "Lucky Boys".

Michelle and my good friend Adam joined us for the night at the Jazz Club. It was Adam who introduced me to this place many years ago.

We bought two albums that night: the aforementioned "Lucky Boys" but also "Personal Standards". Tim kindly signed both albums for Christine and myself.

A short clip from the concert.

On Saturday we decided to go to Wimbledon Stadium. On the way I took this picture...

... and this one too. Of course, many tennis courts are in that area :)

In the distance you can get a glimpse of the stadium. The golf club in front is "Member Only".

Christine on her way to win the title :)

World class tennis...

This is Court No. 1 - more modern than the Centre Court. It was here where the movie "Wimbledon" was shot. Normally this court is only played during the Wimbledon tournament. However, it will also be used for the Olympic Games in 2012 hosted by London.

Our guide Susann explaining to use that Henman Hill, now Murry's field, is actually called Aorangi Hill. Aorangi is a term from New Zealand because the NZ Rugby team used to lease the ground where the Court No.1 is now. The ground that had to be moved to build C1 was used to create this hill.

Aorangi Hill from a different perspective.

In front of Court No. 14 (I think). If you have a ground pass during Wimbledon you can go to any match on the outside courts. Frankly, I was amazed how close you'd be to the players.

Christine in the interview room. We were told that the organisation is very strict. First comes in the loser, then the winner to give their interview but never both as shown in the feature movie. Then the BBC gets their interview in another room, followed by the players home station.

And that's me, Ralph, in the interview seat. The background picture is impressive.

Finally, Centre Court. Currently they are building a retractable roof for it.

There is the commentator box of John McEnroe and above are the players family seats.

A mixed double :)

So, Christine won :) Frankly, these are only replicas - but you guessed that anyway.

Here is a model of Centre Court with the roof half open.

Of course, I had to have that picture too.

On Saturday evening we went out again. On the way to the bus station we saw this original London bus - lovely.

Putney High-Street.

Saturday night we went to see the Mel Brooks musical

A picture taken in the "Theatre Royal", Drury Lane.

Curtain closed - that's it from my weekend in London.