Summer has finally arrived and yes the temperature has made it to 30 degrees.

Epsom Races.

It wasn't the nicest of days for one of the most prestigous race days on the social calendar. Lucky for us we had bought tickets into the Lonsdale enclosure which didn't have a dress code. Ponchos out and strappy shoes not recommended.

Our section was on the finish line and across from the Queens enclosure. After she arrived we didn't see her again until the main race.

It was cold and wet.

Our enclosure in the centre of the track

Must protect the food

Glastonbury or Races?

Champagne for the big race

Looking at the weather before the big race

Much stricter dress code in the Queens enclosure

The divot dudes make a return

Wimbledon

We read all the different ways to get tickets and had decided to go and join 'The Queue' early (about 6am) on the second day when Steve saw an advert for the sale of unwanted Debenture tickets. They are released 2 days ahead at midday so both of us had a computer and watched the BBC news count down to 12:00. Woo hoo, we get to sleep in and sit on centre court! For the record we tried to get 2 more tickets for friends of ours but they had sold out in 90sec.

We got there at 10:30, so we had some time before the matches started at midday and even then play was only on the outside courts. This gave us a chance to bag a seat for Sam Stosur's match. The crowd was 90% aussie. When we left after the first set (which Stosur won), there was a crowd surge for our 2 seats.

Centre court

Roddick serving - please note that Claire took this photo!!!!

Venus Williams after a fairly easy match

Murray warming up

Murray celebrating

Relaxing on 'Henman Hill' or 'Murray Mound' during Venus's match So close yet so far. We found Federer on the practice courts, and then tried for an autograph but had to surrender the fence to the children.

Umpires swap out. The old man was challenged by Murray on numerous occasions but experience showed through in the end.

The change of balls routine is one the kids have practiced!!

We have about 10 days left in London before we embark on the trip home. Stay tuned...

London - Hampton Court Palace

Last weekend we decided to combine sightseeing with doing another good deed. We took up the challenge of the Tesco 10km run for cancer research. The bonus with this race was the location - a palace. This was where Henry VIII lived and had also been the home of King William III and Queen Mary II.

Steve & Claire, in the race uniform, Tesco t-shirts

The race itself wound its way round the gardens of the palace (whilst dodging the resident 200 Deer) as well as the palace golf course and a short stint along the River Thames as well. No hills in sight which was a welcome difference from our last race at Greenwich! Considering the lack of training beforehand we were both very happy with our performances.

The palace

After the race we took the opportunity to have a look through the palace, and a walk through the ornate gardens.

Gardens

The gardeners are kept very busy, pruning the trees into mushroom shapes

Again, the palace had a maze, thus we had to have a race to the centre. On the back of the last maze challenge at Leeds Castle, Claire decided to let me have 10 seconds head start. Claire again claimed victory, although a 3rd umpire may have decided otherwise. Note: For the record, Steve was 1st past the post, but lost on adjusted time.

Claire claiming victory

London - Red Bull Air Race

Seeing as Claire isn't really in the best form for adventure sports at the moment we thought we would go and watch others do it instead.

The activity of choice was flying, in particular flying down the river Thames at a height of around 5-10 metres, while dodging inflatable 'gates' going at speeds of up to 400km/hr. Impressive to say the least. It was very reassuring that one of the pilots has a day job with British Airways, although if he flies his jumbo like his racing plane it could be an interesting flight!!

The race caused the closure of the London City Airport and the river. The planes first had to battle the highrises of the Canary Wharf financial district in order to get low enough to enter the course (outside Millenium Dome), as the plane must be below the height of the gates as it goes through or they get a time penalty. Red gates have the plane flying through sideways and blue gates must have horizontal wings. More time penalties apply. The course is completed twice with a 'half cuban' (upside down loop) at the half way mark.

If you have the same question that we did, what if the planes hit the gates? That was answered, and happy to say apart from a loud bang as the 'gate' burst, the plane continues although off course. There were crazy guys sitting on the pontoon just waiting for this, and the replacement 'gate' only took 5min to go up.

Unfortunately the photos weren't too good as we had to rely on the camera phone, as someone forgot either of our 2 cameras....

Le Tour de France hits London

After a fortnight of terrible weather, the sunshine returned for a big weekend across the UK. Londoners definitely had much to choose from as this weekend saw the finals at Wimbledon, the Formula 1 at Silverstone, the Live Earth concert at Wembley stadium, and the start of the Tour de France.

Claire did her good deed for society and volunteered at the cycling for both days (the Time Trial on Saturday and the 1st stage on Sunday). Unfortunately she was 'backstage' for the entire Time Trial so only saw the riders for the few seconds it took to pass her on Sunday. Steve caught up with Sharyn & Conor to watch Saturday's festivities, and took numerous photos. Apparently over a million people turned out, and I could definitely believe that as I have never seen so many people in Hyde Park.

Nice flower bed in Hyde Park













Conor & Sharyn













Our best vantage points were near Westminster, and I saw the last few riders across from Buckinham Palace.


In the warm up, I think he was a mobile phone addict!!














They averaged about 50km/hr, so bit tough to photograph the riders side on













At a corner on Buckingham gate



























The winner of the Prologue - Fabian Cancellara



























Lots of people watching one of the many big screens around London













Before Sunday's stage, I caught the Caravane, where the Tour sponsors create interesting floats.













Just bizarre... Pizza anyone??













Water bottle













Motorised Wheelie Bin













Although the race didn't officially start racing until they reached Greenwich, they were still going mighty fast

LONDON - Marathon

Marathon fever hit the city so we went out and joined them. Steve had put in a ballot entry along with 100 000 others and missed out along with 70 000 others. After watching the start of the elite womens and wheelies on tele we headed outside and picked our spot at 9miles.
We really didn't have too far to go as the route runs alongside the quay where we live. The buildings at the end of the road are our place. Just in case the runners were starting to feel a little tired at this point the water station people had some 1950's rock music at full volume.

There was an Aussie (Benita Johnson) in the elite pack and she went to the same school as Claire. In the next picture which is of the leading women, Benita is tucked in at the back. The runners in white are the pace runners which drop out at half way.

The men set off around 45min after the women so we did have a wait to see them come through. It is always amazing to see how effortless they make it look, and then to realise how fast they are actually running.

The corner that we were standing on did see some excitement. A couple of the pacers missed the turn and the police officers turned into race marshals. One of the wheelies lost a wheel as he turned, no injury but we don't think he continued racing either. Once the men had passed us we jumped on the tube and headed into Westminster to the 25mile mark (and positioned ourselves outside Big Ben) to pick them up near the end. Benita finished in 7th and the women's event was won by a chinese competitor.

Aussie competitor Benita Johnson at 25 miles.

Zhou, winner of womens event.

For the men's race all the media had been focussing on ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie but he bailed with a stich (i know, soft....) at around the 20mile mark. The men's pack was still together towards the end and we were wishing we had gone further towards the finish line to witness the sprint finish. The eventual winner was Lel (in the red singlet) in a 3 person sprint.

After watching the race and seeing some of the normal people on TV we are contemplating it next year. Now we know the trick of gaining an entry is to join one of the charity teams. We also thought we would start off with a 10km in June. The sweltering 25 degree heat (remember it is London and they train through winter and single digit minimum temperatures) took it's toll on many. Some people that thought it would be a great idea to run in a novelty outfit had their own battery powered fans inside the suits. There was even one competitor doing it in slow motion. He was expecting a finish time of 10days. All these people got a place in the race, and all Steve wanted to do was run a normal race.

We are now waiting for the Tour de France which this year starts in London, and also goes past our front door.

Blackrock Masters

For all of you tennis fans out there this one is for you. The Blackrock Masters is the final tournament for the has-beens of the tennis world and is held at the rather swanky location of the Royal Albert Hall. We splurged and bought tickets and found ourselves occupying a box in the second tier with another couple. The atmostphere wasn't quite as loud and raucous as we are used to and I was feeling slightly underdressed in jeans while Steve and everyone else arrived in suits.

Royal Albert Hall













McEnroe was the first match and he lived up to his reputation - spoilt brat. We thought that he may have been playing up to the crowd the first couple of times, but after the 18th questioned call it was just tedious. The crowd did switch from pro McEnroe to pro Anders (the swedish opponent), especially after he aimed a ball at the very big organ. McEnroe still won.

McEnroe vs Anders













The doubles match that followed was an exhibition game where all the trick shots come out in a single set. It was easily the highlight of the night so far. The players were Bahrami and Gullikson vs Fleming and Willander. The crowd even livened up. Would have liked there to be another set.

Final match for the night was Marcelo Rios and Jeremy Bates. Basically just big serves and not interesting, especially after the doubles woke us all up. It also didn't start until nearly 11pm so the place was starting to empty and that included us.

Marcelo Rios warming up














We have entered the ballot for Wimbledon so here's hoping we manage some tickets!!