Wimbledon time

 I am loving Wimbledon this year. Well, I love it every year but this year I have actually got to sit down and watch full matches as my daughters have grown a little older and are in school in the afternoon a little more often. I cannot remember the last time I got to watch a full blown live Wimbledon match as I used to work too back in the UK. Jeez, it was probably 25 years or so ago when I was at college! So yes, it is a pretty special Wimbledon year for me.

And I love it. I was brought up on it as a kid – my mum was tennis mad. And Wimbledon was always an occasion when we would feel particularly close together through my tricky teen years. She even knocked off work early to watch with me after school! I’m a bit gutted that we never actually went along to the holy home of tennis but anyway we watched it on the TV pretty much every day solid for two weeks. I would get home from school and join her on the sofa to avidly watch the Greats of my childhood - Jimmy Connors, Bjon Borg, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Steffi Graf… the list is long and holds such exciting memories of my childhood.

And now I am in Switzerland and get to cheer on Roger Federer too! What a tennis great. And a true gentleman. And then there’s Andy Murray (a Brit!) and Nadal – (ooo those muscles…) The Swiss love to watch their tennis champs compete in the pub so I’m also enjoying the very unusual experience of watching in a tennis fan community – see last post.

So today I am made up to see Brits Andy Murray and Jo Konta go through to the quarter finals. This is a huge accomplishment as she is the first British woman to go through to the quarter finals since 1984. I loved 1984 – one of my very favourite childhood years. Martina Navratilova beat Chris Evert at Wimbledon, I was 12, I felt I was coming of age – went to ‘big school’ and had lots of friends. It felt like a golden time at the movies – Ghostbusters, Karate Kid, The Terminator…so yes I will be reliving this golden year tonight in celebration of Jo Konta’s success today. I’ll be cracking open the popcorn, drinking ginger beer – can’t find Dandelion and Burdock here – and watching Karate Kid.

I would love to hear about favourite movies, tunes, moments from 1984 from any fellow 40 somethings out there – let’s celebrate together!