The London 2012 Olympic Park Experience, a 7.5/10

In the first of a series of Olympics entries, today I cover what was my experience at the Olympic park last Sunday, from security to entertainment, from food to staff or venues and more:

Security Controls: 9/10 - Despite all the worries about the GS4 fiasco, having to call in at the eleventh hour thousands of troops to cope with security, this part of the experience is pretty much painless, quick and straight forward. Just like passing through the security controls at an airport, only that instead of a boarding pass you just need a ticket – ah, and there is no plane waiting for you, just great sporting action! You are allowed to bring in your own food and empty bottles of water to refill inside, which always helps to save money on drinks.

Entrance to the Olympic Park, with plenty of space and easy access

Olympic Park Layout: 8/10 - It is incredibly spacious and all is new and clean, plenty of plants and trees and walking areas, a little river and so on. Directions to venues are all clear with big signs; you can’t get lost but even if you do, there are plenty of stewards who can point you in the right direction.

The distance between one end and the other is about 20 min walk at leisure pace. It is good to keep this in mind if you are going to the Basketball or the Cycling from the (strategically located) Westfield shopping centre main entrance to the Park.

The Olympic Stadium and the eeerrr.., metal thing call the Orbit, from within the Olympic Park

One of the several super size maps to know where you are 

Atmosphere outside the venues: 4.5/10 - This really disappointed me. Unlike many big sporting events where the loudspeakers system plays its own radio station, commentating on the events that are on, on what court and what time, who is winning, who is losing, with live commentary... Here they play commercial music. That’s it. I’ve got my iPod for that, thank you very much.

Having been to the likes of Wimbledon, Formula One, Moto GP and many more high profile events, where you walk around and can still hear what is going on, here you have no opportunity to know what’s going on around the park, or elsewhere for that matter. And this is not just any sporting event. It is the ‘greatest show on Earth’, right?

Well, if it is, I really want to know what’s going on, at all times. I want to be informed. I want to listen to it, to watch it; on small screens placed along the big walking areas – surely Panasonic has a few spare ones?

Well, they do: there are a couple of large screens in some green areas – duly sponsored by Panasonic and British Airways, mind- but they are really quiet and off the main walking sites.

Plenty of space, and colours!

And there is no entertainment, no streets entertainers to play jokes or games with the crowds. Surely from the 10,000+ cast members that took part in the mighty Opening Ceremony on the Friday, some would love to continue to entertain passers by at the Olympic Park or at other venues.

There is a floating great spirit, with so many colourful fans with their faces painted, wearing wigs and their national colours with pride, taking photos and so on. But it just feels all quite flat throughout.

I missed particularly not seeing the Games mascots –what are their names again?- wandering around and having their photos taken with the visitors. Don’t be fooled, this is not Disney World and it seems here the mascots only exist for merchandising sales or on telly.

Commercialization: 7.5/10 – They have found a fine balance between offering essential services that are needed (food, beverages) at reasonably acceptable prices and variety –it is not only McDonalds but there are other British or International food places- and those not-so-necessary products, as the BMW car dealer.

There is a large souvenir shop where you can get everything and anything a London 2012 logo can be placed on. I didn’t stop by as there are thousands of retailers across London where you can buy stuff. And if you are subscribed to the London 2012 newsletter, you are reminded regularly of the many products available too.

The Souvenir shop - an a vigilant eye, protecting us all

Loyal to the promise of no corporate branding at the events themselves, there are some places elsewhere where you see clearly the Visa, Samsung or Coca-Cola logos and products. But it is all quite reasonable given what they invest in this beast called Olympic Games. You cannot escape Visa since that’s the only card accepted when not paying in cash, mind.

I love the “treat corners”, fully branded and supplied with Cadbury’s products. Not a huge menu in offer but the mere concept is highly plausible.

Colour everywhere

Working Staff: 9.5/10 – There are plenty of stewards, so-called “Game Makers”, to help you with virtually any enquiry. From mobility issues to finding the right venue or service or once at the venue to locate your seat and so on. Everyone is really helpful and even when they don’t necessarily know the answer, they try to help or point you in the direction of someone who may.

Game Makers, they do make a difference working so hard - and they deserve a moment to relax

The army staff present is very discreet and other than for their clothing you can barely notice them. I saw more in proportion at the Earl’s Court venue on the Monday where I attended the women’s Volleyball; and again they were all really helpful.

Basketball arena: 8/10 – Being a temporary venue it can be tricky to make them feel like ‘proper’ venues. In this instance it definitely feels good from the start. The access to the seats is quite straightforward; maybe not so much if you are sitting at the very top of the rows, but the view is very good from every seat, no one can really complain. It is not rocket science and does the job nicely though there is nothing mind-blowing about it, simple as.

The Basketball Arena from the outside

The Basketball arena - view from my seat  - yes I see the empty seats too, don't get me started...

Brazil's NBA player Nene flies to the hoop

The entertainment in between matches and at half times is visually good and the cheerleaders are very committed and display some decent tricks, whilst the 'venue host' is constantly engaging with the crowd and via the big screens.

Cheerleaders literally going upside down to please the crowd

Aquatics centre: 6.5/10 – Also a temporary structure when it comes to most of the seats, the climb up to the general admission seats is really a climb. Up the stairs for four floors outside the actual venue, then open the door to enter the middle level of the stands, turn a right and continue to walk up the stairs until you are sitting five rows off the top row, like I was. Despite the height, the view is reasonably good too. With the help of my camera zoom I was able to get a few good pictures and made it all more enjoyable.

View from up high

View with the zoom - one, two, three you move first! 

It was a little too warm when I got there around 2.30pm and throughout, however just at the end, as if by act of magic some breeze started to come through from the outside and it helped cool things down a bit. It was raining cats and dogs too.

The shame though is, because of the roof layout inwards and downwards, from your seat you cannot see the opposite stand, which makes you feel it may be empty there.

Do not expect to be entertained by anything other than the actual competition though, because there is nothing really.

A Chinese fan celebrates the Gold medal

Earl’s Court arena (NOT AT THE OLYMPIC PARK), Volleyball: 6/10 – OK, this is a permanent venue used for multiple purposes during the year. It was built a few decades ago and you can tell. Access through security is fairly quick and sharp but once inside there really isn’t much to do other than go to your seat. The space between the entrance and the arena is like a big hangar with some stands selling food and drinks, some merchandising and toilets. It is poorly lit and you feel you rather be on your couch. 

Earl's Court  - home for Olympic Volleyball

Once you make it to the arena proper, the area of play and surroundings is all very modern-looking and colourful. The seats though at the upper tier have seen some events over the years. Being so old it means there are many pillars around and many seats have to be “killed” or not sold so not to miss the action, which is a shame. Once you are in a proper seat, the view is very good and no one is ever too far or too close.

View from the 2nd level Earls Court

 The non-match entertainment consists of a host similar to the one in the Basketball arena, with young cheerleaders dancing along the perimeter of the court. The unexpected entertainment was to learn that USA mega star Kobe Bryant was present too, cheering for his fellow country women. But given the time and age we live in, one would expect a more compelling all round compelling experience at the venue. So that’s why I give it a 6 out of 10.

Olympic Volleyball action - relentless

Olympic Volleyball - never a dull moment!

Ok, after the spectacle on court I’ll give it an extra point. End of.

And this is it for now. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more Olympic stories in the coming days!

PS One final comment, I can't help myself but seeing so many empty seats really is terrible. LOCOG please do.something.about.it.NOW!

Empty seats at the women's volleyball on the first Monday. Sad.

VIETNAM: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SMILES

As some of you may remember, I visited Vietnam earlier this year. It was the first time I had been to that beautiful country. I was totally won over by its natural beauty and, most of all, by its people. How full of energy they are, always very kind and friendly, smiling and helpful.

You may remember too I shared that for all that kindness and energy, any time we tried to understand its political situation, they somehow started to forget their until-then well-spoken English. They would pretend not to understand, or give very confusing, short answers about who was in power and whether there were any elections at all, “you know,” I would explain to one of our guides, “when everyone goes on the same day and choose who will represent you in government?” They would shake their head or mumble something I couldn’t understand.

The Biggest Smile in Hoi An

Last weekend, I received a note from someone I met during my week in the country. To protect his identity and for the purpose of this entry, let’s call this person Peter, and let’s say he works in a bar by the beach.

Peter has been living in Vietnam for over a year. The couple of nights we talked about life in Vietnam he told me that people were genuinely brilliant, always so helpful. Whether it was with something that needed to be fixed in his apartment or a puncture on his scooter, he could always count with someone to give him a hand, “even my landlord would look after me if I got sick; while kids are really polite and so eager to learn new things, particularly from abroad. And they learn English so quickly too!”

We have kept in touch since and the other day he sent me a message telling me that “after 13 months I finally could talk about 'what everyone knows but nobody talks about'...”

“Really? Let’s hear it,” I replied.

“Basically complete ban on freedom of speech and protest, controlled by police in street clothes. If they hear anything about communism or multi-party it's an instant prison sentence and more than likely lose your job if you work for a national company (which are also corrupt and account for about 60% of the economy).”

As I was reading this I felt terrible. I knew there was something not right when we were there a few months back. People completely fluent in English would all of a sudden stumble on the words and expressions; they wouldn’t look into your eyes nor smile any more. From that to prison sentence or losing your job... that’s a whole different world.

They suffered decades of war. We saw it in the war museums and the Cu-Chi tunnels. War is a terrible thing and recovering from it is in itself a long, painful road. 

WAR IS TERRIBLE - IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON.  NOBODY WINS. WE ALL LOSE.

Whilst in Vietnam, we obviously saw one version of the story – but somehow, given the energy we saw in the streets, on the surface, you thought or believed that they hadn’t done too bad for themselves in such a short period of time.

“TV and newspapers are all screened or censored by the government, any web sources they can't control are blocked (including wordpress recently!).” Not only they cannot talk about it in the streets, they can see very little of it in the media. It gets worse:

“Social problems are also not acceptable discussions, basically any requests for change are banned or seen as dissenting... sex education is not offered in schools, nor do parents find it acceptable to discuss sex with their kids. Due to this, Vietnam has the highest teen abortion rate in Asia.”

I was really disappointed reading all this. All that energy, all that youth – it is a very young country. You see some elderly, and you can see in their faces what they have gone through in life, but mostly you see what is primarily a young country, below their 50s and many, many children, willing to move on, to grow, to develop. Those memories made me wonder if one day they will “revolt like in the Middle East recently.”

“Yeah maybe, but the corruption and fear is so high because of the military history, revolting the government here is a very taboo subject.”

“We talked about it for like an hour and he checked around him about every 2 mins, and whispered everything. He tells me most of the country agrees and people sometimes discuss in private” –there is hope I felt- “but they're really scared to in public because of the un-uniformed police and the consequences. It's seriously like living in George Orwell's 1984!"

1984, the great novel published in 1949 where the world is divided in just three totalitarian states and people’s lives are constantly monitored by the state; those tempting to go against the system, even thinking about it, would simply vanish and even their existence would be deleted from the history records.

Peter also shared his thoughts: “I had become quite upset with how women are treated here, the corruption, the sex industry (underage girls are basically paid as sex slaves, prolific prostitution etc)... what's upsetting is nobody seems to care. I couldn't understand why nobody was speaking out to help... they're just too scared to fight it and not just heartless.”

I know Vietnam is not the only country in the world where these things happen, but that doesn’t make it less relevant or worrying. I may have been spoiled for having been lucky enough to be born in a free country, Spain. Regardless of whether our democratically elected representatives are good at their jobs or not, I always have had the freedom to express myself in public or private.

I don’t think I can change how the system works in Vietnam, but by denouncing it here, in this public platform for the World to see, I pay tribute to my friend Peter who lives there and every day tries, in his own way, to improve the lives of many even if it’s just a little. And I pay tribute to that person he spoke to, who had the courage to share with a foreigner what really happens, even at risk of going to prison or losing their job.

A common sight in Saigon - people having their dinner on the street. They like to share their moments together.
In private some share things they can't do in public. Maybe they will, one day. 

Feel free to share this note to your circle of friends, family or other people. It will never be too loud to help. 

"They will rise, it's only a matter of when."

Do You Remember The Day That...? And The Power of Memories

Today’s entry is inspired by two movies I watched recently, Source Code and Limitless, which are themselves inspired by the amazing power our human brain has, particularly our memory.

Do you remember that evening ten years ago you and two of your best friends stole an old mattress from a random tube station and took it home so no one had to sleep on the couch again and how you carried it on the train and all the way from the station up to the fourth four flat?

Or do you remember the day your dad called you and told you that your grandmother was no longer in our world and was resting in peace, and how you broke into tears, alone in your room on that cold Friday morning before going to work?

Well, I do. Particularly since those are two of the many snapshots I have clearly vivid in my memory. You go and pick two random moments in your memory, now. Whatever they may be, good or otherwise. What do you see? What do you remember? Isn’t it all crystal clear, vivid, can you not even smell the moment or feel the heat?

It may sound obvious but once we live a moment, it is with us forever, even if we never look for it again, it is always there somewhere, ready to come back to life again at any time. Whether voluntarily or not, our memory is the most powerful source of pleasure, or pain, we have.

It's great to remember a great meal, and the people you shared it with, where and why.
I am a big fan of food pictures precisely because of that!
This one was in Ibiza, August 2011, by the way. Playa Las Salinas, a great day out.

We all remember what we were doing on September 11^th when news broke about the attacks in New York. I was at home in Tenerife having lunch, it was sunny and nicely hot. You see? I didn’t even have to refer to the year, 2001, for you to know what I was talking about. Your memory knew exactly what I was referring to. However to be perfectly honest I don’t remember what I was doing on September 11^th 2000 or 2002, or not that easily – do you?

I am no doctor, though there are a few in my family whom I admire for their passion and dedication, but if I had to study the human body I think I would be most fascinated by the brain. Even though “it sits there, doing nothing”, as I heard someone say the other day on national television, the brain is such a powerful piece of machinery, with such control over the rest of our body, which really mesmerizes me. Our personality or character too are incredibly powerful in defining who we are and what we do, and for intangible they are too truly captivating.

A combination of the two –brain + persona- makes us choose red over white, words over 1,2,3,4 (numbers), right or L3FT, or none of the above. Interestingly, they decide as well when to recall this or that particular memory, even without asking you permission first, how dare they?! Like the moment you are on your way to the airport on an early Tuesday morning for a business trip, and just as you are about to board the plane you randomly remember the day in high school, twenty years before, when you decided not to take the bus home but to walk, to see if you could speak to that girl you really fancied who you knew always walked home too. “Excuse me sir, your boarding pass?” the attendant asks you. And so there you are handing in your boarding pass with a silly smile on your face. Then you remember the girl was only interested in talking and nothing ever happened. And you smile again as you walk through to the plane.

And as we grow older, it's great to be able to sit back and re-live in our heads all those great memories.
Thank you Life.

And that’s what makes living life to the full worth it. I am not the kind always thriving to do great or crazy things every day and I really enjoy having quiet days. Thing is, ‘having quiet days’ too can be great in its own right. And then I can remember them in the future. Like the day I watched that movie, Source Code, on a Saturday afternoon and it made me cry like no other movie has made me cry before. For its own reasons, for my own reasons, but it happened. A combination of powerful memories so strong and vivid overpowered my present and conscious self in a way I had not felt before, with a movie.

And even though there was nothing I could do to change my memories, or the reality that created those memories, I realized once again how powerful our brain can be.
And how wonderful it is to be able to wake up every day and start it all over again. Because there are great memories out there waiting for us. 

Go and get them, now!

For that I cheer and say to the world, Thank You World.

WHY WE TALK ABOUT SPORT, or the weather.

I overheard my landlord last Monday talking with the boiler engineer about Andy Murray’s run at Wimbledon this year. The engineer said: “he made it difficult for himself the other day, didn’t he?” Then last night, on a train to central London, I heard a father telling his son “Murray just lost the third set”, before putting a face.

The thing was that the engineer then added “I am not a sporty person, don’t really follow sport. But let’s hope he finally wins the thing”.

  

So, I wondered: why do we do it? Why do we talk about sport?

For your information: Andy Murray is Great Britain’s top ranked tennis player*, at number four... in the world. He is also the only one in the top 100. He has made it to the Wimbledon Final, which is played this Sunday. He is too the first male Brit* to do so in a looooooooong, long time, like many, many, maaaaaaaaany decades. It may sound surprising to many people but that’s the truth. Fact.

“Let’s hope he finally wins it,” he said.

As if the hopes of the entire nation*, 60+ million people, were on him. Poor guy, Murray –‘poor’ metaphorically speaking; he’s made already over £10 million in prize money alone in his otherwise brilliant tennis career to date- he has not only got to beat the other guys, he also has to win it for the country. And if he doesn’t, people will probably say “he is just not good enough.”

Wimbledon's Main Draw. 128 men and 128 women make it to the first round, then is carnage from there.
Only 1 of them wins.

Those of you who play or follow sports, whether competitively or for leisure, will surely know how bloody difficult is to be good at it. Only very few become professionals, and within those only a very few gifted ones make it to the very, very top, world-class level. Federer, Michael Schumacher, Michael Phelps, Jack Nicklaus, Usain Bolt, Jordan, the Williams sister, Merlene Ottey, Nadia Comaneci. A few dozens.

Andy Murray has been within the world’s best ten tennis players for a few years now. He has won many important tournaments, but not one of the so-called Grand Slams – he’s played a few finals but has never won one yet, not even come close; it’s tough, you know. By any stretch of the imagination that is already a fantastic career. Only a few dozens of players in the world, ever, have done that; out of billions of us, only a few have done so. Bloody brilliant that is. And yet many, many people in Britain* think he’s just not good enough.

Give the guy a break! That’s what I say. He may not be the most likeable character around, but he’s done bloody well for himself; and he is still in his mid 20s! The vast majority of us have never made over £1,000,000, probably not even £500,000. He’s done over £10 million already, many more to be made in the next few years. Hats off to that!

So, why do we talk about sport? Well, simply because it’s there.

Just like Mount Everest. Why people climb it? Because it’s there.

It’s there in the news, on the paper, on the radio, on telly, in the pub, at a ground or court down the road. It’s everywhere. It’s an important part of our lives. Many like me follow it daily and we actively participate in sport, we love it and can’t have enough. For others, like the engineer, is something to talk about - without really having a clue what they are talking about; sorry, fact.

We like to talk about it because it’s safe; there’s never going to be a right or wrong answer. And it will not change your life, nor change mine. We don’t put ourselves at risk by talking about it, yet we feel accomplished by giving our opinions about it. Talking about sports is a lot more gratifying than talking about politics, or the weather for that matter.

And why is it everywhere? For many reasons; let’s try to highlight the main ones:

1. It’s healthy: while many people are becoming more sedentary, another big portion of society is really active and wants to keep healthy for as long as possible. Playing sports, or exercising in general, is good for you, for your body and your mind. So we inform ourselves about it, what is good for you, what isn’t.

2. It’s fun! We don’t say “playing sports” for the sake of it. They are games, and we play them. We don’t eat sports, we don’t build or boil them. We play them and we interact and communicate with others. At some point someone will win, and someone will lose, but it makes us feel good just to play, to think of how to win, or how not to lose!

3. We consume it: we not only play it for fun, we follow those lucky enough who become professionals and play for our home town team, or for the biggest team in the world. Or are the top ranked golfers or tennis players or swimmers or racing drivers. It’s glamorous and aspirational, for many.

4. It’s big money: because of reasons 1, 2 and 3 above, it’s now become a HUGE industry moving BILLIONS of £, $ or € around the world. Either directly (e.g. when you buy a ticket to attend a match) or indirectly (e.g. you buy an adidas t-shirt for your son because Lionel Messi wears adidas).

5. It’s pride: like Spain winning last week the Euros, when over 1,000,000 people took it to the streets of Madrid to celebrate. Or Andy Murray reaching the Wimbledon Final*. Sport makes people feel proud about where they come from and about their heroes. Sport has become, to certain extent, an alternative to people fighting each other** and by my team beating your team, I am better than you. And the other way round. We don’t have to fight each other, we let Fernando Alonso beat Sebastian Vettel, or the other way round.

1,000,000+ people take it to the streets of Madrid to celebrate Spain's win last week

We could go on and on but these are just some of the reasons. They are by no means listed scientifically but you can get my point. In short, sport fills our lives in a way no other hobbies do. Music and Movies do to certain extent, but they do not have the competitive element of Sport. And that’s why we talk about sport, in a nutshell.

* People in Britain are proud of Andy Murray reaching the Final because he is British – it may sound obvious, I know. But, and here is the catch, he is Scottish after all. Many people in England, Wales or Northern Ireland cannot care less about him. Fact. But because he is “British”, many people get behind him. Come Sunday evening, and another defeat, and many people will go back to be simply “English”, or “Welsh” but not “British”. And will say “I told you so”. Fact.

England played Spain at Wembley last October - NOTE: it is England, not Great Britain.
One of those things unique about sport.

** Sadly, there are many wars being fought around the world still today. People kill each other for a piece of land or for no reason at all. That’s terrible. The day a game of football or a 100 metres race can decide that, we will all have won.

Wimbledon’s Middle Sunday – NO TENNIS!!!

Today’s post was prompted last evening when I heard that a friend of a friend was planning to queue for tickets at Wimbledon from 06.00am today...

Any other day of the famous two-week tennis tournament that would have been a brave and most admirable commitment, no doubt. However today happens to be the “Middle Sunday” of Wimbledon, which means there is no tennis played, at all.

At The Championships a couple of years ago - I know, what a show off

It never stops amusing me how people can commit to attend sporting events around the world. It probably is only matched by music fans attending big concerts. Both sharing the fact that they are live performances and the added excitement of being within relative touching distance of their heroes and idols.

On a different level I think we have Star Trek or Star Wars or the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter fans waiting for their new movies or video games being released or premiered.

Somewhere else we have loads of iPhone and iPad fans too queueing overnight or for days. But these ones I still cannot get. How much better is your life going to be by getting your hands on that brand new phone or tablet or games console a week earlier than your next door neighbour? That I cannot understand, sorry.

Anyway, sorry I digressed there. Back to Wimbledon...

What is this Middle Sunday? Well, it means there is no play on this day. One would think that, given it is a Sunday it would be a great day for people to attend the tournament and make a big day out of it. However traditionally there has almost never been play on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon - the three only exceptions in the history of the event are listed in Wikipedia, and they'll probably have to do with the weather, I bet.

Why do they do it? Well it is not for the players to rest, no. Those brave ones remaining at this stage after three or four rounds of play are well used to the demands of long tournaments; and if not, they will have to. They do not need to rest per se. In fact, the rest day is for the grass. The players go and practice a little in the non-match courts, or go for a light round of golf, or go shopping in London, or take a spa day. Meanwhile the green stuff used as surface on those courts, almost unique to the international summer of tennis as a British trademark, is given something equivalent to a ‘spa day’ too. Yes, the grass needs to rest after six days of battering by over 200 of the world’s best tennis players, with already over a hundred and fifty matches of anything between one to five hours having been played on it; and there are also the exhibition matches played by former players, the juniors and the wheelchair tennis too. Plus sun, rain and wind too! So yes, the grass needs to breathe and recover, so the expert keepers work all day looking after it, trying to recover as much as possible for the second week of tennis madness starting the day after; magic stuff.

Really? You cannot be serious! If you asked me, I would say that this was probably necessary back in the day when the grass was not as strong as today, and did not receive the treatments it does today. Just look at pictures of Wimbledon in the 1970s or 80s and those of today and you can see the difference; and I am not only referring to John McEnroe’s hair style and tight shorts! However, considering the stronger grass used today, coped with the demands of modern day family life, I think they can move the ‘rest day’ to the Monday after, and play on the middle Sunday, so more people have the chance to attend without having to take a day off work, taking their little ones along too. It would also, probably, mean higher TV audiences around the world; and, incidentally, more revenues from match day for the All England Lawn Tennis Club from those expensive food, drink and merchandising stores. But the latter is probably not something that really worries them!

For a highly traditional and conservative tournament that has adapted itself very well to modern technologies, introducing the use of hawk-eye technology or building a see-through roof on Centre Court which can be ready within twenty minutes, it seems to me moving the rest day to the Monday would work quite well too. If they are seriously considering starting the tournament one week later so the players can rest more after Roland Garros and transition better from clay-court onto grass, why not move the rest day by one day and make it a full tennis weekend? Just a thought.

One extra challenge: This year, in addition, those very same courts will be hosting the Olympic Tennis Event... in just over two weeks after the Final is played next Sunday. Thankfully there will be fewer players, about half those of the Grand Slam, but still, one can only imagine the amount of work the keepers and gardeners will have in their hands between the two events. To those men and women, and to the grass itself, best of luck guys and remember, thankfully this doesn’t happen every year!

A different type of challenge altogether building the new Centre Court Roof; back in... April 2008!! Yes that is a big snowfall!

What do I do then? Well, there is no tennis but it is not the end of the world. As you may remember, one week ago I wrote about the Euros saying that Spain and Italy had a good chance to win the thing. Well, if you haven't heard and have no plans this evening yet the Final is today and those two are playing it. With all my heart I hope Spain wins, but even if we don’t, what a great generation of players we have had. To them I say “UN MILLON DE GRACIAS” for having made us dream so many times. And good luck Champions. VAMOOOOOSSSS!!!

Unas buenas JUDIAS CON CHORIZO para animar a la Roja - VAMOS!!!