Surely not. A year already?

It has been almost three hundred and sixty five days since I was last sat at this desk, blogging on what I experienced whilst working here at the greatest tennis event in the world. Eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours, over half a million minutes, very nearly thirty two million seconds. Indeed, the smaller the time slice, the longer it sounds, to me at least.

Long enough for us to travel once around the sun on starship Earth... for Alexander the Great to lay siege to and conquer Tyre... for you to get about a quarter of the way to Proxima Centauri if your name is Mr Light... for thirty or so Japanese hornets to lay waste to the inhabitants of nearly three thousand bee hives.

I wanted to post yesterday, but work conspired to thwart my efforts. So, eighty six thousand four hundred seconds (that's about eight hives) later than intended, here is my first post for this year. To be honest I was struggling to think of a suitable opener. It is ‘build week’ here at the club, and all around the grounds hundreds of people are applying great dollops of elbow grease to smooth the transition between a club in hibernation (or so it might seem to the causal observer), and a venue for the Championships Wimbledon.

I have been out taking a few shots of the preparatory frenzy, some of which I will post. Meanwhile, here are a few that I took at the official roof opening event a few Sundays ago. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to join the pros in the pit, courtside, for the ladies exhibition match between Kim Clijsters and Steffi Graf. I could have enjoyed the whole day in the pit, but alas, my time was taken up being filmed for a small ad campaign for the IBM Seer Android app for suitably enabled mobile phones. That was good fun, but I have to admit that all the while I was champing at the bit to get on to Centre Court and take some photos. Without further ado, a small selection from the day.

From the top:
- Centre Court on the morning of the official roof opening.
- Steffi nails a backhand.
- Clijsters plays a similar shot.
- A forehand from Steffi shows she still has that world-class athleticism, accuracy, and composure.
- Kim chases down a backhand that threatens to beat her to the back of the court.
- Congratulations.
- Tim & Kim receive their plates.
- Andre and Steffi receive their rewards as rapturous applause reverberates around the court.
- A volunteer serviceman stands guard at the edge of the hallowed Centre Court turf.

It was quite an experience sitting in the pit, and I hope to get the chance to do so during the tournament itself. It was strange to look up and see the roof (a fabric one!). I must say that it was warm down there, and the light was very variable, sunny one minute, then overcast, then some rain. Tricky to get the exposures balanced, especially as I seem to have forgotten anything I might have learnt in previous years here. I must get some more practice in before the Championships start on Monday next. Right, work to be done.

More, later.