Fanfare for Wimbledon...

Hello my friends....today I was a very lucky dog...i got to go and see the championship tennis at Wimbledon...and i got to go for FREE!! That's right....free...but that was because William was playing his guitar in his jazz band and they had been asked to entertain the crowds around Centre Court....

....we dropped William at the gate so he could meet his band to set up and then I took the typist for a coffee...we checked carefully that we had bought our tickets and plan of the grounds...

....it was quite easy to find Wimbledon because we just had to follow the famous green and purple banners along the local roads....

....I paid some attention to the order of play to work out what matches we would have chance to see later in the day...the band were supposed to welcome the crowds to the grounds at 10.30am and then play until lunchtime....

....we joined the big queues outside Centre Court and waited for the official start of play......

....the band started as soon as the gates opened and the crowds streamed into the grounds listening to the theme tune to Wimbledon....or "The Championships" as it is called everywhere....

...i saw the famous ivy-clad walls....

....and walked round to see the outside courts.....

...Mr Djokovic was practising hard....

....play started early and we got to see a few matches....as its Mens' Semi-Final day today, the action on the outside courts was mostly doubles or junior competition...

....i took a walk to the top of Murray Mound to see if @maggiemay_hem was there....

.....I waited for a few minutes by the famous doors to the All England Club to see if there were any famous players around....

...the ladies playing wheelchair tennis were CRAZY!....what an entertaining game....

...i tried not to bother William as he was busy reading the music.....

....I am told that this sweet & salt popcorn is what top athletes use to keep cramp at bay on hot days....

....the juniors played in the shadow of Centre Court ...no doubt dreaming of what they might do here in future years...

....once William had finished playing we net to see some tennis and we realised that No.1 Court was almost empty and there was no queue for returned tickets so we went to watch some mixed doubles in that famous arena....

....but the highlight of the day was seeing the Merton Youth Jazz Orchestra (MYJO) doing their thing....!!