Dear Friend,
Back in the 1930s (before my time of course) the expression above was the traditional comment made by a character in a play set in that period. Now I know that tennis isn’t everyone’s cup of tea or favourite sport...
Mention ‘football’ and everyone loses it and gets all hot and bothered. But then as I have mentioned elsewhere on this site, sport isn’t my favourite bag, my special interest. There is one glorious exception for me and that comes under the heading of tennis. To be more precise it’s not a yearlong interest as it concentrates on two weeks at the end of June running into early July. And that’s what it is now.
I am referring to the tennis championships held at Wimbledon to the south west of London. There is huge interest at the moment because the UK has a potential champion. And nobody from Britain has won the men’s championship since 1936. Thus whenever there is the slightest possibility of that record being created, whenever there is the merest hint that we might win, hysteria breaks out. So what with the mini heat wave across most of Britain at the moment and this tennis fever, the national temperature is rapidly rising. The star of the moment comes from Scotland and goes by the name of Andy Murray. And he has reached the semi final.
As the cynics say, if he wins the championship he will be held as a British champion. If on the other hand he doesn’t make it, he will simply be referred to as a Scottish player. The English you see, can be very catty... As I write, our potential hero is resting and tomorrow will be playing against an American player. If Andy is successful, he will then go on to play in the final. After that who knows? I’ll keep you posted.
Alan Townend
Dear Friend,
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Many thanks.
