And(y) he's back....

Last night we thoroughly enjoyed the production of Swan Lake. It is a new production and has had very positive reviews, and deservedly so - the sets, costumes, choreography and dancing were superb. The young principal dancer who was Odette /Odille was sublime, what a rising star! We were both very tired and I expected Gavin would be nodding off in the first 10 minutes, but no, we were both riveted by the performances and enjoyed every minute and did not lose concentration for a second. It did cross my mind that male ballet dancers are one of the best athletes that one gets and yet they earn nothing compared to a footballer. I do realise that theatres cannot hold the large capacity that a football stadium can in order to earn the same revenue but still, I think it is unfair. It was the best ballet we have seen, but then you always can count on Royal Ballet for a world class production. 

Today we were invited to the tennis championships at Queens by friends of our who are members there - in fact they were directors of the club so are very involved with its affairs. I met Gavin outside his office just before lunch (he went to work in the morning) and then we got the tube to Barons Court. We had a wonderful lunch with our friends in the members' dining room which overlooks centre court so we could keep an eye on the early matches in the comfort of the air conditioned room while we ate. We then went out to take our seats in the stand for the Djokovic vs Millman match- an easy win for Djokovic who is expected to go on to win this tournament. And then the much anticipated come back match of Andy Murray. He has not played tennis since Wimbledon 2017 (342 days) due to his hip injury and surgery and it was bad luck to be drawn against the powerful Kyrgios. He played exceptionally well, (though we could detect a slight limp), but sadly after a dominant first set he went on to lose to Kyrgios. It was a wonderful day, when it got too hot in the sun we popped back to the cool dining room for tea, champagne, scones, puddings and/or strawberries - it was a real treat!


I liked this image of Andy, getting feverish with determination?... I was only allowed to take in a lens up to a maximum of 300mm but I was very pleased with the way the images turned out, and we had good seats too so I could get many photos - for tennis lovers I have added more tennis photos here.

Now I am home again - I cannot quite keep up with processing of my photos - I have so many from yesterday’s visit to Highgate Cemetery and many more from the tennis today.