Wimbledon 2010: Centre Court (Part 1)

Last year we never even got in... This year we not only got in - we managed to buy tickets for Centre Court. Let me rewind a tad though...

Again it was a case of rolling out of bed at 5:30am, which for a Saturday morning is pretty depressing. After being moaned at for taking too long in the bathroom - N and I headed off in the car to meet up with MO in Harrow.

I had suggested we travel to Wimbledon not by our usual longwinded route but via Harrow Wealdstone to West Brompton. Miraculously we managed it... mainly due to the fact that the train was running late!

So it was in less than hour that we found ourselves joining the queue (No. 8417 was my queue card number) and settling down for a long wait. Two ham rolls, two packets of crisps, three cans of Carlsberg, a hot cross bun and one bacon roll later and we were edging towards the entrance.

The x-ray security at Wimbledon seems to be more intense than what you get at an airport. Every single person has their bag searched. Why exactly they bother escapes me. The fact that you could walk along the pavement that runs parallel to the perimeter fence, lob a grenade (if you were so inclined and had one) over the top and blow god knows how many people to kingdom come without having to face any security renders the whole thing pointless. And as for the monkeys they employ to do the bag checking...!

Now this was the pivotal moment. N and I went to one ticket booth together. MO went to another. But it was only at MO's booth that he was offered the chance to purchase Centre Court tickets (at £65 each). The stupid thing is that they don't accept card payments, instead we had to quickly find an ATM within the grounds, draw out a ton of cash and then run back to buy the tickets. But we managed to do it!

To be continued...