Ian Hughes (Consulting IT Specialist [IQ development team], Metaverse Evangelist, Application Architect, etc etc) posted a (very) short video on YouTube. It's a close up of the page view counter (last 4 digits) on the website, filmed on day 1 of the Championships at 11pm GMT.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk-mibukF40

Astonishing.

A few minutes later...

... the covers are off on Centre Court. That is a good sign. As promised, here are some photos from yesterday that I took during a brief respite from the freezing bunker. There are a fair number of computers in here, so the air conditioning is always on. The vents are at the other end of the room, up at ceiling level, and angled such that the cold air travels the length of the room, down the window and onto my hands. Honestly, my hands are several days younger than the rest of me thanks to the cryogenic temperature. Anyway, as I said, I took a brief and brisk walk around the grounds looking for things to point my lens at. Here is some of what I found...






- The umpire waits for the players to join her on Court 18 for the coin toss.
- Sukova and Navratilova during the warm up.
- Martina demonstrates that she still has the skills.








- A tight shot with the 300mm lens.
- Navratilova arches as she prepares to unleash a serve.
- Sometimes the light is strong enough to give excellent shadows.
- Willis bends the strings with a forehand return on Court 14.








- Willis's opponent, Ehara from Japan, lofts the ball high...
- ... before smashing it Willis-ward.
- On Court 15, Miss Holland looks in danger of catching flies as she serves in a recklessly open-mouthed fashion. No, not Miss Holland the beauty queen. This Miss is from Australia.
- A ball boy proffers a ball. I like the way his hand fits the curve in the logo behind him.








- A line judge, probably very glad of the 'reflective' Ralph Lauren cap.
- Miss Holland returns a high ball.
- Chairs waiting to welcome a player on court.
- More chairs awaiting a mixed doubles match. Both these photos were taken with a tilt and shift lens.








- A distinctively dressed steward catches me taking his picture.
- A ball boy leads a snaking line of fellow ball wranglers to their designated court.
- The crowd at the top of Murray Molehill. Another shot taken with the tilt and shift






- Officials preparing to go onto court. This one was impossible to expose properly.

Right, it is time for some food.

The rain, the rain...

It couldn't last. The glorious sun that has blessed the Championships thus far has taken to hiding behind leaden grey clouds, whilst a light rain falls like angel's tears on the tented courts in SW19.

Angel's tears??! I think the tiredness must be getting to me.

Today started much the same as all the rest. We didn't hesitate in heading straight for the canteen and tucking into a variably priced breakfast. Today the eggs were cooked, which was nice. I tried the crispy American style bacon, which I have to say was far more appetising than the fatty soggy English bacon on offer. So, one egg, one sausage, a hash brown, two bits of toast with two tiny pats of butter, and a cup of coffee = £7.75. Tomorrow that will be £5.80.

After taking the list of the matches being covered on the web site today up to the photographers I went to see the Canon support team. They have a room here and service cameras and lenses for all the pros during the event. Nikon have a room too. I managed to borrow a 1Ds MKIII whilst my MKII was in for a sensor clean. I strolled around and took a few shots with it, and I have to say it is a pretty fine camera indeed. 21 Megapixels. Crikey.

Now I am back at my desk and the light rain continues to fall, pooling on the patio flagstones outside our room. I may well stick my coat on and go and get some 'rain' shots. We have had four photos of tennis in so far today. There is a good chance that they may be the only photos of play on Day 9. If memory serves me I think it was 2001 when play last ran over to the Monday, People's Day, and fans started queuing at 5am to secure seats for the final. Tennis fans raised the rafters with their raucous support, but alas for Rafter it was Ivanesevic's day. Selfishly I am hoping that the weather forecasters have it all wrong.

The mood in the room is fair to middling, and people are using the time to catch up on all the normal day job chores. It would be reckless to take an 'early' lunch, as the canteen will be rammo, stuffed to the gunwales with people avoiding the rain. We discussed whether it might be a better time to get food, as if there are more people going through then the turnover of food should be higher, affording more chance of fresh stuff being available. No one has yet braved the hordes to test the theory.

I will post some photos from yesterday in a few minutes or so.