I had a dream

It was that Andy Murray won the Wimbledon Men's Singles, that Jenson Button won the British Grand Prix and that Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France. Only one of those hopes is still alive, sadly.

I really felt if Andy Murray had served a whole lot better then the match would have been different. He must have served about 40% first serves in, if not less, which is something that no-one can do against a player of Roger Federer's magnitude and win. I'm saying nothing about Jensen Button, who seems to be having a dreadful season. Bradley Wiggins on the other hand....

The moment you've been waiting for...

The coffee plant update of course!

And as you can see from today's photo, the hardy one is very hardy indeed and has grown... well, for a coffee plant, hugely. The two pale ones I'm quite worried about, but they're still growing and the small darker one is still the small darker one.

I've been thinking about swapping them around under the lights, but then I would fear the large one might protest and as it's the healthiest of them all it's probably best to leave them as is.

I have to be honest, if someone had told me just how difficult and frustrating it is to grow coffee plants I might well not have started this venture. My idea of a plantation was let go of many years ago and now I just breathe a sigh of relief when I look at them and realise that, so far this year, there have been no coffee deaths... but I'm not hopeful on that score.

I also breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Jonny Marray became the first Briton since 1936 to win a Wimbledon men's doubles final. It was a thrilling match where Jonny and his partner Freddie Neilson from Denmark, who were wildcard rank outsiders, came through in 5 sets to win spectacularly. Jonny Marray was my man of the match and it was absolutely fitting that he served it out in the final set. Brilliant stuff. I can only hope and keep everything crossed that Andy Murray might do the same today... or do you think he'll be rather like my yellowing coffee plants, where it's just too much of a struggle?

A toe update

I'm pleased to report that after a day with cold compresses, gel, pain killers, elevation and a whole lot of tender loving care from my other half, my poor toes are now in a much better state than yesterday. I can now categorically say that they are bruised and not broken and are far less painful today. I am so relieved.

The other thing that was great today was to open the blinds to ... no rain! I'm not hopeful that it will stay like that all day, but at least the start was so much better than the last few days.

Right, no time for hanging about. Got to go do some work today, so me and my toes are off to Edinburgh for a meeting.

Watch out for the next post, which I promise will be a coffee plant update. New leaves, sad leaves and a whole lot more. Bet you can't wait!

No change

For some rather odd reason I seem to be one of those people who only have weird accidents, which sadly, on the whole, have had a devastating effect. I'm sincerely hoping my latest isn't one of those.

There I was getting myself ready to go out food shopping when I tripped on the stairs. Now I'm sure you'll be thinking, 'Well, so what? That's not much to be worried about.' And if you weren't me you'd be right. You see several years ago I had to have my toes straightened, so they don't bend at all and when I tripped I caught my toes and found myself in intense agony. I hobbled around for a while but knew I had to go shopping as my man is due home tonight and the fridge and cupboard were bare. So I put on the softest shoes I could manage and drove to Kelso, which wasn't too bad. Walking round the supermarket was a different story!

I got home and instead of doing all the tidying and stuff I was supposed to do I took to my bed and have been watching stupid films on TV and reading instead.

Oh well, the house was a mess when Mountain Man left and so he probably won't notice much difference. And given that when he left last Monday I was still in bed, I shall be in exactly the same position when he comes home tonight... I'll bet he'll feel like he's never been away!

Am I fit enough?

How amazing it can be to be absolutely exhausted by watching a tennis match.

I was out last night and missed the Nadal / Rosol match, but due to rain stopping play today I managed to catch up with the last set, which was unbelievable. That was tiring enough. But then tonight, watching Federer play against Benneteau, I couldn't believe how much it took out of me and I'm wondering if I'm fit enough to withstand the next week of tennis.


There's loads of research that shows that if you rehearse the game you're playing, your muscles, through micro muscle movement, respond and can be as good as actually doing the training. Well if that's true then I'm truly fit for Wimbledon. As if!!

Strict Woman returns

There I was watching Wimbledon last night when I noticed this small spider on the wall by my bed. It was very inactive and I thought it was rather sweet.

Around 11.30 I got myself ready for bed and got my book out and blow me there it was climbing up my bed. I told it, 'No, I don't want to share my bed with you,' and very nicely took it off and put it back on the wall. Well blow me, but a mere half an hour later it had bloody appeared back on my bed again.

I'm afraid this time I was taking no prisoners and I definitely didn't want to share my bed with it, so I scooped it up on my book and I very carefully put it out of the window.

I would've let it stay in the room, but all this wanting to get close to me was a bit much for me and, as Mountain Man will attest, I'm not called Strict Woman for nothing when it comes to animal behaviour!

Home alone

I spent a lot of yesterday morning in tears. The reality of not having Nell around hit hard and I ended up doing what I always do when upset, which is a) clean and b) play stupid computer games. I did quite a bit of both. And then, come midday, there was Wimbledon to watch.

I love Wimbledon for so many reasons. The fact that all the players have to wear white somehow seems to make a difference to all the other majors and, the screamers aside (who I absolutely refuse to watch until the semis when I'm forced to), the first day was great.

I thought I'd post this photo, which I first posted in 2009, which is Nell lying on her back watching the French Open and always makes me smile.

Lying on the bed watching the French Open in June 2009

This morning saw sunshine and Magic Bob and I went out bowling. Apparently we've both been asked to fill in for the League team in a couple of weeks when some people are away. I'll have to think about that one as after my last debacle I'm not so sure I want to play. Bob is also up in arms about it, but we've decided we'll wait and see.

Then I took Nell's food and bedding down to the vet's. A friend of ours is the vet nurse there and I know her dogs will appreciate the treats; the bed, poop bags and food (for dogs with delicate stomachs) can be used at the vet's. We've decided to give her bowls to the Dog's Home we got her from on The Black Isle up in the Highlands, where we're headed in August for our friend's retiring party, so we'll drop those off then. And now the house seems even emptier. However, there are so many dog hairs in all the carpets that I know she'll be with us for quite a while longer... and I feel I have a poem about that coming on. It's brewing!

And finally, after lots of washing, drying and more vacuuming I settled down to watch the second day at Wimbledon. It was great to see Andy Murray playing with a degree of intensity that I'd not seen before and for the first time in quite a while he actually won through a first round match in 3 sets. I do hope he continues in that vein.

The only problem with Wimbledon and not having a dog to walk is that I fear for my fitness. Even though Nell wasn't walking much in the last couple of months at least I was forced out twice a day. I'm not sure I can count bowls as exercise exactly and at the rate I'm going I'll be lucky to make it past the washing line for the next two weeks, but at least my man is making up for it. After a day of frustration route marking from London to the coast he reached Dover tonight and is heading across the Channel to start marking on French soil tomorrow. I think he's doing enough for both of us... or at least that's my excuse!