A year ago today....

...I was in London with my friend Tonke.

Unimportant you might think. Not so much. My trip to London inspired me to restart this weblog.

I have already written elaborately about this wonderful trip (although not so wonderful at the end, Tonke and I returned to the Netherlands with some sort of stomach bug :().

A short reminder, I like to reminiscence, sorry:
* April 30th: Day of sports monuments, with visiting Wimbledon and Wembley. Another Queen’s Day spent on foreign soil. This year I spent Queen’s Day in the Netherlands, Bussum to be exact. It was nice, a big free market in the center of town. At night there was some sort of music concert in front of my house. Joy! Music was way too loud, but at least they did not only play modern music but some older tunes as well. All in all, I liked spending Queen’s Day in the Netherlands for once. But I cannot guarantee that I will be in the country for Queen’s Day next year ;).
* May 1st: Many London sights.
* May 2nd: Due to the great amount of rain mostly museum day. Marvellous Night of 1000 Voices at the Royal Albert Hall in the evening!! Wow!! My favorite song that night, Stars from Misèrables, was also the last song that I heard while running on the treadmill in the gym yesterday! I programmed my MP3 player in such a way that it would finish with Stars ;).
* May 3rd. Day: Among others a long walk from Piccadilly Circus straight back to the hotel. Evening: Les Misèrables. Great musical. Pity that I had just seen/heard the most perfect rendition of Stars the night before :P.

A little more about London. I have applied for tickets for next year’s Olympic Games. Tennis (at Wimbledon), swimming and athletics (in the Olympic Stadium) are on my wish list. Many, many people have applied for tickets. And apparently especially tennis and swimming are very popular. So I fear that my application has only a slight chance of being successful :(.

Still, it was definitely worth a try, even if it was only for the following reasons:
* These Olympic Games are just so close to home. Location of the 2016 Summer Olympics: Rio, not so close to home.
* They are being held in one of my favorite European cities.
* I have been wanting to attend tennis matches on the holy grounds of Wimbledon for quite some time.

I will keep you posted about this topic.

A little more sports, as always ;):
* I am starting to find my rhythm on the tennis court. Forehand and backhand are improving steadily. Service remains a problem.
* My body is getting accustomed to the weight training, twice a week (after a tiring workout on the treadmill of about forty minutes).
* After using Map your Run (on internet), I found out that my running route in Bussum is EXACTLY 5 km. Funny.

When it comes to my favorite teams/sportspeople, the success is mixed:
* Another uninspired finish of the soccer season by PSV Eindhoven. They might have had some spells of bad luck. But most importantly, the team failed to deliver when it really mattered.
* The Boston Red Sox have had difficulty rebounding from their disastrous start of the baseball season. The baseball season is a long one though. Lately, the Red Sox’ key players are finally showing some improvement. So hopefully all is not lost :).
* The Kansas City Chiefs have drafted some promising players in the 2011 NFL Draft, in which NFL teams choose players out of the football teams of American universities/colleges. Next season will show how promising these young men really are. In the past the some of the most promising players have turned out to be the biggest busts (flops). And the Chiefs had such a marvellous draft last year, that –in a sense- their 2011 draft class can only disappoint. I really hope that there will be a 2011/2012 football season, a lockout is looming :(.
* After easily beating the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA Play-Offs, the Chicago Bulls will likely have a trickier opponent in the Atlanta Hawks. The first game, on home soil, was lost. Well then...the Bulls “just” have to win four games in a row, and a spot in the Eastern Conference Championship game is secured.
* Now that Valentino Rossi’s shoulder is healing, his bike is proving to be a problem. However, Rossi is so talented that he can compete with the best on even an average bike. He might not win the world championship this year, since he has lost too many points early on. But he will surely give Stoner/Pedrosa/Lorenzo a run for their money.
* I am hoping that Barcelona wil kick Real Madrid's ass tonight. Even if it was only for the coach of Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho. Granted, he has won two Champions League's (with Porto and last year with Inter Milan) and is likely an inspirational trainer/coach. Still, his attitude is often questionable. A great example is the way he handled the recent matches between his own team, Real, and Barcelona. Just unsportsmanlike and childish.

Btw, this is the first blog I am posting with the help of my own laptop. This means that I finally, finally have internet in my apartment! Yay!! On April 15th, after numerous useless visits from KPN mechanics, internet was successfully installed. Alas, this was not the end of the story. My laptop, having been without any sort of internet connection for so long, got extremely confused. The poor thing crashed later that day :(. On April 16th, a Saturday, yet another mechanic came by. After two hours of hard work, my laptop was up and running again. The laptop (and the internet) has been functioning quite well ever since. Knock on wood!!

PS. Mary Poppins will be opening in Sydney on May 5th. Break a leg! Early signs are that the show is going to be just as successful as it was in Melbourne. It is interesting. Cameron MackIntosh, the producer of Mary Poppins, is also the producer of Les Misèrables. Three of the leads in the original Australian production of Les Mis are now playing leading roles in Mary Poppins. Lol, the way in which MackIntosh casted Philip Quast
-generally regarded as Les Mis' best Javert- as Mr. Banks is just so priceless :D.