My life in The Queue

[louiselux]

WE GOT TWO OF THE 500 TICKETS TO WATCH ROGER'S QUARTER FINAL ON CENTRE COURT. We saw him live and in the actual flesh!

Oh god. Wimbers madness! buckle_berry and I camped for three days in a heatwave with no shower. We were issued with 'Queue Cards' that identified our place in The Queue. We met some amazing tennis obsessed people who'd been doing this for years on end. We developed a mini debt crisis from buying Wimbledon-priced Pimms. We drank truly awful tea. We were woken at 5am every morning by elderly men in panama hats and hi-vis waistcoats who got us packed up and moving with a single kindly yet authoritative word. Most importantly of all, we had joined The Queue. I feel like I will never now leave The Queue.

What no one told us is that if you do this and get one of the rare tickets for centre court, you are given amazing seats. Actually the best seats in Centre Court. Right at the front. I think that's when the experience became one of true epicness for me and Berry.

I have an actual proper post with pictures to come, but that will probably be after Sunday. We fancy a bit more queuing, you see, and are going for grounds tickets on Sunday. Anyone wanting to meet up, let me know! somarem, i got your message and will get in touch.

Comments

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Eeee, fabulousness! PS YAY ANDY <3333

[fedal-fangirl.livejournal.com]

Months with no Eleanor K postings. ~ sigh ~

[doire]

Congratulations! And well done for sticking it out.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

We stuck like sticking things! In all senses of the word, during the hottest days of the year so far, and no showers.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

YAAAAAAAY!

You must never wash your eyes again.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I NEVER SHALL.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

I am seriously impressed!

Also, The Queue sounds like something from Blake's 7. Either that or a dystopian future where everybody's queueing but nobody knows what for.

Oh, or I could just be thinking of the Doctor Who episode with the motorway and the giant crabs.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

There could well have been giant crabs. If so, they would have been given a queue number and told to stand in line.

The Queue is a remarkable thing. I have never been so well managed in my life.

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe you'll brave the Queue again! I've had it for this year, I'm just watching it all on TV now. Yay for front seats and Roger watching!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

We queued three times in the end. The final Sunday was much easier. We rolled up at 8.30am and were only like 800 in the queue. It filled up pretty quickly after that though.

Oh Wimbers. I miss it already.

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

It's so here quiet now! And the pubs in the village have stopped serving strawberries and cream! *wails*

[aramley.livejournal.com]

Yay, I'm so glad you got fabulous tickets! It must have been amaaaazing! I'm sorry I wasn't able to come and visit you both in The Queue after all, I really wanted to but the heat just got the better of me at the end of the day.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

No, we understood. It's quite a draining experience actually getting into Wimbers, never mind exploring, actually watching the tennis and sitting about in a heatwave. Did you have centre court tickets? I was so happy to just be in the grounds on Monday and to be also to look about at the practise courts and things.

[aramley.livejournal.com]

No, we had tickets for Court No 2, but we spent most of the day wandering around the other courts because there was a men's doubles match on No 2 that ran to 14-12 in the fifth set or something D: We didn't see anybody very exciting but it was just such a fantastic experience to be there! I wrote it all up here (http://aramley.livejournal.com/297327.html) :)

[cicer.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! How exciting. That must have been quite the experience. I can't wait to hear more about it.

And I think you're extremely brave for enduring The Queue like that! *trembles* That would be beyond me, I'm afriad!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I was utterly thrilling! ... I will eventually write it up in more detail than that though.

Oh the Queue. It was extreme!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! Glad you got your tickets and made it all worth it! Looking forward to the pics :-)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! It was so much fun. :)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Holy cow, that's wonderful!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

It was just so fantastic!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad for you guys.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

A..aa AMAZING AWESOMENESS!!!!! Go you gals for sticking it out!

Looking forward to peektures! ^__^ Have a good weekend!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Go us, yay! I can't believe we pulled it off.

[kanzenhanzai.livejournal.com]

Oh, YAY! I'm so happy for you and your tickets *g*

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Yay thank you! It was so awesome :D

[del-naja.livejournal.com]

OMG you were so lucky for have been able to watch Roger and courageous too !

Without misplaced indiscretion, may I ask you how much were the tickets ? Because I read an article on somewhere that for the semis a ticket costed 20 000 £ on black market.

Good luck and come on to get tickets for the final ^^ !

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Our tickets for the quarter finals were £82 pounds on the gate. It's a lot of money, but it's also kind of affordable. I don't know how you'd actually buy a black market ticket and get in, because you have to have id to show that you bought it, and they seem pretty scrupulous about that.

All the tickets for the semis and the final were sold beforehand, sadly. You can't get them on the day. But we got grounds passes for £8 and were able to watch from inside the grounds, on the big screen!

[fedal-fangirl.livejournal.com]

So, once the days of camping out are over, and you have your tickets, what do you do with the tent paraphernalia? Do you have to schlep it around with you? I was able to find you and berry in the crowd. I posted the pic. Somewhere over at MB's lj, in a comment thread. Too lazy to find it right now. XD

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

We were able to leave the tent at the left luggage lockers. You're only allowed to take one bag into the grounds.

Lol, right. Our "picture"!

[bronze-ribbons.livejournal.com]

So awesome. So happy for you!

...and, might there any co-writing of fic going on whilst you while away the hours? *shameless hopefulness, but no pressure, honest*

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

... sadly no writing was done. i think we were just too distracted by the reality to even make stuff up!

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

Wow, this actually sounds like fun.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

You know, it really was. I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be wonderful!

[crystal-lilly.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds so amazing! How wonderful that you are so completely exploring and enjoying your tennis interest. I'm so happy to see such gleeful, enthusiastic posts from you about it. ^_______^

And The Queue sounds like such an experience! LOL I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about your adventures. I'm so glad you had a great time!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks so much! Hopefully I'll get to my fan report later.