Day 5: London

Day 5: London

Quote of the day:

We'll pick up Hazy Davey and Killer Joe and
I'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They're built like light and they dance like
Spirits in the night, all night

Weather: Overcast, threat of rain, low 60s

Pics: Wagamama and New Asia, temp toilets at VB arena and guys mopping up outside the temp toilets (should we be totally disgusted?), Gents door 1 foot taller than Womens door at New Asia, dark shot of early queue

Walk the hood, grape nuts and fruit, leisurely morning, lunch in Wimbledon at Wagamama (ramen, noodles, drinks, $44), tube to Men’s Volleyball. We’re there about 45 minutes early and it appears the second match of the morning session is still going on. So, why are we through security in a minute or two , inside the arena, and seeing queues outside the entrances to the seats?

Turns out, it’s the fourth set of the match and if the team behind wins, then there will be a fifth set to 15. So, the VB tournament org has anticipated that the second of two matches would end “on time,” something that happens maybe half the time, by only going the minimum 3 sets. Secondly, the Brits are so fair-minded that they just know that the fans who have tickets for the afternoon session would never do anything other than wait patiently for the morning session to end (it is now 2:15pm) to end. Not only that, they would queue up (THB and KHB take a seat on the ground up against a pillar, pull out our kindles, and start whiling away the time).

The match ends (no fifth set, phew!) and the queue gets a bit restless. Ahhhhh, the Brits are going to clean the arena first…no self-respecting fan would want to sit on top of someone else’s trash. Finally, around 2:50, after the teams for the afternoon session’s first match have started warming up, do they let fans start in to find their seats. THB and KHB sit and read until the queue gets down to about 15 or so, then realize the entrance next over is empty. That’s because half of our group should’ve been over one entrance and the signage isn’t good enough to direct us over there.

Note: it is a long story, not to be fully retold here (collective sigh), that a comparable situation occurred in Barcelona during T&F and then they did not let the crowd showing up for evening session inside to queue up realizing that a) if they let the crowd in early, they would NOT have queued outside, they would’ve stormed into the arena to watch and b) if you were still inside you must have a ticket for the evening or why would you still be there, 2 hours after the session was supposed to end instead of going for a civilized (late) lunch.

Italy has its way with Argentina, 3-1, and the US men take care of Germany, 3-0. The US led at every break (8, 16 and finally at 25) in all three games, blocking and defending their way to a fairly easy win.

Dinner for Indian food at the New Asia in Earl’s Court: lamb sausage and onion samosa for first course, chicken tikka masala, sag aloo (potatoes and spinach, very good), and lamb in sauce with one plain nan and rice, one beer, $55.

Back for the evening session of VB at 8pm, easy security as always. We meet up with a friend of our hosts (using our 3^rd ticket), though it takes a while for us to find each other (we’re two seats away, our fault for not quite being where we are supposed to be and it looks like she is with someone else…too many assumptions made on our part!).

Part two: Why are there so many empty seats? First, we’re in seats with obstructed views, so we ask to be reseated and are told we’ll have to wait until the second match when people have left. And, secondly, people do leave, in large quantities because the first match is GB vs Australia and when that is over many, many Brits leave. Too bad, because after watching the home team get trounced by Australia, 3-0, in what would be a bad junior college match, up next is Brazil vs Russia, two world class teams.

Brazilians are the number one fans in the O world (unless you think a bunch of blonds wearing Viking horns and ringing cowbells are number 1), come out in droves, wear garish green and yellow costumes, and sing or chant non-stop while dancing in huge clusters. And, they also miss out on seeing the best defensive/setting player THB has ever seen, the libero (not allowed to play in the front row) for Brazil. He is tiny, and NEVER misses making the perfect shot, time after time. Brazil eases past Russia 3-0, and the match thus ends around 11:40. If this match had gone the distance (and we stayed), it would have been closer to 12:30am. Tube and train and short walk, and we’re in bed at 12:45.

Observations:

· Why doesn’t the evening session start at 7pm instead of 8? After discussing it, we agree that for that to happen the morning session would have to start at 8am! VB for breakfast! Not gonna happen, so the tournament organizers (not the Brits, they are just the hosts) close their eyes and hope that the neither of the two matches in a session runs over (hold their noses?).

· For the first time, we are sitting on cushioned seats. After about a half hour, KHB turns to THB and asks if his butt is sore…yep, these thin cushions aren’t much better than naked plastic.

· Now realizing why announcers are not easy to understand: they don’t bother to stop the music while they talk about the event. Clever!

· One of the players, chasing after a ball far out of bounds, does a kick save of the ball back onto the court. Amazing…needless to say, it is NOT an American, it is someone that comes from a soccer playing country.