Work, Tennis and a Barbie!

My four months of enjoying a lady of leisure lifestyle came to an end 19/01/2010.  The time had come to get back to reality, and with nerves a plenty I went to Axa, with Darren, as a Process Improvement Specialist.  It felt a bit like 'bring your wife to work day', but it was really nice to go in and travel home with Darren, as well as go to lunch with him and his boss.  Day one was spent reading and familiarising myself with stuff, and day two was a bit more tricky when the first thing they asked me to do I didn't have clue where to start!  (bored to stressed in about two minutes!).  Day three was better as I figured out what I was meant to do, and day four the girl I am taking over from left for her maternity leave.  On my own from here on in.....

I'd survived almost a full week and I was glad when Friday night came!  Amazing how tiring it is to use your brain after leaving it to rest for a while!

Saturday morning we headed to the Australian Open for a day of tennis.  I'm not the most avid tennis fan (probably due to the fact that I can't hit a ball myself) so I was glad that we'd got ground passes so that we were free to wander around and see all the shops and entertainment and stuff as well as the tennis! 

First of all we made our way to the Margaret Court Arena, and no sooner had we sat down for the ladies singles and they were finishing their warm up when there was a rain delay!  The rain didn't last too long though and after they'd wiped off the courts, Vera Zvonareva (Russia) defeated Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-1,7-5.

There is a grass area in the grounds with a big screen so from there we watched Roger Federer (Swiss) defeat Albert Montanes (Spanish) 6-3,6-4,6-4.  After the initial rain, it turned into the most gorgeous sunshiney day - perfect for sitting around, people watching, and obviously keeping an eye on the tennis!

We then went for a wander around when we were lucky enough to spot Jesse Metcalfe - the gardener in Desperate Housewives! I know, I know, I was meant to be there for the tennis - but it was a highlight of the day for me!

We then went back to the big screen and watched Venus Williams (American) defeat Casey Dellacqua (Australian) 6-1, 7-6(4).

With most of the big day games over we headed to the practice courts where we were lucky enough to see Marcos Baghdatis (Cypriot) and Lleyton Hewitt (Australian) warming up for their game that was due to start that evening!

A last trip to the shop to get some souvenirs (including an oversized tennis ball!) and it was back on the train and home to watch Baghdatis and Hewitt on the telly!

Brilliant day - even for someone that hasn't shown any interest in tennis til now!
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It's Australia Day on Tuesday and Jo and Lee had a barbeque on Sunday as an early celebration.11 of us were there and it was a good excuse to all get together for some food and a few drinks in the sun...