Tennis in the Tropics

Hmmm it seems I have picked the wrong Tropical island to pursue my love of tennis, ah well back to the other sports.

There are tennis courts everywhere but very few people wanting to bash a ball around in this heat.........after visiting other countries I had visions of an ex-pat community playing tennis everyday like I'd seen elsewhere, but alas its going to take a while to build up a core of hardened tennis nuts.

I've managed to play a few games in the last few months, and have had a few leads to pursue from messages on the dr1 forum http://www.dr1.com/forums ...but they dont seem as keen as in the uk where we would wait for hours for a break in the rain or shovel the snow up to play.

I wonder what I should do if i break a string as finding tennis balls was more of a challenge than I'd expected. It seems Santiago is the place for almost everything and only and hour and half away lol


Funny Tennis Quotes

Strangely enough, Kathy Jordan is getting to the net first, which she always does
Fred Perry

Diane - keeping her head beautifully on her shoulders Ann Jones

If she gets the jitters now, then she isn't the great champion that she is Max Robertson

McEnroe has got to sit down and work out where he stands Fred Perry

Chip Hooper is such a big man that it is sometimes difficult to see where he is on the court Mark Cox

He's got his hands on his knees and holds his head in despair Peter Jones

The Gullikson twins here. An interesting pair, both from Wisconsin Dan Maskell

These ball boys are marvellous. You don't even notice them. There's a left handed one over there. I noticed him earlier Max Robertson

...and when Chrissie is playing well I always feel that she is playing well Anne Jones

It's quite clear that Virginia Wade is thriving on the pressure now that the pressure on her to do well is off Harry Carpenter

When Martina is tense it helps her relax Dan Maskell

We haven't had any more rain since it stopped raining Harry Carpenter

Billie Jean King, with the look on her face that says she can't beieve it... because she never believes it, and yet, somehow, I think she does Maz Robertson

Strawberries, cream and champers flowed like hot cakes Radio 2

She comes from a tennis playing family. Her father's a dentist BBC 2



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Funny Pictures

games

Some favourite sites for games and fun stuff

1.Fun Pic http://www.funpic.hu/en.funblog.php?s=dd&p=1


Let me know your favourite sites to add

Diving into the unknown in Sosua (Dominican Republic)

Well ! I finally plucked up the courage after a long time of talking myself into it, which only goes to prove that if I can do it anyone can.

The signs were not good since I dont like to get my head under the water, have very limited (breaststroke) swimming abilities and I fell off a diving board in Guernsey (thank you Victoria Wood)

I needn't have worried though,I was in safe hands with the Northern Coast Diving Centre in Sosua, Dominican Republic http://www.northerncoastdiving.com/ and the very patient Christian

We started off with pool side instruction and safety in the water, hand signals, then into the pool to practise breathing and movement underwater....my movement was a bit lacking so I needed more help.

After a lunch break it was time to get all the gear on and do it for real......everyone else around seemed to know what they were doing.....ah well I felt better when I had the gear on, then I discovered you had to walk through town (hmmm) no-one batted an eyelid and at least no-one asked me to come into their shop to buy anything (lol)

I soon found myself sat on the side of the boat ready to tip myself forward into the sea.... Christian was waiting to save me from drowning and take me down to see the wonders of the world below the sea.

My swimming underwater technique left a little to be desired and I kept floating up and kept being dragged back down by my leg .Extra weights were added to help me drown ...errr keep me at the bottom.

It was amazingly calm and beautiful down there as you only have the sense of sight and touch, I was handed a few things to touch , because you cant go around picking things up yourself and killing the coral.

We weaved are way through passage and up and down coral reefs looking at the beautiful fish and soon it was time to return to the surface.

It had been a beautiful sunny day when I went down so it was a bit of a shock to find it was pi...raining heavily and grey when I emerged rather ungracefully onto the waiting boat.

It was a very enjoyable day and I hope to do more dives in the future and get certified (lol I think thats the right term)