Well, congratulations to Roger Federer, who pleasingly cried like some grandmother when he won Wimbledon… but honestly, watching it here in Australia is almost unbearable. I am going to e-mail the director of Channel 9 Sports with the following today: Are your commentators aware that there are sportsmen capable of winning tournaments and matches who are NOT Australian?

WARNING – SPORTS COMMENTRARY IN AUSTRALIA RANT ABOUT TO COMMENCE

It was ridiculous – It was as if two diehard fans had ousted the commentators, finally having a chance to shower the nation’s television sets with their partisan yelps. I remember the glory days of Dan Maskill, that superb Wimbledon voice, praising the perfect poetry of shots and volleys… instead I have these two Aussie tossers giving such incisive commentary as “Thats more like it Mark – COME ON!!” and when Federer hit a ball long to keep Philippoussis’ hopes on the brink of survival, “YEP!! Its long. Its long. Its not over yet.” It was fantastic when in the tie-break for the 3rd set, Federer was 5-1 up. They had nothing to say. Silence. The first enjoyable commentary. When Federer won, all they had to say was, “Thats it. He’s won a Grand Slam final.”

Not only that, but TV here is so Americanised – ad breaks every 0.8 seconds. Wimbledon here is brought to you by… Jacob’s Creek (‘the official wine sponsor to Wimbledon’ – what a joke. I didn’t see Agassi asking for a quick glass of Chardonnay between sets, did you? The only people drinking Jacob’s Creek are the VIPs who’d finally drunk enough champagne to stop turning their noses up at it), Toyota, Telstra (Australia’s version of BT), Sakata rice crackers (I’m not kidding), IBM, and at least a couple more. So when there’s a change of ends, a lull, that moment when the cameras go in and you get to see how each player is feeling, to sense the psychology of the match, its ads. Ads, ads and more ads. Like I said, it was almost unbearable at times.

SPORTS COMMENTARY IN AUSTRALIA RANT OVER.

16:53 Just got a shed-load of furniture from a friend who’s going on tour. Lots of lovely Spanish hardwood stuff and a voluptuous chaise longue… I love them. Put on Jimi Hendrix, cranked it to 11 and started moving the stuff in. Now I’ve mellowed to good old John Lennon, Mind Games. Time is moving very strangely, in fits and starts – expanding and contracting like an accordion in the hands of a lunatic. Just got my quotes for the shipping of Angels In Drag from Hong Kong… if you are interested in pre-ordering a copy, send me a message in the OneLine[MessageBox] and include your e-mail address. It should cost about £12 plus postage. But it is a beautiful thing. All will be revealed. I’m going to put up another track soon, so you can have another listen. Don’t forget Happytown is on the 5th July entry.
Thats my eye in the background! Part of a Martyn James Brooks light-painting piece. The guy is definitely better than the above-average bear.

Not much more to say tonight. D. is leaving for the UK tomorrow so I am not going to sit at this piece of circuitboardsandtitaniumandelectronsandstuff for much longer. She’s running around my studio picking up all my undone paperwork and putting it away (flat inspection tomorrow morning – doesn’t worry me… the days of student chaos and filth are long gone – this place is a veritable palace of cleanliness and joy). Go away!! I was never meant to be an accountant, I can tell you that.
So tomorrow, another chance at good things, for all of us.