Let’s have a bit of a news round up. Older UK residents will remember John Craven’s Newsround. It was a kids’ programme that delivered the news as you were eating your tea after getting home from school. Maybe this can be TradeShark’s paper round. I ride round on my bike and lob unwanted snippets of news onto your front lawn.

Yesterday I wrote that the World Health Organisation has announced that people with no symptoms of the virus were very unlikely to infect anyone else. I was a little sceptical although hopeful that it was true. It seems that it was reported a little out of context.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/who-backtracks-claim-that-coronavirus-transmission-from-asymptomatic-carriers-is-very-rare-2243658

Dan Evans is currently the top ranked British player. He has been frustrated that tennis seems to be falling behind other sports when it comes to returning after the Coronavirus. Evans will be taking part in Jamie Murray’s NHS charity tournament later this month. He says that he would be happy to travel to the US Open with just a coach. He should probably take a couple of racquets too.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jun/08/dan-evans-i-would-be-happy-to-go-to-flushing-meadows-with-only-one-coach

Novak Djokovic doesn’t seem quite as keen to go to New York. He is apparently thinking of skipping the US Open and returning for the new clay season which will include the French Open. He is concerned at the possibility of a 14 day quarantine period for people arriving in America. Some of his other objections seem a little like a small child who isn’t allowed to take all his toys on a day out. He doesn’t like the possibility of only having 1 person in his team. Maybe his ego is so large he needs lots of people to kiss his arse.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jun/10/novak-djokovic-considers-missing-us-open-due-to-extreme-restrictions

Roger Federer will miss both the US Open and French Open. He has announced that he will not return to the tour until 2021. He has had to have additional surgery on his right knee.

https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/12003879/roger-federer-to-miss-us-and-french-opens-due-to-surgery

Rafa Nadal’s Uncle Toni has revealed that the Spanish superstar never paid him a single euro.

https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Rafael_Nadal/88511/uncle-toni-reveals-why-rafael-nadal-never-paid-him-a-single-euro/

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian has announced his resignation from the board of Reddit. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has urged the company to replace him with a black candidate.

Oh give me a break. How about they give it to the best qualified candidate? If that person is white, black or a little guy from Sheffield called Norman then they deserve it.

https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/12001512/serena-williams-husband-alexis-ohanian-has-announced-his-resignation-from-the-board-of-reddit

Nick Kyrgios believes hiring a coach would be a “waste of money” and “pointless”, and doubts whether he will ever win a Grand Slam.

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/tennis/tennis-news-nick-kyrgios-says-hiring-a-coach-is-a-waste-of-money-and-pointless_sto7769998/story.shtml

The feeling that I get when looking around tennis news sites is that the very top players don’t want to come back until everything is totally back to normal. They don’t think they can cope without a large support group around them and don’t want to change their tournament routines at all. It does seem like the rest of the players are keen to get back on court as long as everything is safe.

OK that’s enough about other people. Back to me!

The gravel for the front garden is due to arrive at the weekend. They can’t guarantee the colour of the gravel which is a small concern. I’m not that bothered about the colour for the front garden but the plan is that if there is any left over I will use it to top up a gravel area in the back garden. If it is completely different to the stuff I used in the back it will look ridiculous. Fingers crossed.

Sue’s birthday meal went well. I changed the mustard sauce a little. The last one I made almost blew our heads off. Last night it was still a strong flavour but didn’t obliterate the taste of the tuna. Sue rarely clears her plate at any meal but ate the lot last night.

There doesn’t seem to be a great deal worth trading on the tennis exhibitions today. I’ll keep an eye on some of them in play and wait for opportunities. I’ll probably have a look at a few football matches tonight too.

Other than that it’s looking like a quiet day. I’ll update you with any dramas on the street later.

Stay safe.

 

It’s Sue’s birthday. We have been waking up at around 7 each day in lockdown. Today was no exception. I always get up first unless Sue is working. I went downstairs, fed the dogs and took a coffee up to birthday girl.

It is also my Dad’s birthday. I gave him a call before our daughter came round with one of the grandkids. I don’t often get to talk to him. Mum is quicker off the mark when the phone rings. He was telling me how he had been using zoom to hold Rotary meetings. He had also chaired a zoom meeting with a guy in Chicago. This was a little surprising. He has an old Nokia phone and I think has sent me 2 text messages in the last 20 years.

Our daughter turned up. She stood half way down the garden path with Ivy. Ivy was full of smiles until she realised that we weren’t going to give her a hug. Then she sulked. When she sulks she won’t even look at you, never mind talk. Still, it was nice to see them. We have only seen them on Facetime since March.

Sue hadn’t managed to get her antibody test done yesterday. On her ward they are allowed to test each other. She hates needles. They tried 5 times to take a blood sample but didn’t manage more than a teaspoon full. She has bruises all over her arm and keeps banging on about being stabbed 5 times.

The World Health Organisation announced yesterday that if you have the virus but don’t have any symptoms then you are very unlikely to infect anyone. If that is correct it’s a big deal. You would think they would not announce that if they wren’t pretty sure it’s true.

The replacement for the damaged light diffuser turned up this afternoon. There was only one in the package but it was in perfect condition. I queried with the supplier why there was only one. The guy told me it was only meant to contain one. I forwarded the order confirmation email that clearly states that it is a twin pack. Apparently the word twin refers to the twin brackets that hold the diffuser. I had thought that I was ordering a single item but thought I had been mistaken when 2 damaged ones arrived yesterday. I probably won’t use that company again.

I was in the mood to trade some tennis today. Bachinger should have beaten Simon. It was Tobias Simon, not Gilles. Simon is pretty poor on clay but Bachinger hadn’t played since February. He was likely to be rusty. He was. VERY rusty. He did look the better player in the early games but Simon was serving well. Bachinger wasted a few break points. Simon had just one and took it. He held on to take the set and went a break up in set 2. Bachinger wasted more chances but finally broke back when Simon served for the match. Simon took the set in a tie break. I had laid Bachinger when he had break points in the early games. Small stakes. I did back him around 2.00 after he was broken. I gave some of my profit back but the lay on Simon when he served for the match meant I hadn’t completely wasted my time.

I had better go and start the prep for Sue’s birthday meal.

Stay safe.