Is that....Sun?

Today is, I believe, the 6th consecutive day that it has not rained significantly in Cork. This is by far the longest streak of its kind since I've arrived in Ireland. Its almost spooky. We've had brief drizzles on a few of the six days, but they have been so inconsequential that you would not be able to tell that they were happening if you were inside. Its a different side of the Irish weather, I suppose, although one that does not often stick around for more than a day or two.

Yesterday I walked into the City Centre Center and passed a pub named Costigan's. I'm sure I've passed it before because I have walked down this street before but this was the first time I really noticed it. For maybe the next 10 minutes all I could think of was DiCaprio's character from The Departed.

Tennis balls are expensive here. The cheapest can I could find was 5.50 euro, which is ridiculous when compared to 2 or 3 dollars back home. Its easy to pay 10 euro for a can as well, which is roughly a third of the price of a (slightly discounted) GAA jersey I saw in the sporting goods store where I saw these tennis balls. The thought that nine tennis balls could be worth the monetary equivalent of a replica jersey of any sort is completely mind-boggling to me.
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Grass Court Tennis

It wasn't exactly Centre Center Court at Wimbledon, but yesterday afternoon I played tennis on the grass courts at the Brookfield complex where I'm staying. The grass was quite long and looked like it had not been cut in a rather long time, one of the courts had fallen tree branches occupying one of the doubles alleys. In spite of the less than ideal condition the court was in, I was pretty excited to be able to play on the surface that inspired serving and volleying.

The courts themselves were riddled with divots and only about half of the lines were straight. The ground was so uneven that about every other ball resulted in a bad bounce. Normal rallying beyond 3-4 balls was incredibly difficult because one person would usually hit an inadvertent winner. After about 5 minutes I completely abandoned any attempt at hitting a topspin backhand because it was nearly impossible with the erratic bounces. My hitting partner and I both ended up looking like idiots a bunch of times swinging and missing at balls that didn't bounce as we expected them to. In spite of all the inconveniences, it was still really cool to see chalk fly whenever we hit a line.

After having played a set on grass, I now understand why the English developed serving and volleying and are more prone to using the continental grip. If the ball doesn't bounce on your side of the net it is a massive advantage because there is no chance of a bad bounce. Similarly, a continental grip on the forehand makes it easier to adjust to bad bounces.

After we were finished playing, the balls we had used were grass and dirt stained. If I hadn't just finished using them I would've guessed that they had been used by a dog owner as something for Fido to fetch for the past few weeks.
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Lawyers, Guns , Money?

Predictably, the day after I write about the sluggishness of the PPS number saga, the numbers arrive. We've given our paymasters the numbers and will hopefully be paid sometime in the next week or so. If all goes well there will be money in my Bank of Ireland account by the end of the week, which would be ideal because the current plan is to visit Dublin on Saturday and a working Irish ATM card that doesn't charge me any fee would be a godsend.

I've been watching a good deal of Wimbledon, which isn't difficult because its on when I get home from work. On Monday night we got to see Andy Murray come back from down 2 sets and a break to beat Gasquet in five sets, and earlier today we saw Nadal completely destroy him in less than two hours (I think). Evidently John McEnroe's commentary is also played in Ireland. His tennis commentary empire extends beyond the United States and to the BBC. I had no idea. I also didn't realize the extent of the pro-Murray hysteria among Wimbledon fans. Quite entertaining, in any case.

Speaking of Wimbledon, I discovered yesterday that the Brookfield complex (where I am staying) has two grass tennis courts. This is, of course, AWESOME. It's been raining ever since I discovered the courts themselves, but once it stops I'm heading down to play on the surface that inspired serving and volleying.
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