Saturday 12 November 2011

NEW BLOOD

After the theatrical disappearance of our last cook, the following well-known lines were brought to mind:

                             'All the world's a stage, 
                             And all the men & women merely players;
                             They have their exits & their entrances........'
                             As you like it, Act 2, Sc 7.

I'm happy to report that the play continues, with the entry into the Vignal of mike & nina, talented in the kitchen, their sons yassin & malik, talented on the courts & their baby daughter, lina hoping to walk soon.  We are overjoyed to see the reappearance of pizzas in the restaurant, & look forward to tasting the numerous other dishes on the menu. After the recent long days of rain & flooding, the sun has brought many of us back to our great game, & out on the terrace for excellent lunchtime meals. Here are two Club ladies illustrating the gastronomic part of their exercise.



I hope many of you readers & your friends won't be long before you join the happy throng!

Monday 19 September 2011

RECENT EVENTS

The first event this September was a Wine & Cheese Party, the first of its kind that I remember.  After an introductory white wine from near Carcassonne, we tasted several red wines from the south west France, accompanied by pain au levain & plates of various cheeses arranged by the Chef.  The assembled members were appreciative & kindly hosted by Michel Piffaretti, the wine merchant of Près du Lac.

The tenth of the month was a more exciting day: a RoundRobin was scheduled for 3 pm, & started with 40 players.  The new system used divided these entrants into groups A & B, with more experienced players in the A group:  this arrangement minimized the possibility of two excellent combatants playing together. Six rounds of doubles matches had been arranged in advance, with changing of partners & opponents in each round. (This was achieved using a computer program written in Java for this & future occasions.) Ten matches ran concurrently on ten of our eleven courts, each consisting of 4 games using the no-add method.
All this worked well once participants had found their codes (A1, B3, &c), & their glasses, to examine the printed program. Fortunately, Manu was close at hand to assist with helpful explanations, & to incorporate late-comers. The 60 matches (240 games) were completed & scores added up before 6 pm, allowing everyone time to prepare for the evening buffet meal, music & dancing.

The whole day was a resounding success, the meal copious & well-prepared, the conviviality & good humour excellent;  only, I would say, the male gallantry in inviting ladies to dance, rather limited!  Bev & Ernst were the first on the floor, Claudia & Christiane shortly after.





The following prize-giving brought Ernst to the fore again: along with the inevitable cup to reward his exploits on court, he was given one of young Eva's T-shirts, & encouraged to try it on!


The party finished amiably at 11pm: friends dispersed - some of them thinking of returning next afternoon with their children for 'Kids Day'.

The next morning was marred by the unannounced sudden departure of the Chef  from the Restaurant with all his effects.  Let me hasten to add that this sad event was in no way precipitated by anyone of the Club, & can only be attributed to grave personal problems. A replacement is actively sought.


To end this post on a cheerful note: here is a photo showing the collection of parents & children anticipating the forthcoming session of happy lessons, games, matches, tournaments, meals & dancing in our vigorous community.



Thursday 1 September 2011

VIGNAL & FLUSHING MEADOWS

We have a mention in L'Equipe  of the 1st of September, thanks to the efforts of Jean-René Lisnard. Here is a scan of today's article:

(- hoping your French is up to it, dear readers!)

Some of you will have been lucky enough to watch Jean-René playing on our courts; there was the demonstration  match against his Monaco Team Captain, Manu Heussner, with David Gorman as unfair umpire, favouring Manu, & recorded in an earlier blog. And then later a practice match against David; here is a photo after that session:


Keep enjoying your tennis!

Tuesday 30 August 2011

SEPTEMBER DIARY

Summer visitors have almost all disappeared from the Club, & members who took holidays elsewhere are trickling back - wondering perhaps why they ever went away from this attractive place. An early expression of the autumn to come, is the flowering of the Gynerium plant (Herbe des Pampas), between the Bureau & Court 1. Originating in South America, it is a spectacular member of the grass family (Graminée).



After this brief mention of the beauty around us, please consult your diaries & enter important event details for the coming month. These have been sent to me today by the kind attentions of Claudia Stern.
I insert the file she prepared.


Please note that the first event is already close - this coming Friday!
Be safe, & reserve places for you & your friends.

A bientôt !



Wednesday 29 June 2011

SUMMER


So we have 4 bushes of lavender in flower as you enter the Club: local insects have very soon detected the perfume & are busy collecting the nectar.  Mainly bees recently, but with the occasional butterfly. (photo)


Now honeysuckle flowers have disappeared, lavender is filling the fragrance gap, as the perspiring players tend to increase their odiferous output with the temperature increase. Complaints heard have been good-natured:  we all suffer somewhat from the heat, but much prefer this climate to the rainy months we had to endure earlier this year.

Last Sunday, our small, mixed team won the series of matches for the Coupe Azuréen - details from our only Hungarian player, Lucien Zsarni: inveterate midday tennisman.  Lucien, once noted for his efficient fabrication of delicious pizzas in the local oven, has some years ago, transferred his talents to the more lucrative pursuit of selling houses.  The obvious result, has been his change of daily transport vehicle, from Deux Chevaux  to something much more ostentatious.........

Back to our luck in enjoying the skills of our current Chef, David Marais.  Enthusing members finish their appreciations by the supplication:  pourvu qu'il reste !  The answer lies within our community, in the first place: we have to support his efforts by our presence.  The more difficult problem, is publication of the excellence of this Club Restaurant to a much wider audience.  Everyone of you can help in this by passing the word to friends & acquaintances.

David asks me, at short notice,  to invite you to join a Barbecue meal this Friday evening, 1st of July, from 7.30 pm, with Buffet de Salades,  Côte de boeuf ou Loup ou Dorade,  Dessert  (25 €).
Reserve at 06 59 08 66 30 ; & do your best to be there. Here's the Chef showing his dessert for a recent Norwegian party.





Thursday 26 May 2011

RESTAURANT DISHES

un couvert
To give you all more appetite for your Club restaurant, here are several photos of recent dishes enjoyed:

poulet riz thai


salade de sardines marinadées






poivrons farçis



dessert aux cérises




       













Bon appétit !

DIMANCHE DEJEUNER

Our new Chef goes from strength to strength: here is the latest notice from his kitchen:




DIMANCHE DEJEUNER
Le Chef vous propose deux possibilities
pour dimanche le 29 mai

1. PAELLA

Sangria à volonté

Dessert

20 €

 2. CÔTE BOEUF - BARBECUE

Sangria à volonté

Dessert

20 €

Nombre de places limitées :
il vaut mieux réserver
06 59 08 66 30

Not to be missed!  See you there!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

FRAGRANCE

Many of you may have noticed a pleasant perfume when entering the Club recently. The plant responsible is shown in the following photo.

 

You may have guessed immediately that this is wild honeysuckle.  Make sure by looking more closely at the flowers.........

 

What elegant flowers, you might say.........  so what about a few more details.

The genus name Lonicera has no meaning in Latin apparently, but comes from the name, Adam Lonicer, or Lonitzer,  a German botanist of the 16th century.  Almost 200 species have been discovered since that time;  the common names for some of these sound more interesting: take the English 'honeysuckle' for a start. 'Honey' must refer to the sweet nectar attracting insects as food; 'suckle' is the verb describing an infant taking sustenance from its mother's breasts. So insects absorb the nectar, while of course, acting as useful pollinators from one flower to another. This is said to occur more often during the night, by nocturnal insects such as moths, & when the fragrance is more pronounced. (I leave some of my readers to verify this.)

Other common names are 'chèvre-feuille' in French, 'Geissblat' in German, 'Caprifoglio' (from the plant family) in Italian, & 'Kamperfoelie' or 'Geitenblad' in Dutch, 'Kaprifol' in Swedish.

There is another naturally-occurring plant like the one in the photos, among the many bushes surrounding the swimming pool.  We hope, incidentally that this Club facility will be available in a few weeks, considering the record-breaking temperatures we are experiencing this month of May.

In the meantime, don't miss these sunny lunchtimes on our Restaurant terrace, where our Chef,  'David-le-Grand', is rapidly making himself a reputation for excellent dishes at very reasonable prices.

A vous de jouer !





Wednesday 11 May 2011

DUTCH TOURNAMENT

Last Tuesday, our Dutch group organised a get-together, in the form of a RoundRobin tournament, followed by a meal in the Club Restaurant.  The players consisted of ten ladies and ten gentlemen, who obligingly left their tennis racquets on two adjacent tables, ready for the draw. I was given the honour of selecting racquets from the two piles, to decide the initial partners ready for the fray.  Courts were allocated as the partners rejoiced in their particular luck in the draw; and the 5 battles soon commenced.

Struggles became intense, and the level of exchanges was quite impressive;  observing from nearby, I felt that players were much more concentrated than in the ritual Tuesday bouts; and that many competitors were very anxious to win a prize.

Something like 4 games were possible before the next changeover of partners occurred: this moment was announced by the ringing of a bell (or in fact by the sound of a spoon hitting a cup), and points for games won were noted down. One of the players announced before the final round that he was suffering from an undefined malaise, and asked me to play in his place; I was glad to do this, so that I had made another slight contribution to the event.

Then came the lunch - happily outside on the terrace in the beautiful weather we've been having. This was efficiently set out by the new team, and of a very good quality by all reports. We must congratulate the new cook, David, who is rapidly achieving a pleasing reputation. Let's call him David-le-Grand, perhaps, to avoid confusion with the tennis Davids.

Now this group of 40 friends come together, not only to play and eat together, but of course to talk together in their curiously-sounding language.  We others wonder how on earth they were brought up to make these astounding noises........... So we will never know how to speak like this, and will be happy in our ignorance, to hear them having such an enjoyable time together! Here are two photos:




For those who were not there, and haven't yet tried the food, here is a picture of an enticing table already set out for you!  


Bon appétit !

Saturday 23 April 2011

EASTER HOLIDAY

While you were bemoaning your lack of Saturday tennis today - the first rain of April incidentally;  there was considerable activity among the smallest of us. (photo) 

You will see that it's not actually raining around 9 am, although rather dull.  This has not dismayed the young team, inspired as you see by Manu & David. A great variety of exercises with & without ball & racquet are practised: the next photo shows attempts to hit balls over the net.........


Today was the last day of a very successful stage this week, followed every morning by an admiring & enthusiastic group of observing parents & friends. The teachers & assistants are to be heartily congratulated on their inspired work:  just ask the children if they enjoyed it !!  The following photo shows a few of them in the 'jellyfish' game.  What fun !


One more photo to show the speed - you'll soon not be able to catch up with them........


Back at the Restaurant, all the outside windows were being thoroughly cleaned;  an Easter Menu is being prepared for Sunday & Monday, by the new gérants.  There will be no play on clay obviously, tomorrow; but with luck all the hard courts will be available for your enjoyment.  Go to it!






Monday 21 March 2011

WIMBLEDON

The Annual Club Tournament attracted over 400 players this year, most of the entrants were from Clubs in the Alpes-Maritimes, but there were some from the Var, and even from as far as Montpellier. Then from a nearby Tennis Academy there was a girl from Turkestan playing very well in the  Simple Dames, and an Australian girl who won the final of this category. The men's Veteran matches had our Finnish member, Markku playing in 3 age groups - not winning them all this year, but being very difficult to beat as usual. What visitors & members found most extraordinary perhaps was the very high standard of play in the junior age groups: these range from 9-10 up to 15-16, & each group was well represented. We were lucky with the weather until the last weekend; this meant that many of you were able to witness many high-level matches, but not what was probably the most spectacular - the final of the Simple Messieurs. This was won by a player from St. Raphael (classified: -15) over a valiant younger player from Hyères (classified: -2/6). The lucky few who saw this match were astounded by the brilliance of the play.
Such an official tournament gives a great deal of work to the administration, but particularly to the juge-arbitre; take a look at part of the main draw to see something of the complexity. (photo)


And here's a photo of two of our better young players, in a special training for better footwork, & quicker reaction time. More of the advanced training group in a later blog.




As we all know, our game of tennis has greatly evolved in popularity over the years; so let's see how it was at the very beginning.  Hence my title; for it was in the year, 1877 on the site of the Wimbledon Croquet Club, that the first tennis tournament was organised.

There were several planks of wood which could have served to accommodate almost 30 spectators. (This was convenient, as there were only 22 competitors.......). And these courageous competitors were all men I'm afraid, as the first rules did not allow ladies to participate (sorry, ladies). Ladies were allowed to watch however, & here it was the gentlemen who were constrained - not to appear in 'shirtsleeves', if you please - when ladies were present!

All very correct as you see...... remember that we are here among an enterprising race of Englishmen: it was thus at an early stage realised by an intelligent doctor present, that the transition from the gentle game of croquet to the much more energetic tennis, would oblige players to wash after matches.

And so he had bathrooms constructed at his own expense --- & subsequently charged a fee for their use. (How lucky we are at the Vignal!)

The matches continued until the semi-finals, when it was discovered that an exceptionally important cricket match had to be played at the weekend - between Eton & Harrow, of course.  Our first Wimbledon Tennis Tournament was suspended.

After this enforced interlude, 12 competitors remained - a certain Mr Buller failed to turn up, which gave 11.  Play-offs somehow gave 6, & then 3 remaining players. A very curious number for a Final, you will note!

We have to excuse a certain irrationality here, since rules of the game were still in a formative period; one of the three was quickly disposed of by deciding he had a bye into the final, then the ultimate final could be played.

Our very first Wimbledon champion, became W. Spencer Gore, well-known at the time for the facility with which he played the games of racquets, & real tennis. (see an earlier blog:' French tennis balls').  He disposed of his last opponent in no time at all, especially when compared with the 5-set marathons of our day. And all of this took place on grass - & the name of the sport we so enthusiastically practice now became, & still is actually: lawn tennis.

Get out there and win! Or, above all, enjoy the game!

Wednesday 9 February 2011

SUNDAY LUNCH

The tournament last Thursday was thoroughly enjoyed; as is becoming habitual: the next one will take place in about 5 weeks, so keep practising your doubles technique.  This time, winners had cups, & proudly held them up for photographs, rather like champions at Roland Garros.  The following buffet & drinks, kindly provided by the restaurant family, was really excellent (photo), & further stimulated conversation & the pleasure given by the match play. A cake & lighted candles was presented to Manu, to test the power of his 'puff' on his 40th birthday. (It proved far less powerful than his terrifying forehand!)

The following Sunday lunch attracted about 40 members & friends, a sudden surprise for the kitchen & servers; so next Sunday, you are asked to reserve in advance (tel: 04 93 66 55 73). The attractive menu is already prepared & notices are posted, you can examine it here too (photo). 




Monday morning, the ladies' group celebrated a birthday of one of their members by doubles' matches & an enjoyable lunch. You will easily guess who was the joyful player en fête. (photo)






It is not too late to type in suggestions for future meals in the document I posted last time; they are collected anonymously in a spreadsheet on-line, before consideration by the restaurant staff.

                          And remember to order your Sunday lunch with Anthony. (photo)



What lovely sunny weather we're having!





Saturday 29 January 2011

NEXT EVENTS

Rain stopped play this afternoon, but we must be thankful for the good, long period of sun we've been enjoying. The forecast is for sun again tomorrow, so let's hope Sunday turns out like that. The next Club event is another tournament organised in the same way as the earlier ones I've described: Thursday 1030 am start; get your name in early to Manu or David to be sure to have a place.

This event will be followed by prize-giving in the restaurant, where all-comers will be offered a 'pot de bienvenu' - a welcoming drink, by Isabelle & Anthony, our new restaurateurs. Their culinary efforts continue to be appreciated, by the way, so you may be tempted to stay on for lunch.

There is a form below to give you the opportunity to suggest some dish you would like to see in the menu of your Club Restaurant. Just type your suggestions in the form, & then click on the 'submit/envoyer' button.







An important regional event starts on the 26th of February; the Annual Club Tournament. Details are now on the noticeboards, & registrations can already be taken in the Office. Non-competitors will have the opportunity of watching high-level play as the event proceeds.

Keep enjoying your tennis, & the good company!



Friday 14 January 2011

KILIMANJARO EXPLOIT




A few months ago I posted an account of meeting Jonathan Hooker one day & finding with amazement, that he'd not been around the courts very much as he was engaged with mountaineering training!

I now have the confirmation that not only did he get to the top of Kilimanjaro (5 149 m), but he managed to get down again to the village of Amani. Apart from the joy of the achievement for Jonathan, he had the satisfaction that the village was helped to the tune of 12 000 € by the contributions of the well-wishers who sponsored him.

Well done everyone! and here are 3 photos from the top.

RESTAURANT NEWS

Last year's excessive rain worked out at the maximum number of days lost to tennis since I started to record in 1998: precise figures for weather in Cannes are now available at http://cannesmeteo.com/which gives 743 mm of rain for 2010. This year started badly with already 22 mm, which didn't help the clay courts, our matches, nor the restaurant. The good news is that the courts are being repaired & should be ready for the weekend; and that our new restaurateurs, Isabelle & family, are well in control of the situation indoors.

This would seem the time, members & friends, to get back on court, warm up those neglected muscles, volley & smash your way to your first victory of the year; & then to repair to the bar & restaurant to celebrate with a good lunch! Good reports on the food are already coming in thick & fast: the menu will change from day to day, with entrée & plat principal at 15€, with an extra 4€ if you want a dessert. You can choose main course only for 12€. The quality is described as excellent, so what are you waiting for?


Saturday 8 January 2011

YOUNG SCANDINAVIANS





Many of us have Vikings among our ancestors, evidenced by the numerous genetic afflictions, such as 'la maladie du Puytren', in which tendon sheaths of the hands are affected in such a way, that fingers bend over more & more, until an operation is needed to allow you to hold your racquet in an approved fashion. Sufferers of such a disease, include Mrs. Thatcher, Anton Dikken, & myself. My unsubstantiated hypothesis on the origin of this affliction, is that this was the consequence of the rowing efforts over enormous distances, that a multitude of our forbears had to endure......

In recent times, that is since the inauguration of our tennis club around 1976, more & more inhabitants of icy regions of Scandinavia, have chosen this region to amplify, & test their proficiencies in our preferred sport. This has occurred for various reasons: their play back home, is limited to indoors during the many snow-ridden months of the year they have to put up with. The other & consequent reason, is that a much more favoured region, such as ours, engenders higher standards through long hours of training sessions, & of consistently greater possibilities of competition.

So, not only we enjoy summer visits of Scandinavian players with a family relative in residence in the region, but at other times of the year, as just recently, we have young champions needing to test their skills against the more experienced players of the Côte d'Azur. The delightful Norwegian family we met these last weeks includes 2 sisters, Malene (age 11), & Maren (age 13) who have been taking lessons in preparation for later visits to play in local tournaments. Several of you will have been watching with admiration the level of play of these two young girls: I include for the moment, photos showing them taking part in exercises, which are another important part of tennis training. The biggest surprise though, was to see today, the youngest girl, Maria(age 5), of the family, in energetic forehand returns, well into the teacher's court.

We are happy to welcome such able, smiling girls into our international community, & we wish them every joy & success.

After these terribly long periods of rain we've suffered, we are all rather rusty: remember to do some exercises before you go on court, & stretchings exercises afterwards. And enjoy your games once more, without getting injured!