Friday took the train to Margate with Melissa and Laurie. The train left from Victoria but I went up to St Pancras first to meet Melissa. She had so many bags it was hilarious as we rushed thru the station and onto the tube to get back to Victoria in time! Got there 5 mins before the train pulled out! 90 min journey to Margate, arriving around 11pm and Mark met us with the van. Stayed at a B and B but got very little sleep as it was soo hot, had the windows open wide and there were a load of noisy kids outside for half the nite and cars driving past and then birds and then the sun came up--was impossible to sleep!

Saturday was another early start for me--on the beach at 7am to finish the setup. Thanet Council (Sport Matters!) had done a great job and even bought a grandstand in especially. The setup was the best looking we had had so far on the tour. Weather was perfect although a little windy. I find that most players here are not used to the wind--partly I think just cause they haven't played a lot of beach. My partner was Richard Dobell who although probably the oldest player in the tourny also had more experience and solid skills. We are both back court players tho so suffered a lot in lack of blocking esp when playing the tall Sheaf brothers. I did have some fun serving some sky balls on them tho and they didn't have a clue what to do with them getting us a few easy fun points!! Our final game of the day I felt we could have won but didnt--Richard was getting tired and the teams all day were serving on me and with my height I need really good sets every time which I wasnt getting. So we finished in 7th and didn't make it to Sunday play or the semifinals as I had hoped and felt should have made. That nite I camped and got a great 9 hours solid sleep!!! Sunday I was able to focus mostly on commentating and deejaying which I am getting more comfortable at although its still a juggle trying to do music at the same time. For the finals I was filmed introducing the players which was added pressure and my laptop froze right as I was about to start making for a slight panic as I plugged in my ipod and found the music!! It was another beautiful day and the tournament was the best tour event so far this year. Girls final was won by Gaby and Elfi and the boys by Tom Lord and Rich Payne. We also had the British U21 champs to decide teams for the world U21 champs so the Sheaf brothers won for the guys and Kim Smith and Phoebe won for the girls. After packup it was to Frank and Bennys for dinner and then the drive back to London.

Next week is the first Grand Slam at Sandbanks but I unfortunately don't have a partner and for some reason over here the entries close like a week before the event which is weird and it also means there are not as many entries as there could be. So I will be operations manager for this weekend but wish I was playing. Very hard to find decent players here that arent already with their partner.