WIMBLEDON is now on the TV and I confess I am an avid watcher.

I find it fascinating and I really don’t understand why because I have never played tennis.

I have played netball, yes, and even a bit of cricket and football as I had two brothers who were fanatics at those two sports.

I do recall, though, when I was about 11, buying a second hand tennis racket at a jumble sale so that I could carry it about and hope that folk would think I played the game as at that time we thought it was only for the ‘posh’ folk.

Ah! ‘Vanity, all is vanity’.

Now tennis is the one sport that I really want to watch and actually shout out – and almost swear at the telly.

I don’t do that with cricket, or football, of course. That could be because I don’t watch football!

I do watch cricket, though, and I suppose that’s because my husband was a cricketer and in the earlier part of my married life, all my Saturday afternoons were spent watching him play.

That was in between looking after the babies in the pram and helping to make the afternoon tea which of course was a big part of the afternoon – especially for the ladies.

Dressing for those afternoons was, for me, a little difficult as you had to walk on grass and I normally never, ever wore flat shoes, (I still don’t) so you had to be most careful and make sure your weight was not on your heels otherwise they sank into the earth.

Many is the time I had to bend down and pull my shoes out of the grass, so you see it’s back to the vanity thing again.

It’s a funny thing, vanity.

They say it’s a bad thing, but I’m not sure. I think it’s quite important really, because it’s one of those things that keeps us ‘on our toes’, keeps us going.

If vanity wasn’t so strong there would be no progress, for it’s one of the emotions that makes people want promotion, prominence, publicity and, of course, ‘stardom’.

So pushy people might annoy and aggravate us but quite often they are the big driving force. Why?

Well, it could be that they fill us with the urge to win, to do much better than them and they make us want to wipe that smug self-satisfied smile of their faces.