I wake in a field in southwest London, only the thin floor of the flimsy tent between me and the sunbaked ground. It’s 3am and I’m not sleeping well. I can’t get comfortable and around me are the sounds of the other campers’ snores, low whispering as people discuss their Queue strategies, and the tossing and turning of those who’ve brought air mattresses.

When we pitched the tent at 10 pm we were at the edge of the campsite, now we are deep into it, as more and more arrive into The Queue all night. I get out of the tent to go to the toilet, and pass a loudly snoring (self)ostracised camper on an air mattress 30 metres away from everyone else. At the toilet block, I meet a young woman whose flimsy summer dress has come apart at the strap. She’s on the verge of tears. I ask if I can help, but I know that I don’t have a safety pin or sewing kit or anything else to help her out of her predicament.

For the most part, the crowd is quiet. There’s no partying, almost no one is drinking. We just want to put our heads down and get as much sleep as possible before the long day ahead. We know we will be woken at 5:30 and will have to pack up the tents at 6am.

This is our second day in The Queue. Yesterday morning, we arrived at 5:45am and queued for seven hours. Sounds hideous, but actually it was fine despite being the hottest day in London this year so far. 32°C out of a cloudless sky. We had plenty of food and water, a big umbrella for shade and, while the children played with a ball in the shade of some nearby trees, I dozed under the umbrella. Not everyone around us with so relaxed. An American family behind us on the last day of their vacation in the UK had joined The Queue not really knowing what to expect. They went from mildly frustrated to barely speaking to each other in the space of those seven hours.

Once we got to the end of The Queue, we were in to day one of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. What a day it was, seeing some amazing players up close. We saw World #1 Aryna Sabalenka win her match, watched Jannik Sinner, Gael Monfils, Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton in practice. Katie went to the Emma Raducanu match while Lily and I went to Matteo Berrettini. To see the greatest tennis players in the world was incredible.

Katie and I decided we had to come again for day 2, but we would do things a little differently. We raced home at 8:30 to my friend Sarah‘s house, quickly showered and changed our clothes, packed a tent and some food for the next day and an hour and a half later we were back in The Queue again. Here’s to another great day!