Links to India

I'm now the proud owner of a Royal Enfield Silver Bullet 350 (a motorbike). Unfortunately, it is in India, so no chance of riding it too soon. India seems to be cropping up a lot at the moment. I'm doing a project with TCS (Tata - who are much bigger than I suspected) and a friend of mine recently contacted me asking for advice on Indian IT training companies. Then, today, Steve Crunkhorn emailed me telling me he was looking for Indian sponsorship for his motorsports company and would like to put a link on my blog - so here it is... http://www.stephencrunkhornhistoricracing.co.uk/

Building a clay oven in India

I'm in goa visiting dad. His latest project is a clay oven for cooking pizza in the garden. I think he wants to open a restaurant.

The oven is still being built yet but somehow it already looks old. Anyway, here's a video of him explaining the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJXVJYL4iA

Tennis lessons

Just had my first tennis lesson with Ali in Kennington Park. Brilliant. We covered loads of things that were not at all obvious to me naturally but made a big difference when I tried them. I think I might be able to beat Finn now.

Forehand

Pivot, twist with shoulder

Index finger on third bevel of handle

PAS - path, angle, speed. Path - low to high, angle - vertical (ball is going to go where the racket is pointing), speed - medium

Backhand

Pivot, step across, pull racket back, release, finish in 'Statue of Liberty' position.

Index finger on second bevel. Release with left hand at the point that the forward swing starts.

Push through as well as up.

Serve

Index finger on 2nd bevel for pronation - more power. Elbow point to back of court.

General - get in position when the ball comes over the net, start back swing when ball bounces. Back swing until base of handle is pointing down the court.