Below I have piled all posts relating to the arrival of our new blue on green plexipave courts surface, in the summer of 2010. Oldest posts at bottom.
Adios, summer of 2010
The big excitement of the summer for the tennis players of Little Mountain was the plexipave blue on green surfacing of the remaining 16 naked asphalt courts. Its done. All courts are now in use. We await the promised installation of bicycle racks, and the repainting of the “net line” on the site’s practise wall.
Buckets on carts on a plexipave undercoat on courts five to eight, back at the end of July.
QEhardrocks, not yet pros, playing on new, blue, fave court five.
I have moved all posts relating to the court surfacing this summer to a page in my Blog archive entitled, QE court colour coating, 2010.
———————————————————————
Court surfacing finished (August 23, 2010)
Today at QE all courts were available for use. See photo of the last to be finished, along the south side, looking east from shady court nine. Click on image to enlarge.
The player at left was snapped at a different time than everyone else. He does not actually receive service quite so casually, and so near the net.
———————————————————————
US Open Blue and Green, as far as the eye can see (August 20, 2010)
Only some of the lines on courts 10 to 16 remain to be painted. If the Tomko boys work tomorrow (Saturday, 21 Aug), that should finish the job. Otherwise, one day next week. Click on image to enlarge.
QEhardrocks, not yet pros, playing on new, blue, fave court five.
[NOTE added on Sunday, 22 August] Courts 10 to 16 appear to be finished, and all but two nets are up. Nevertheless the gates to that area, including court nine, remain locked. Perhaps their remains a line or two to paint.
———————————————————————
Latest news of the colour coating on Little Mountain (August 13, 2010)
The gates to all courts on the south side (courts nine to 16) are locked to keep folks out as the crew from TOMKO lays down the black undercoat, the topical layers of blue and green, and finally the lines, on the last seven courts to be surfaced. Looks like another three days should see the job done. But until then, courts one to eight, and court 17 by the practise wall, will be the only courts accessible to tennis players. It appears that the crew is not working over the weekend, so they are not going be finished until late this week.
———————————————————————
Court colour coating update (August 8, 2010)
Thankfully, we finally get some rain on the coast, to clean our air and water our by now very thirsty biota. With a little luck some of the moisture will get over the coast range and help dampen the forest fires of the interior.
The two day (thus far) soaker here in Vancouver has brought the work on the tennis courts of Little Mountain to a halt. But courts one to eight have already been given the new blue surface, as has court 17, nearest the practise wall. And the asphalt surface facing the practise wall, right to the entanceway nearest the parking lot, has been given a green coat, with a line marking where a baseline would be, in relation to the hitting wall if it were the net. Many thanks to Michael Maxwell-Smith of TOMKO for responding to our request for that line. So, what with the original test court nine having been colour coated last year, there remain only seven courts to be done.
The Canadian Weather Office forecasts sunny skies to return by Wednesday. If the TOMKO crew is not then committed elsewhere and can return to Queen E Park with the change of weather, the remaining courts 10 to 16 should be finished sometime next weekend. Here’s hoping.
———————————————————————
Moving toward a blue future (July 29, 2010)
End of July, and it is beginning to look like we will have spiffy blue courts all over the place very soon. Here’s hoping the weather continues to bless us. Click on photos below to enlarge.
Painting the lines on courts one to four.
A couple of days later.
Undercoat on courts five to nine; courts one to four finished.
———————————————————————
EGAD!!!!! (July 13, 2010)
-
grinding down the heaves on court 16
Mark down the day: Tuesday, July 13!!!!! Work begins to colour coat the lamentably naked and worn asphalt courts on Little Mountain! Hallelujah!
———————————————————————
Anxiously waiting (June 24, 2010)
Visitors to the tennis courts at Queen E park in the first couple of weeks in June may have seen a crew from Tomko Sports Systems pressure washing the courts surface. See below.
Bystanders were told that Tomko had been awarded the contract to do the colour coating of the remaining 16 unpainted courts (court nine was coated first, as a test, last summer). The pressure washing is a preliminary necessity, said the fellow in charge. The colour coating will be done when we get a good stretch of weather. Probably in July and August. Work will proceed on four courts at a time.
The problem of the watery underlayer I mentioned in my last post was not known by the pressure washers, and we who use the courts all the time have seen no evidence of such. One QEhardrock who also plays at Central Park tells me they have that problem there; water oozes onto the courts from beneath. I am wondering if the ascription of a like problem to Queen E arises from a confusion somehow, between the two locations.
In any case, QEhardrocks have reason to hope the work to colour coat the courts will begin soon. We wait with bated breath.
bated |ˈbātid|
adjective (in phrase with bated breath)
in great suspense; very anxiously or excitedly : he waited for a reply to his offer with bated breath.
ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from the past participle of obsolete bate [restrain,] from ABATE
———————————————————–———-
Updates to old news (April 29, 2010)
Regarding the eagerly anticipated colour coating of our courts here at Queen Elizabeth Park, this QEhardrock was recently informed by Park Board staffer, Sam Bachra, that there has been discovered a layer of water beneath the asphalt and the top of the Kersland Reservoir beneath. That water must be drained off and the substrate where the water had gathered allowed to dry before the work can be done on the surface. I confess that this oldQEhardrock’s ears may not have properly noted what was said, and I cannot claim to understand the “geophysical” significance of it all. But I did understand this: the colour coating of the tennis courts that was to begin in May, will likely not begin until July, if then. The watery underlayer problem must first be dealt with.
One additional complication may be the chalk grid markings that appeared on the asphalt surface of the site last fall. Curious QEhardrocks watching men draw those graphs were told they represented locations of vent holes that are to be cut in to the reservoir. See below, click on photos to enlarge:
When I spoke with Sam Bachra at Park Board, he had no knowledge of vent holes to be cut into the reservoir. A case of one arm of civic administration not knowing what another is doing? Can it be???! No, I don’t believe it!!!!! Forgive my levity. Nonetheless, if Park Board and whatever other civic department or branch (GRVD? City Engineering?) is behind the vent hole graphs, actually manage to coordinate their activities on the Little Mountain tennis courts, that may further delay the colour resurfacing. Stay tuned.
Down at Jericho Beach Park, I had, in an earlier post (Feb 21), suggested that tennis players might soon be pleasantly surprised by some court refurbishment consequent to nearby installation of an artificial turf field, and the enlargement of an adjacent grass field. Up to now, nothing has happened. Wondering why not, some research revealed that my original post had been made under a mistaken impression that the deadline for Federal contribution of one million dollars was end of March, 2010. In fact the date by which work must be completed to get the Federal subsidy is March 31, 2011. That explains why nothing has been happening up to now. Nevertheless, tenders should have now been invited for that project. Presumably work on the artifical turf field will begin this summer.
The False Creek Tennis Club has made arrangements with Park Board to reserve courts at Jericho Beach Park while the courts they normally rent, atop the parkade at 650 Moberly, are being refurbished (work to happen in July, August). That would seem to indicate that if the courts at Jericho Beach Park are moved around to make room for field enlargement, it may not happen until the fall, or next spring? Again, stay tuned.
———————————————————————
Famous blue court nine to become one of many (April 7, 2010)
Visitors to this blog may recall a post from late January featuring the story of our one painted court at Queen Elizabeth Park. Court 9 was repaired and given a colour coating last summer. After over a decade of near total neglect of the courts at Queen Elizabeth Park, Park Board did a trial repair and dressing-up of that one court to discover if such treatment would endure temperature differentials between the thin surface layer of asphalt, and the water reservoir below, without being ruined by new heaves and cracks over the winter.
It appears court 9 has passed the test. This old QEhardrock has received word that work will proceed on the remaining courts in May and June of this year, weather permitting. Wow!!!! Our bedraggled nets were replaced last summer. And now this!!!!!!! Thank you Park Board, thank you.
To be sure, the colour coating will not flatten the courts out – the small ridges and valleys that were originally laid down by the pavers are only smoothed somewhat by the surface coat. But the worst heaves will be ground down, and the cracks filled before coating. Anyway, we QEhardrocks don’t NEED perfectly flat surfaces to play on. No sir, we’re not whiners. Like pros playing on grass or clay, we deal with the occasional funny bounce as part of the game. Yup….we do. Just like the pros.
Court 9 not long after having been colour coated in the summer of 2009. Last year players argued over access to it; soon it will become the marked up, worn, last to be used court on Little Mountain. Yippee!
