Armed with my enthusiasm and a few hours to spare, I woke up on that Saturday, the 17th of July, determined to make the most of a fantastic opportunity that London was finally offering us this summer:  a festival entirely and solely dedicated to ping pong.

I had emailed my gang of ping pong lovers days before, and managed to rally a few dedicated fans to the quest. I was ready to spend hours moving from one table to the other to try them all, tirelessly hitting the ball, obsessively following its path, neurotically watching as it flew over the net.

Hadrien and I hit the road in the morning. Direction: Soho, where what promised to be a true ping pong haven had opened a few days before: the Ping Pong Parlour [http://pingpongparlour.co.uk], tucked right behind Carnaby Street, a ‘social ping pong club’ where you could make the white ball bounce for free and for fun.

Getting there, we were positively surprised by the welcoming atmosphere. A sign at the entrance was inviting us to play, drink coffee and eat cake. Walls were covered with a cornucopia of ping pong related posters and objects, and stuck to the windows were mini half tables with ping pong bats instead of legs. Of course, the ‘playing’ tables were centre-scene, but something quickly hit us: they were too small!!! “Indeed”, explained the lovely lady at the counter, “we are renting in Soho, we can’t afford a large space, so we had to go for tables half the regular size”.  What a let down!!! Not ones to be deterred so quickly, we decided to play at least one game. The table was so small that most balls fell outside it or ended up landing on the neighbouring table as it was really close to ours! By the end of the game, we were ready to try another venue, when we started chatting to an engaging middle aged man who seemed definitely more obsessed with ping pong than me; he had travelled for 60 miles to get to London and lead a session of tips and instructions that was starting later on.

Too impatient to wait and too eager to start playing ourselves, we went to Regent’s Park, where the nearest table was supposed to be – and there was one indeed, neatly tucked away under the trees by the tennis courts. There was a queue already – and how couldn’t there be? Regent’s Park, a hot summer day, free outdoors ping pong, and one table only! Unfortunately it was going to be free a bit too late for us, so we left again, on yet another disappointment.

Later on during the day, just before 6pm, I met James in Hyde Park. As we walked towards the Serpentine Gallery, hearts full of hope, I told myself I was finally going to get the break I deserved. After all, I had been to Hyde Park just the weekend before, and I saw ping pong tables there, even three of them, and they were even red, to match the fancy brand new Jean Nouvel pavilion by the Serpentine Gallery. When we finally got there, tripping down the path with excitement, it was with great despair that I saw the guys from the pavilion folding the spanking red tables and rolling them away! ‘10am to 6 pm’ they said. Damn!!!!

James and I were still hopeful, and he had even marked down all the other table locations on a piece of paper: Golden Square and Soho Square were next, and as we visited one after the other, all we saw was groups of people drinking to the start of a Saturday evening…

But then of course, it did hit us that the festival was actually only starting the weekend after, on the 24th of July, although a few tables had already been scattered around town to build anticipation. Which had obviously worked on me.

Was I too keen, too soon? Maybe.

Did I get anything out of the whole day? Surely.

Nice walks around London, laughs with friends, the knowledge that my ping pong mania is shared, and the eagerness to repeat the experience, but when the tables were REALLY going to be up, the weekend after!

Which is what I did, and this time, it was a treat.

This summer, London is going ping pong crazy. Check out one of the 100 ping pong tables that have popped up across London. Play for free as part of 'Ping London' [http://pinglondon.com/] and don’t ever get upset if you have to wait for your turn to use a table….