LITTLE BADGES - WELL DONE LONDON 2012
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Hi
The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say
In the words of David Coleman...."I don't believe it...It's truly unbelievable"
And you know what....It was. When we won the Olympics bid in 2005 I was working in offices near Covent Garden, a hot hot day we had all the windows flung open so we could enjoy the London smog....all of a sudden a huge cheer rang out, followed by further cheers. We looked at each other with a bit of bewilderment.... and then realised that we had won the 2012 Olympic bid.
Our first reaction was oh god no... How are the government going to cock this up. Even then before we re entered Austerity Britain riding on the wave of optimism and wealth we all thought the opening ceremony would be a rubbish affair. We had visions of someone coming into a half built arena and releasing some doves and then some politician bleating on about stuff until everyone got bored, a handful of fireworks and a buffet table with Vol-au-vents.
Then of course we had the people trying to make money out of the Olympics. People with businesses on or close by the Olympic park area, trying to get their pound of flesh, weeping about how their businesses would be affected and they had been running the businesses for 100 yrs....Out of the back of an old Capri.
But We have delivered....Well the French don't agree but that is because they are well...French (shrugs shoulders in a French way).
But before that, we had the very British Strike mentality. How can we get our pound of flesh from the games, what's in it for me, I want more money...I want more money. And of course in a very British way....They did get there money, as they threatened to be unpatriotic and cause mayhem. Toys out of Pram scenario.
Then there was the confusion of the Super highway Olympic lanes....Which worked as they should.
Yes there was disruption, and yes peoples noses were put out of Joint but thankfully the successive governments and coalitions managed to help deliver the 2012 games for London.
Don't get me started though on the 2012 Logo. I still have to look at it everyday on my Lloyds Tsb card. Hideous..... Just Hideous.
Whereas the Mascots Mandeville and Wenlock were superb design, and yet conspicuously absent from the TV footage, unlike the Mascots in Beijing.
Now I did not get tickets to the Games....even though I tried 3 times and of course was annoyed to see all those empty seats, but then again I did have the best seat in the house. HD projector of all the coverage displayed across my living room wall in HD SUPER COLOUR etc etc. Mind you I am glad that Claire Balding is no longer that large on my wall and in HD.. Ye gods.
From the opening ceremony only marred by the Paul McCartney Hey Jude incident, through to the closing ceremony, only marred by the appearance of the old spice girls (I'm sure there was a meeting and they were told to bugger off and never sing again like Celine Dion).
It was a truly special Games and dare I say it being English and reserved a very Patriotic affair. We only tend to begrudgingly get the Union flag out for state funerals, Royal weddings, and WI conventions. But I've seen more Union flag material this year than in any given year. And why not. Why not celebrate what we do well, why not shout it from the rooftops and support our Athletes.
Because ye gods...They did us proud. It is unheard of for The United Kingdom to finish 3rd in the medal charts... especially above Russia, Korea, Germany, France...well most of the others really. In Beijing you had the feeling that, well yes, they had got over 20 medals... but that was just lucky and the moon was in the right hemisphere. But to trounce that Medal tally. So very very proud.
But alas, I have the Olympic blues now a little, yes we have the Paralympic to look forward too and we can start the party up again..... But in the meantime I will be wearing my Union Flag badge along with the other top 5 Countries in the medal chart. Well done to ALL who took part.
Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so
Milk and sugar?
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