Thank you all for the nice things you said in the comments about T's ikkle bit of input into the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. He's chuffed to bits to have been part of it and says "Ta" to you all. Sorry that I didn't get round to replying to the comments but I've barely been online in weeks.
That's really weird! I logged into blogger and it was all different. Has it been so long? Well my Bloglines feeds tell me there are 248 unread blogs. That's not entirely true -I have read a few of those - but there are many many more I have not. The children continue to monopolise the Big Computer. Every time I sit down I get "Are you going to be long?" or "Aw Jeez Mum - I was on Skype" or "It's MY turn!"
I'll tell you what - during school holidays - it's never bloody my turn.
So I have occupied my time watching the Olympics. I particularly love the first week - rowing, kayaking, swimming, cycling, sailing - pretty much anything to do with the water actually. And the gymnastics. Oooh and archery! I've discovered I really love the whole Robin Hood thing. Not such a big fan of the second week though. I'm easily bored with the running around in circles and throwing things. I woke up at 4am one day last week (possibly Friday) and I thought Well I may as well get up and see what's going on in China. They were re-showing the Women's Marathon. I thought I might as well watch it. I wanted to see if Paula Radcliffe had finished. What I got instead was two hours of watching skeletons running in agony. It was so awful I kept changing over to an infomercial channel to watch someone called Leeza and someone, I'm pretty sure was Laura Ingalls, tell me how brilliant this mineral based make-up was and how my life would be ten times better if I just bought some. It was a huge relief from the torture of watching grown (spindly, spindly) women inflict huge amounts of damage on their joints and their bodies generally. I'm not a fan of pain. I don't like feeling it and I don't enjoy witnessing it in others. I was hugely relieved when it was over. So much so that I fell asleep on the couch and MISSED the rowing.
I saw the highlights but it wasn't the same.
The whole Michael Phelps thing was very exciting. I rooted for him all the way. I didn't see a single one of his races live, of course, because they were all on at 3am. Thank you NBC and your big bucks for that. The BBC was very good about its coverage though. They had a "Phelpsometer" section in their evening round-up which had a large cardboard cut-out of the man himself which they daily updated as the medals were won. For a laugh they sent their swimming correspondent (and Athens Bronze medallist) Steve Parry off to Tiananmen Square with said cut-out to do a reportage. What he didn't expect was to be mistaken for the man himself.
I love stuff like that!
Team GB have done amazingly well and I congratulate them for a sterling performance. Good Job GB! It all bodes well for 2012. I might even get to go to that!
But mostly I want to say well done to Ireland's boxers Paddy Barnes and Darren John Sutherland for their bronze medals. I hope that there are more with the Athletics although I haven't been following it so closely. So many nearlys (Oh I sobbed when Eoin Rheinisch was robbed in the K2 and screamed for the rowers!) but all in all I was disappointed by the lack of coverage by the Beeb of the Irish athletes. Well I suppose I can't blame them really - I mean why should they? But I found myself searching for the Irish flag everywhere and hoping to see lots of green but I didn't. Ah well. Maybe next time eh?
Any highlights for you guys?
13 comments:
Well for me it has to be the diving, especially the synchronised diving...Amazing! Although I did see a pretty excellent FLOP yesterday- ouch! Joe would have loved it!!
That video is hilarious! Thanks for sharing. Glad to see you're still around, I've missed you!
Oh yes Sis! I saw some excellent back-flops particularly. Given my feelings about heights I have deep respect for anyone who can climb the stairs of those platforms let alone walk to the end of them and jump off!!!
Aw thanks Natalie! I'll be over your way soon. You've probably written a few books in the last couple of weeks!!! I'd better get a cup of tea and honker down for lots to read.
Not a few, hehe...but yeah, I wrote one.
I know! You amaze me! I wish I had your focus…
… now what was I doing again? Seriously I don't remember…
Still boycotting and given SA seems to have only won one lousy silver medal, I think that's probably just as well. Now just don't tell me that it's because I'm boycotting that they've done so badly! Phoohey!
;-)
Well I may as well get up and see what's going on in China.
Hee hee.
My Olympic highlight was the sailing gold for team GB by Percy and Simpson.
Sounded like a 70s sitcom-writing duo until the adrenaline-pumped commentaters mentioned Simpson's first name was Bart, after which the whole race became a sitcom.
Oh — and the men's beach volleyball final was a festival of bulbous crotch wiggling masquerading as sport.
Vanilla - SA had an excellent swimmer in the women's events and had possibly the most inspiring competitor in the games, Natalie Du Toit, who despite having lost a LEG still qualified for the regular Olympics and swam in the 10K open water event. She didn't medal but she finished 16 out of 25 which I think is amazing!
WO - seriously? his name was really Bart Simpson? HA!
I saw the semi- final of the men's beach volleyball but was rather disappointed by the outfits. One would've assumed that if the women had to compete in bikinis that the men should've been in speedos. There'd a been a bit of meat and two veg then!
Hey — those guys were almost swooping out their initials in the sand.
Thank goodness it's Champions League football soon.
Man U away to Dynamo Kiev is so delightfully convex.
I have to admit that I haven't been watching alot as I have been quite busy these days. But good to see you are back!!
Didn't get to watch much but I did catch some diving - my personal favorite as I was a diver (way) back in high school! Messed up my shoulders for life in two short years - hence the profound respect I have for those athletes.
Also caught some women's (aka girls') gymnastics which was fantastic, and saw the Rings event in the men's. I love the rings, they're insane.
I'm with you on the running and throwing. Ho Hum.
Natalie is amazing, she lives not far from me and I often see her in the mall, the supermarket and the gym. She is the most amazing person - always friendly with such a ready smile. She's a huge girl, frighteningly powerful - those shoulders, up close, are awesome - and yes, she is a fantastic example of overcoming the odds and going on to achieve.
Janey, I know EXACTLY what you mean about computer sharing. We were in France for a couple of weeks, and there were ELEVEN of us sharing a computer -- four being teenagers with Facebook accounts. I'm definitely behind on my blogging rounds!
I'm sad that we missed most of the Olympics. As for the little bit that we did get to see, I was happy to see Rebecca Adlington win her first gold. It was amazing to see her surge ahead just at the last bit.
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