Saturday 28 July 2012

The Greatest Show On Earth

Sorry but it wasn't.

It would have been churlish of me not to watch the opening ceremony, so I did, besides I can't moan about something I haven't seen. Well actually that it is a lie to say I hated everything but we will come to that later. Our ceremony was I'm afraid cheap, nasty and at times toe curling.

So what did I dislike about it?

Well I'm afraid the list goes on and on but I'll give you a few highlights. First on my list is the stupid James Bond sequence that had the Queen supposedly parachuting into the stadium displaying her underwear. It wasn't her of course but it was made to look like her. How and why did the Queen allow herself to be dragged into something so awful and tacky. I nearly crawled under the settee in embarrassment. I suppose it was meant to display the famous 'British sense of humour' but if so it was totally lost on me. The drums were mostly plastic and were not actually making any sound at all, the track was pre-recorded. Cheap and nasty, when I remember the thousands of Chinese with real drums and actually playing them I almost want to weep. Then there was my utter astonishment when the camera cut to a man giving what looked suspiciously like a 'Nazi' salute as the German team arrived, how he wasn't jumped on and wrestled from the stadium I don't know. The NHS was represented along side children's nightmares. Well at least that was accurate I suppose, anyone who has ever used the NHS know it is a nightmare. Then we wheeled out Paul McCartney having learned nothing from his performance at the Jubilee concert. Have we really got no one else who could have stepped in?

Enough of what I didn't like, what did I enjoy?

Mr Bean! Rowan Atkinson was absolutely brilliant and his facial expressions had me hooting with laughter, if only we could have had more of him and less of, well anything else really. The forging of the rings was very clever in the Industrial sequence but did we really need to keep cutting to Kenneth Branagh looking smug, and what were the blokes in the top hats doing exactly? I always enjoy the parade, simply because I want to see the eye watering colours some of the teams dress themselves in.  A second laugh came when it was announced that the Italian team were dressed in Armani. I enjoyed the fireworks but who doesn't so no surprise there.

Only one thing truly impressed me and that was the lighting of the cauldron. Not so much the cauldron itself, though I must admit that was a triumph of engineering and was really beautiful. What impressed me out of everything was that seven unknown, up and coming athletes were chosen to light the thing. That was exactly the right choice and each was nominated, not by a celebrity but by a former British Olympic Gold Medal winner, how appropriate. It was a very pleasant surprise because I had had visions of Cheryl Cole, Victoria Beckham or that brainless bunch from Towie.

The saddest moment for me was when Mohammed Ali appeared. True he used to be 'the greatest' but he clearly isn't that anymore and, this is my own personal opinion, I think it is cruel to keep wheeling him out at these big occasions. Last night he clearly didn't have any idea where he was or what was going on and I half expected him to go flat on his face at any moment. I would prefer to remember him at his best when his mind and mouth were as fast as his feet.

Lastly, as much as I dislike the Olympics, if I were chosen to represent Team GB then I would embrace the opportunity fully. Unfortunately a few of my fellow countrymen, and a few from Scotland chose to embarrass themselves, their country and their sport by refusing to sing the national anthem. These people were footballers of course and obviously think they are doing everyone a tremendous favour by agreeing to take part. They should be dropped from the team immediately and replaced by someone who doesn't think they are bigger than the event.

And so I'll leave the Olympics for this blog and move on to other news.

The bathroom is almost done! It hasn't progressed as fast as we would have liked as we've both been fairly busy with work these last few days but all walls have tiles on them, with just the tricky bits that have to be cut left to do. The shower and bath walls are grouted but not sealed yet so at the moment we have plastic taped around the edge of the bath and shower. We now have two full days with no interruptions so we a hoping that everything will be complete by Monday bar the new shower curtain, I have yet to find the right colour, and the flooring.

Talking of work it has been one hell of a week. I don't know if it was the weather but everyone seemed to be impatient, snappy or down right rude. I actually hung up on a couple of people because they wouldn't stop shouting at me, something I rarely do.

The weather has affected me too, I've found it terribly hard to breath this week and my voice keeps going. Like anyone with lung disease PH sufferers find that anything too hot or too cold has a profound effect on their breathing. I've had to use my oxygen more often and have only really found relief overnight when it has been cooler.

Well got to go, I have a load of bed linen to wash and a wall to grout.

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