The big event started in style last night - and whilst I'm sure parts of the opening ceremony were a little incomprehensible to people outside of the UK, the prevailing view here was that it was overwhelmingly British and a job very well done by Danny Boyle. Filled with iconic images and moments - Shakespeare, Brunel, pastoral scenes, the industrial revolution, British children's literature, the NHS (quite a number of people from the hospital where I work were volunteering as performers at the ceremony), Bond, Mr Bean, the Queen (and the corgis...). And as ever, the entrance of the athletes is always a reminder of just how diverse our world and its inhabitants are. Fortunately, I was at a friend's house watching the event and one of the other guests has amazing geographical knowledge - so every time a country entered that we either didn't know where it was (or to be honest, some we hadn't actually heard of), O was able to give us a précis of location, and a little bit of history (e.g. Liberia is apparently historically populated by freed slaves from the US). It was like having a human atlas with us - no need to resort to google at all.
So today the sport starts in earnest. I'm finally getting around to painting my bookcase...accompanied by the constant tv coverage in the background...
And in other news, the fine weather continues (at least for another day or so)...
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