Here Lie Things That Inspire Me.: February 2014

Greetings and felicitations,

I am sorrowfully aware that I haven't posted a blog for a while and as it is now the end of February I thought I had better pull my finger out!

I'm currently sat watching the opening ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I must admit that I did miss 122 minutes of it due to that dastardly thing called work, but the parts of it I have seen are very pretty and visually pleasing. I think I will try and watch the parts that I missed at some point, but right now I'm not feeling a massive urge!

Anyway as usual, I digress.

When I realised (like, when it actually hit me) that our tiny country would be hosting the 2012 Olympics, I was so excited. Imagine a kid at Christmas that knows they are going to Disneyland and getting all the ice cream that they could ever want excited. That was me.

The day before the opening ceremony my other half and I went to get some supplies. We got Union Jack stick on tattoos, red and blue t-shirts, nibbles (which included cupcakes with cute little Union Jacks on them), some Olympics 2012 wristbands and last but not least; my favourite - some patriotic flags to wave in the air like we just didn't care. I'm a poet and I didn't know that I was.

Thinking back now I'm getting emotional about it - which to me is just so strange as I've never really connected myself to an event before (especially a sporting one, I look like the Pilsbury Doughboy); but alas here I am with a stupid grin on my idiotic mush!

We have a couple of friends who we shared this evening with, we went over to their house and had tea whilst watching the ceremony.

Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm an 'in bed by 2230' kind of girl and well, I stayed very awake and alert for the whole opening ceremony - I was amazed, enthralled and stupefied (not in the Harry Potter sense) all of the way through the ceremony.

Watching the countdown with all of the different ways of showing numbers was so tantalising, and made the whole thing even more exciting! I bet I was chanting in my head down to number one - that's if we weren't all chanting aloud.

It was delightful to see our history played out on the stage, including the move from a rural Britain covered in flowers and grass to theindustrial revolution; with colossal towers that seemed to come out of nowhere, and the seeming flowing molten metal going along the floor of the stadium. I remember seeing the men on the towers which must have been a million feet high thinking 'you couldn't PAY me to do that!'

After this, the workers then 'built' a cast iron ring, and then gradually it was lifted up to join four other glowing orange rigs to create the iconic Olympic symbol. When this was completed it seemed like they had gone on fire and rained down on the scene below. Cue massive cheer from everyone watching.

Then we were treated to possibly the most memorable scene from an Olympic opening ceremony in living history. That's right - Daniel Craig being James Bond.

Oh, and the small matter that he went to visit good old Queen Liz II. I remember praying that the ACTUAL Queen was going to turn round, my chest felt like it was going to explode with anticipation as Mr. Bond walked up to HRM and she turned round to reveal IT WAS ACTUALLY HER! 'Good evening, Mr Bond.' Swoon.

Now, I love Queenie, I think she is a modern lady with her heart in the right place (we shall dismiss conspiracy theories for a moment) and her husband - proper legend. But I really didn't think that she would play an acting role (which she did exceedingly well may I add) which almost made me choke due the lack of oxygen that I was taking in because I was in shock.

I remember shouting,'OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING! I can't believe it's really her!' And I imagine there were many others in the UK and around the world saying similar things! Especially at the moment the 'Queen' lunged out of a helicopter over the stadium and appeared in her seat next to the other members of the Royal family who were present. Man that was a memorable moment in my life.

I'm pretty sure I was applauding raucously like a fool.

Then after we recovered from that awesome spectacle, we got transported to a hospital ward with beds that were trampolines - which let's face it, would make staying in hospital a LOT more fun! And lots of dancing nurses. Once the kids had stopped bouncing like Sackboy on the Meerkat Bounce level of LBP; the blankets on the beds lit up miraculously, and the nurses moved them around to spell out different things, and then ending in the shape of a crescent moon whilst the kids got ready for sleep.

Then the scariness happened.

The child catcher appeared running around the children and then these MASSIVE and I mean, MONSTROUSLY HUGE puppet things appeared with their grotesque faces and billowing bodies all swarming around the children like dark clouds of scary literary hate. I was terrified.

Then that magnificent Nanny, Mary Poppins turned up. In fact 32 versions of Mary Poppins turned up. And saved the day with their fantastic umbrellas of valour.

This then led to what I can only describe as massively surprising.

We were led by Mike Oldfield himself into a rendition of Tubular Bells (which to me is a special piece of music but that is information for another blog). I just loved the fact that there were huge - and I mean HUGE tubular bells on the stage. I must admit, I would love to whack one of those colossal beasts with a hammer to hear the mountainous clang that would ensue.

Is it just me or did a lot go on through the ceremony? It's only until you write it down you realise just how much work must have gone into the preparation for this one ceremony!

There were other appearances / sketches created by various people (shout out to Rowan Atkinson, David Beckham and all of the wonderful dancers who did the 'music through the decades' sequence - I must admit I really enjoyed that)

Then we watched the procession of all of the atheletes (all 10,490 of them) which I must admit was comical at times when you saw how excited and junilant all of them were - I must admit I would have been like a bouncy ball on a sugar rush if I was walking that path!

Then for the grand finale. The lighting of the torch. After the speeches and all of that jazz, of course.

The final section of the ceremony was of course, spectacular. Named 'There is a Light That Never Goes Out' as per that fabulous song by The Smiths we were captured by the excitement of that old chestnut... Who will ight the torch? And I personally think that the decision to have lots of different up and coming atheletes was a great idea (although we may feel a bit silly if they decide to stop being an athelete!) and the structure used to house the Olympic Flame was architectural genius. I thought the the journey of the flame was nice to watch too - ending up with it being brought to the stadium on a speedboat driven by David Beckham to pass to Steve Redgrave; and then onto the young atheletes.

The petals of the caldron were definitely a sight to see, and as the petals were lit it was simply magical to see the flames go around the structure and then all of the 'stalks' slowly lift up to create that iconic cauldron.

I loved the ceremony, my heart was filled with pure glee, and I really enjoyed watching the games - and waving our flags furiously when Britain were in any sport that we were watching. When Mo Farah won the long distance running; myself and my parter both jumped up screaming - so I can only imagine what it would have been like to actually be there and watch the 'Mobot' on the sidelines. Watching Tom Daley wow us all with his diving prowess, Victoria Pendleton on her bike; Rebecca Adlington in the pool, Jessica Ennis going through the gruelling heptathlon, and of course Andy Murray on the Tennis courts (which I think spurred him on to go and win at Wimbledon too!)

A fantastic well done goes to all of the atheletes who took part - especially the Olympians who won 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals!

All in all, I am so glad I got to experience the London 2012 Olympics, I think it brought most people involved and watching a sense of community spirit and pure pride in our small country - which I am sad to say doesn't have many patriotic people residing within it. I must say I genuinely cried when it was all over, I was so emotionally attached to something that normally I would just watch and glaze over.

Good on Danny Boyle for creating such a memorable Opening Ceremony, which celebrated all aspects of life here in Britain - and I hope that Rio is as exciting!

'Victory is having done your best, if you've done your best, you've won.' - Bill Bowerman

Here Lie Things That Inspire Me.

Abbott56 (Blog)

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Ode of Inspired imagination

Monday 24 February 2014

Olympics London 2012