London Olympics Happy and Glorious

Bravo London! You certainly put the Great back into Britain! Very well done indeed. For the first time in many years I felt horribly homesick. I had tears in my eyes as the beautiful Olympic flame flower was extinguished and I shall suffer withdrawal symptoms after my four yearly feast of sport.

I loved the Closing Ceremony. The 1948 Opening Ceremony was much better than 2012 but the 2012 Closing Ceremony was a vast improvement on the 1948 version which just featured Show Jumping. I was delighted to see the Guards Bands were back and ballet with Darcy Bussell as a phoenix/ firebird made the Olympic flame dousing a little more palatable for me.

The Music Director David Arnold did a superb job. Personally I do not care for this style of music and I have never attended a rock or pop concert, this will be possibly the only one but I thoroughly enjoyed it especially the John Lennon song  Imagine which was so appropriate. The Spice Girls too were amazing although Victoria Beckham still looks as if she would rather be somewhere else. Perhaps having separate cars was more than a good idea.  I loved Always Look on the Bright Side of Life with Eric Idle that was an inspired choice of understated British humour which I suspect will mystify the rest of the world.

What did I like best?

The tussy mussy posies that were presented to each medal winner. Took me ages to discover that the additional foliage was, scented herbs, rosemary, mint and lavender with a few springs of corn for good measure. Posies like these were held during the Great Plague of London.

I loved the Olympic Flame. So creative and so beautiful. Now why didn't I think of that? So simple and stunning.

Sports I enjoyed, Sail Boarding, Dancing Horses, Mountain Bikes, White Water Canoeing. It goes without saying I enjoyed the gymnastics and track and field.

I watched all the road races so I could look at London again. I shall never be well enough now to visit or indeed afford a visit. I lived, went to school worked in the West End for 12 years and it looks just the same but perhaps a bit cleaner.

Congratulations to all involved! You did the world proud! After Beijing, London had a hard act to follow. The London Olympics were Happy and Glorious, Jacques Roggue  the president of the Olympic Association must have pondered over that one and indeed the crowd did seem disappointed but in retrospect it was a tremendous compliment.

For the first time in many years it felt good to be British.

Telegraph

So goodbye to sport for another four years. Sadly football and cricket will now return to the mass media and the less said about them the better.