Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Olympics Again

Today is Lammas - hope those Christians who observe this feast have a good one. Tomorrow is Lugnassad in the northern hemisphere and Imbolc in the southern, we wish our Pagan & Wiccan readers a good feast.

On to the Olympics. (Sorry to those readers who aren't fans of sport and who are likely bored rigid by the whole thing but I'm stoked about it and will probably still be bouncing for weeks after it's over *g*).

The opening ceremony was bloody brilliant. Quirky, eccentric, full of history, allegory, literary references, music, a quick celebration of our beloved NHS, a homage to the victims of the London bombings of July 2005. It reached out to the rest of the world, included all the competing nations in the celebration, via the petals which made up the cauldron. And had that brilliant "passing the torch" moment. And the cauldron?? Spectacular.

I'm just sorry that our friends in the USA didn't get to see it all. (I hope the rest of you did). A lot of the meaning was lost because of the huge cuts the broadcaster made - just so it could pack in the adverts. What with that and the fast-food monopoly and crackdown on the symbols... Isn't it nice to know corporate greed still trumps celebrations of national pride, global unity, and cultural diversity??

Fortunately the BBC have the rights to the live coverage here - which is excellent. The BBC does not show adverts. Coverage is continuous and uninterrupted. And brilliant. (Apart from the odd dozy presenter!!) Love Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine, Gabby Logan, and even Sue Barker, but oh Lord!! Gary Lineker couldn't ad-lib if his life was at stake!!

And through the wonders of digital TV we have the "red button". In other words as well as one of the main BBC channels have extensive coverage, and one of the minor BBC channels, we get to press a button on the remote control handset and there are 24 multi-screen sub-channels to pick from. The BBC are showing every single sport live and in full. (Or at least as full as is humanly possible). I've always grumbled that I never get to see my favourite sports as they're mostly considered "minority" sports and consequently hardly ever got coverage. Unless a miracle happened and it looked as if we'd get a medal.

This time?? I'm spoilt for choice. There is so much to see and all sports are covered. What do I watch?? The archery?? The fencing?? Hockey?? Canoe?? Shooting?? Women's football?? (And I'm chuffed that both our women's and men's team have qualified for the quarter-finals.) So much to see.

I hardly ever watch TV - this week I can't be moved from in front of it whenever I'm home. And don't even try to prise my fingers from the remote control!! Your life could be in danger!!

Better even than the TV - last weekend I got to watch the women's football live, in person, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Magic!!

And next week I'm up to London to see even more events.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Life is good.

See you next week (still bouncing), goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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