Olympic End

I tried to write this on Monday, but the damn computer crashed just as I was finishing, so I just hope I haven't missed the moment, as it were.

Olympic End - sounds like a little road in a cute village. Mr Bob Sleigh, Olympic End, Upper Halfpipe, but I digress...

Well, the Olympics have been over since Sunday evening, boo hoo, and I must say I really enjoyed watching all the competitions. I positively hogged the tv, much to the annoyance of my boys, but told them it was for 2 weeks once every 4 years, so really they could be nice about it and indulge their mummy. I haven't told them about the summer Olympics yet... that might prove difficult to accept (What? You said once every FOUR years, not once every TWO years!!!).

I thought the Italians did marvellously well at organising the whole thing, not that I was actually there of course, to experience the running of the event, but it all seemed impeccible, and apart from some dodgy judging, no one really made derogatory remarks about anything. The closing ceremony was a marvellous spectacle, and I did think it was brilliant that the last athlete to be awarded a gold medal was an Italian, and got to climb onto the podium during the closing ceremony. The crowd was ecstatic.

I have developed a real taste for the biathlon and were I younger, and living in a snowy clime, I would probably take it up. I even dreamt about it the other day! Funny how you discover these things when it's too late. Mind you, I was never one for endurance running, preferring sprinting, so maybe I wouldn't have got a medal anyway...

It seems that France 2 & 3, the channels that broadcast the Olympics, enjoyed a regular audience of 4 million per day. Now, considering that 'Nous ne sommes pas les anges' show on Canal+ had been wondering if the Olympics should be scrapped from television because the French were so apathetic about it, it is an 'up yours' to all those killjoys. It helped, of course, that the French won a regular supply of medals, and that many were totally unexpected, so the unexpected quality of anticipation was high. Also, many of the sports are pretty dramatic, and stomach-turning. Watching the acrobatic ski-jumping gave my stomach a thorough workout, and made me wonder if points were awarded to the extent at which your giblets risked breaking forth.

Not many of my friends have been as glued to the tele as me, but that maybe because they have lives whilst I am still euphoric to have control of my own zapper on a tv that actually works. It's the little things that get to you, isn't it?