Hi Mary Poppins!
You brought the scene to life. I walked with you, sat with you in a noisy stadium stuffing my ears with my fingers. Did we have something to eat?
Hee hee - no, it was a 3pm start, so I managed to avoid the MacDonalds consessions, but will be forced to eat at the stadium on Thursday as we're there all day and you aren't allowed to leave and go back. Actually, if anyone does go, (and has time for lunch) the original Stratford Centre has a separate area called In-Shops, which always reminds me of the old Souk in Abu Dhabi. It's great - very ethnic, with sari shops, money changers, jewellry shops, nd lots of wonderful cheap food from all over the world. Then you go out that into all the high street shops and a Sainsbury's (plus the real market) in the main shopping centre and then across the road is Westfield, which is something else again. So in that one area, you can have 4 totally different atmospheres and shopping experiences.
I would like to ask , if you don't mind...Up until Olympics, I knew you only as Judy...how did Mary Poppins come to be? Mind you strangely enough, Mary Poppins behoves you.
x
It was so long ago (I joined in 2001) that I can't really recall, but probably someone said something like I was like the school-mistress of HP and that made me think of Mary Poppins. My original avatar, which I've kept on my profile page, was a cartoon MP with pointed shoes and an umbrella but then i found the photo of Julie Andrews as MP and changed it to that instead. So now you know.
I've tried to attach it the one with the umbrella.
Love and peace
Judy
Inspirational...
[url]BBC News - London 2012: The Olympic also-rans[/url]
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Thanks for the BBC link Giles - it's lovely that the also-rans are so popular and are given so much encouragement!
There were two articles in the C S Monitor that I also really enjoyed, though I felt the title of the lower one was more than a little insensitive. They could have worded it stressing that the modern Olympics were inspired by British ideals (I only recently learned that) rather than upsetting the Greeks. :rolleyes:
And this one about the Velodrome is so funny - very tongue in cheek and at least it does come with a warning: [Editor's note: This article is completely offensive to every track cycling fan....]
[url]It's London Olympics meets 'Jersey Shore': Welcome to the Velodrome - CSMonitor.com[/url]
[url]Forget the Greeks, British ideals undergird the modern Olympics - CSMonitor.com[/url]
We had a great day yesterday at the stadium - didn't need the earplugs as it was open air - though the ears were ringing during the 4X400 with all the cheering. Apart from having to queue for ever for food and drink, it all went smoothly. We walked in from W Ham along the Greenway and there must have been dozens of volunteers along the way, cheerfully greeting you and wishing you a good time. They were wearing huge pink hands with pointing fingers and one kid was running up to each, giving them high 5's. The trains all had seats again - remarkably frequent service, at least on the Jubilee line. Oh yes, thanks to Richard Branson, we were all given bright red ice creams at Waterloo station - now that put a smile on everyone's faces. 🙂 And again, people were all talking to each other.
Such a brilliant atmosphere. Did you know that the Olympic ideals are excellence, friendship and respect? Well I certainly saw oodles of all three yesterday! Here are some of their aims too: [url]Olympism in Action - Olympic Values and Programmes | Olympic.org[/url]. It is special that for the first time ever, every single country has a woman athlete representing it.
Hi everyone,
I must admit I'm a very recent convert to the Olympics... I always thought I couldn't stand sport. (Being hopeless at the same at school, in a country town in Australia - where EVERYONE is expected to play sport - didn't help.) I've mostly ignored nearly every Olympics during my lifetime - even Sydney in 2000, which in any case was just before my final high school exams. But now, for the first time, living close to an Olympic host city during the Games... I've been won over. This has been a truly amazing fortnight, even for those of us who are unlikely to ever play competitive sport, let alone win a medal.
I think it was during that "bonkers but brilliant" opening ceremony that I finally got it - after cracking up at Mr Bean, cheering on Mary Poppins, and gawping at Her Majesty's starring role. It must have dawned on me some time during the athletes' parade: how many events are there that bring together so many people from so many different countries and cultures, in peace and friendship? I know it's all too simplistic, but... why can't the whole world be like this all the time, instead of just a few weeks every four years? 🙂
I've been in Stratford a few times during the past fortnight - not attending any events, but even just around the shopping centres near the stadium, the buzz is amazing. There is such a real sense of goodwill and harmony in the air. I really do think these Games are having a much deeper effect on London and on all those taking part - athletes, volunteers, spectators, or just bystanders like me - and I hope it will continue.
The other day when I was on the Tube, I picked up the current Evening Standard - not an example of the highest quality journalism, but I was quite touched by a number of the articles and what they too had to say about the good that the Olympics are bringing to London and the UK. I've found some of them online - here are the links, along with some stand-out quotes...
[url]London 2012 Olympics: London wins gold! Capital hailed as[/url]
International Olympic Committee president Mr Rogge, in his last Games as president, told the Standard: "For two weeks the Olympic Park has been the beating heart of the world.
"The country that invented modern sport has helped give new life to the spirit of fair play and competition.
"In the true spirit of Britain, huge crowds have cheered on not just their athletes but those of the world and sent an echo that resonates in every home across the globe.
"The superlatives created here in London will live on long after the cauldron is finally extinguished."
[url]London 2012 Olympics: Our Games have been a knockout. Now pull on your trainers! - Olympic News - Olympics - Evening Standard[/url]
This time last year, the London riots were in full swing and the headlines were all about anarchy and how the police had lost control. As our front-page headline proclaimed, this was "London's shame". It was a low-water mark which saw police popularity and confidence in the Met plummet.
But during the Olympics, people have taken to hugging the police and asking to have their photograph taken with them. The Games has seen the coppers relaxed like never before, while still doing the serious stuff needed to keep us safe. Their calming presence and the way they and the Army have handled the security issue - after so much pre-Games anxiety and hype - has been widely appreciated.
Mark Stein, 59, a businessman from South Africa, caught the mood when he said: "In my life I have been to two other Games, Los Angeles in 1984 and Montreal in 1976, and both were amazing, but this is the best Games of all time. It's beautifully organised and relaxed. For me, in a word, it's been a 'kind' Games. There's a spirit of unity."
[url]The Games have brought the east in from the cold - Comment - Evening Standard[/url]
Above all, the infrastructural changes needed to make the Games a reality have shifted London's centre of gravity, accelerating the eastward yaw that began three decades ago. It feels like the dots connecting east and west, north and south have finally joined up, and London is no longer a city quartered, like post-war Berlin. The river and the canals will be properly reincorporated into the transport network, and the bid to make London a cycling city immeasurably boosted by Hoy, Pendleton and co. The absurd but spectacular Emirates Air Line feels like the last piece of the puzzle.
the modern Olympics were inspired by British ideals (I only recently learned that)
Not just our ideals. Much Wenlock in Shropshire held Olympian Games since Victorian times and was visited by De Coubertin before he launched the Olympics. That's why one of the London 2012 mascots is called Wenlock.
[url]BBC Sport - London 2012 unveils Games mascots Wenlock & Mandeville[/url]
Not just our ideals. Much Wenlock in Shropshire held Olympian Games since Victorian times and was visited by De Coubertin before he launched the Olympics. That's why one of the London 2012 mascots is called Wenlock.
[url]BBC Sport - London 2012 unveils Games mascots Wenlock & Mandeville[/url]
yes, I knew that and for anyone who wondered where Mandeville's name came from - this is from the same article:
The characters are named after the small town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire - which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th Century - and the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire.
The Wenlock Games gave inspiration to Baron Pierre de Coubertain as he formed his concept of the modern Olympics in 1896.
But don't get me started on the one-eyed monsters - I'm sorry, but I think they are grotesque! 😮 I remember Graham Norton commenting on the "wet patch" on Mandeville's trousers and that just finished me off. I reckon there will be plenty for sale left over after the games are over.
A friend sent me this tongue-in-cheek Canadian review of them when they were first presented to the world in 2010 and I just love this bit:
Is British coalition to blame for ugly Olympic mascots?
To be fair to the British, nothing of value has ever come out of an 18-month design process involving 40 focus groups. That's what we're told produced these mascots, although a drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek seems like an equally plausible explanation.[url]Behold the One-Eyed Compromise Monster - The Globe and Mail[/url]
:rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh: :rollaugh:
But those weird things aside, I've just loved everything to do with the Games and I want to thank you Jinx for starting this thread. 🙂
Judy
:
"a drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek"
Brilliant! Thank you too.
But those weird things aside, I've just loved everything to do with the Games and I want to thank you Jinx for starting this thread. 🙂
Past tense!? 😮
It's not over yet. Paralymics begins in just under a couple of weeks time, and goes on for a couple of weeks itself. There's still loads of things for those people involved to do, including
the organisers, the emergency services, the volunteers etc. etc.
It aint over till the fat lady sings.... or liam gallagher 😀
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Past tense!? 😮
It's not over yet. Paralymics begins in just under a couple of weeks time, and goes on for a couple of weeks itself.
Absolutely and I'm equally excited about them, but there is a dedicated Paralympic thread and we were talking about the Olympics on this one - so there! :p
Love and peace
Judy
I thought the whole event was great and couldn’t get enough of it. We were lucky enough to see the fencing. Everything was super organised and the atmosphere in London was wonderful. It’s amazing how having a positive focus for a change makes such a difference to so many people. Amazing but not surprising. Wouldn’t it be great if the media would carry on focusing on positivity in future?
helooo
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