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Underneath the arches

One Summer

You may know that on the 10th there will be a 'victory parade' for all the splendid athletes who have done our country proud this summer.  I suspect the streets of London will be lined a dozen deep, given how much enthusiasm the Olympics and Paralympics have created.  When the idea was first mooted, it was immediately announced that the Games Makers - the volunteers - would be a part of this...lining the route, as was only right - after all without them the summer success would never have happened...and their enthusiasm, energy and happy smiling faces may well have changed foreigners' perceptions of the British once and for all.

One group that appeared not to be included were the Ceremonies volunteers...the people that danced, sang and performed having given over some3 250 hours of their lives to make those events quite so spectacular.  However, at some stage it was decided that they would be included in the ballot for places...and that was a good thing.

For my part, though, it wasn't something I was much interested in - I shall certainly watch it...I may even take a sneaky hour or two out of the office to make sure I catch a glimpse...but I didn't in anyway feel the need to be a part of it.  After all we were seen by 80,000 in the Stadium itself...a further 100,000 if you count the dress rehearsals, were watched on TV by several billion around the globe, had each and every one of our names printed in the Programme and will be seen by countless more when the DVD is released on 29th October.

So for me that is recognition enough.  I've appreciated the opportunity to be in the ballot...but really I'm very, very comfortable with everything the summer has brought.

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Moon and seagull

Let the sun shine

The summer's over...I know that because the sun has come out even as the teenagers trooped to school this morning.

The Boy's summer was a busy one - CCF camp, Army leadership training course, Iceland, performing at The Edinburgh Fringe, a long weekend at V Festival and a week of Duke of Edinburgh practice in the Welsh mountains.  You can't say he isn't energetic!  I wish I'd had his energy at 17!  I wish I had it at this age!

The Cat had a quieter summer - The Edinburgh Fringe and a short week in France with The Cat's Mother.  I guess Cat's enjoy a more leisurely pace!

Last week I was in Brighton (hence the photos this week) as everyone else was away.  I wasn't lazing around - I was working from home by myself.  I have to say that for short bursts, I find working from home very productive - I can make lists and tick them off as I go through them...something I'm challenged to do in normal routine mode.

I'm always quick to condemn and complain about shoddy service...so it's only fair that I mention two pieces of excellent service in the last week.

The broadband wasn't working properly, so I rang Talk Talk who duly did their tests, and then having spotted a fault said they would send an engineer.  I hadn't expected him to appear within 90 minutes...ten minutes later with the cable repaired, he was off.  I may have been lucky, but that's quite impressive isn't it?

I have a very good pair of headphones...the sort that sit in your ear, and so you can imagine my distress when the rubber seal that keeps the two halves came off and disappeared.  They're probably four or so years old, but were expensive, so I didn't really want to replace them.  Anyway, I contacted the importers, Henley Designs, who have searched high and low, around the world even for a new rubber seal...to no avail.  Remarkably they are sending another pair of headphones (not the same model) which have the same rubber seal, so I can fit the seal myself...I'm delighted.

No wonder the sun is shining....

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This week I will mostly be posting pictures of Brighton.

Here at dusk.

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From our kitchen window in Brighton you can see far, far away.  All the way to Tatooine in fact.

May the Force be with you.

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This bird by Roa was incredibly hard to find...few people can have actually have seen it, so you wonder about the motivation behind painting it; sadly the railway maintenance people are gradually destroying it...such is the nature of street art

Passing the Danny Boyle test

Last night was a funny old night, watching the Paralympics Opening Ceremony.  One eye was on the TV, the other was on Facebook.

I've never been much of a Facebook person - I came across it when it was very new, so new that few people had heard of it, but someone suggested that it would be an important marketing forum for brands...and as that's my business I signed up, half feeling that it seemed nothing more than a dating website.  A decade later I guess, and I  used it occasionally, but not often...until the whole Olympics thing kicked in, and I found that the easiest and best way of keeping in touch with all my new found friends is Facebook.  Last night the messages were flying around as we all tried to spot friends performing in the Ceremony..it was fun, engaging and gave us all a unique interest in the event.

This news story on the BBC reminds me of an incident some years back.

When The Boy's mum died, he came to live with me with all the problems that brought.  Obviously it was an emotional time for everyone, but there were some practical issues too.  Not the least of which was that we lived south of the river in historic Borough, he went to school in Finsbury Park, and my office was somewhere in between in Clerkenwell.  I had taken to getting around London on my Vespa scooter, and it seemed a good idea to scoot across London on it, getting him to school bright and early and me to the office in not too bad time at all.  when I'm on two wheels I'm careful and considerate, and there was a lot of fun to be had buying proper motorbike gear for him so he would be warm and well protected.  A bright yellow jacket was very visible and we managed the journey many times without incident.  We both seemed to enjoy it as well.  One day though as we started off from the traffic lights in Borough High Street, the scooter slipped on some loose gravel.  Instinctively I stepped clear as it tumbled sideways, leaving the poor Boy to feel the full weight on his right foot.  Guys Hospital is but a short hop away, although an ambulance meant he could get there in comfort, where X-Rays showed he had three broken metatarsals.  We never travelled together on two wheels again.

The Conservative MP Damien Green has suggested that the Conservatives need to pass the Danny Boyle test and cheer the numerous virtues of Britain in 2012.  He then goes on to talk about occupying the common ground.  I wonder what Mr Boyle would have to say about that.  I suspect that he's not much of a Conservative voter.  And I wonder if Mr Green has really understood what Danny Boyle was saying in the Opening Ceremony.  Of one thing I am certain is that he managed to define what Modern Britain is in 90 minutes than any politician has done in the last sixty years.  We have much to be proud of...and it would be better for all if politicians on all sides recognised Danny Boyle's encapsulation and created a vision for New Britain which reflects that.

Nick Clegg's call to 'tax the rich' seems as naive as the recent claim by some Tories that British workers are lazy and unproductive.  It seems that in the face of their own failure to get to grips with the economic and social problems Britain faces, the politicians have taken to name calling...I wouldn't mind if they were just shouting at each other, but when they start picking on the people they're supposed to represent, then it makes me a bit sad, a bit angry.  I suggest that their energies might be better spent on reform, restructuring and reinvention to get the country back on its feet.

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We all love Sesame street don't we? Don't we?

Meet the superhumans

Tonight at about 8 o'clock I will sit back with a glass of beer and a pizza to watch the Opening ceremony of the Paralympics.

The Cat and The Cat's Mother are away, with Up and The Muffins in France, whilst The Boy is yomping over mountains in mid-Wales as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

I can't wait to see some of my friends performing in the Ceremony...I know exactly the emotions they'll be feeling - that surge of adrenaline as it all kicks off, the excitement and joy of the performance, and the incredible buzz afterwards...which if they're lucky will last for days, perhaps weeks, afterwards. The experience will be remarkable for them...for some of them it will become a life-changing experience; it is certainly something that will etch itself in their souls.  I'm so pleased for them.

The next couple of weeks will be another exciting time, when sport and sportsmanship comes to the fore again in this remarkable year.  So many people are going to come away from the year with such powerful positive feelings that I'm sure it will bring a sea-change that I hope and believe will trickle through the veins of the nation.

If you haven't seen it, this is Channel 4's ad for the Paralympics.  Powerful stuff.

I hope you'll be watching with me.


http://youtu.be/tuAPPeRg3Nw

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I love the artistry of this chap...although I confess I don't know who actually painted him

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I thought I would take street art as my theme this week as I find it brings beauty and interest to places that otherwise would be dull and desolate.  This is a piece by Pablo Delgado

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Squirrels are a destructive nuisance...but I find them charming.  We've solved the problem of them pinching the bird's food in our garden by putting out 'berry-flavoured suet pellets'  which don't attract them...nor do the birds seem to like them either...ho hum.  Anyway this little fella popped up near my office

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Field of dreams?  Wild flowers growing at the Olympic Park