Random Ramblings...
I watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony last night. I didn't actually intend to, or at least not all of it. Because they wanted it to be dark to show off the lights better, it didn't start until 9pm here. It ended up finishing just before 1am. However, since it was a slightly warm night still, which has made sleeping difficult at times, and since I'm still in the house by myself, I camped out on the sofa and watched it from being to end.
I actually thought it went pretty well. I was quite impressed on the whole. I liked the cauldron, I thought that worked well. I liked the rings being forged during the industrial section. Bond and the Queen was amusing. I have to admit I wondered how much some of it would travel, it was a very British show. Like the history section, it's all history I grew up being told about, so I recognise it. I don't know if someone overseas would necessarily though. Same with the music and film/tv clips that got shown. Very, very British. Some big names would almost certainly be known. Others might be more obscure.
The teams entering dragged on a bit, but that section always does. It's a lot of people to get into the arena. Slightly amused by some of the team outfits. The Czech team with the wellies was a particularly highlight, especially as they had umbrellas with them too. Yes, I know this is the UK and our rainy season can last all twelve months of the year, but wellington boots? In a sports arena in London? It's not Glastonbury Festival, you know. Plus we've been having glorious sunshine for the past week or more. Mexico were eye-catching too, there was serious colour going on there.
Today I watched the men's road race, one of the cycling events. It was a slightly odd race. The Brits went in favourites, I think. On paper, they had the strongest team there: the recent winner of the Tour de France, the runner up in the Tour de France, the World Champion, a Tour de France stage winner and another experienced road racer. The problem was, I think, that their reputation went before them and it ended up shooting a lot of people in the foot as a result. When there was a breakaway group, it was like the rest of the peloton went 'oh no, we're not helping, you can do all the work', convinced that a) the Brits could manage and b) that if they helped they wouldn't have the legs to then fight off Mark Cavendish, generally considered to be one of the fastest cycle sprinter on the roads in the world at the moment. Problem was, by the time they realised they needed to help to give their own men a chance of a medal, the gap was too huge and the breakaway couldn't be clawed back.
I don't intend that as any discredit to the guys who did win medals. They chose the right tactics for the day and they worked damn hard to get where they did. I take my hat off to them. But it's always a little disappointing to see people not able to perform to their true potential, and because of politicking and idiocy in the peloton, that feels like what happened, not just for the British team, but for a hell of a lot of other big names too. There was an awful lot of good cyclists on the road today who might as well not have been there for the impact they had on the race. That's a bit of a shame.
Apart from Olympicking, I've been puttering around in the garden. I noticed some of the cauliflowers were getting towards being a bit too far along, so I picked those and - since I'm the only one here and don't plan to do a full roast dinner just for myself - I blanched them and put them in the freezer.
I also moved our greenhouse back to its rightful place; don't worry, it's plastic, not metal and glass *g* It got moved earlier in the week so a guy could come in and take the tops off the conifers.
I've also been doing some writing. I played catch-up at Bardic Web earlier, but it seems to be a quiet day today, so I then sat down and have started sketching out a blog entry for Drysi. I want to get back into writing more blogs again, especially since we have more activity going on in 'Game Changers' as that has significant events for several of my characters. So I'm working on Drysi's perspective of the recent scene in the Pit, and possibly one for Thorn of the same thing just to get both sides as that might be useful. I'm also debating one for Alcyone about the whole revelation of her parentage too. We'll have to see how I get on though *g*
I actually thought it went pretty well. I was quite impressed on the whole. I liked the cauldron, I thought that worked well. I liked the rings being forged during the industrial section. Bond and the Queen was amusing. I have to admit I wondered how much some of it would travel, it was a very British show. Like the history section, it's all history I grew up being told about, so I recognise it. I don't know if someone overseas would necessarily though. Same with the music and film/tv clips that got shown. Very, very British. Some big names would almost certainly be known. Others might be more obscure.
The teams entering dragged on a bit, but that section always does. It's a lot of people to get into the arena. Slightly amused by some of the team outfits. The Czech team with the wellies was a particularly highlight, especially as they had umbrellas with them too. Yes, I know this is the UK and our rainy season can last all twelve months of the year, but wellington boots? In a sports arena in London? It's not Glastonbury Festival, you know. Plus we've been having glorious sunshine for the past week or more. Mexico were eye-catching too, there was serious colour going on there.
Today I watched the men's road race, one of the cycling events. It was a slightly odd race. The Brits went in favourites, I think. On paper, they had the strongest team there: the recent winner of the Tour de France, the runner up in the Tour de France, the World Champion, a Tour de France stage winner and another experienced road racer. The problem was, I think, that their reputation went before them and it ended up shooting a lot of people in the foot as a result. When there was a breakaway group, it was like the rest of the peloton went 'oh no, we're not helping, you can do all the work', convinced that a) the Brits could manage and b) that if they helped they wouldn't have the legs to then fight off Mark Cavendish, generally considered to be one of the fastest cycle sprinter on the roads in the world at the moment. Problem was, by the time they realised they needed to help to give their own men a chance of a medal, the gap was too huge and the breakaway couldn't be clawed back.
I don't intend that as any discredit to the guys who did win medals. They chose the right tactics for the day and they worked damn hard to get where they did. I take my hat off to them. But it's always a little disappointing to see people not able to perform to their true potential, and because of politicking and idiocy in the peloton, that feels like what happened, not just for the British team, but for a hell of a lot of other big names too. There was an awful lot of good cyclists on the road today who might as well not have been there for the impact they had on the race. That's a bit of a shame.
Apart from Olympicking, I've been puttering around in the garden. I noticed some of the cauliflowers were getting towards being a bit too far along, so I picked those and - since I'm the only one here and don't plan to do a full roast dinner just for myself - I blanched them and put them in the freezer.
I also moved our greenhouse back to its rightful place; don't worry, it's plastic, not metal and glass *g* It got moved earlier in the week so a guy could come in and take the tops off the conifers.
I've also been doing some writing. I played catch-up at Bardic Web earlier, but it seems to be a quiet day today, so I then sat down and have started sketching out a blog entry for Drysi. I want to get back into writing more blogs again, especially since we have more activity going on in 'Game Changers' as that has significant events for several of my characters. So I'm working on Drysi's perspective of the recent scene in the Pit, and possibly one for Thorn of the same thing just to get both sides as that might be useful. I'm also debating one for Alcyone about the whole revelation of her parentage too. We'll have to see how I get on though *g*