Random Ramblings...
Olympics coverage continues to dominate the TV, newspapers, internet and essentially every other media format that might be available. I think a lot of people in the UK have almost gone a little into shock at how well Team GB are doing. They posted a target of 48 medals before the Games started, one more than Beijing, and whilst I could understand their logic - being ambitious meant striving for hard targets - I doubt I was the only one who went 'hmm... maybe not'. And then when they got off to an atrocious start... well... *shrugs*
But they've done brilliantly since then. Even in sports nobody expected to get medals of any colour in. We've had medals in taekwondo, perhaps for the first time ever. It's decades since we won medals in several of the equestrian events, nobody expected them to take gold in dressage and showjumping, for example.
That said, I think a few sports will have a shock after the games. Funding in this country is performance related. All of the sports were set targets - x number of medals, x numbers of personal bests etc. If they haven't met those targets, they could find that they get less money for next time. Swimming, in particular, may be in for a rude awakening. They missed their target by miles. People are going to start questioning why they get money if they're not producing results, and consider giving the funding to the sports that are. Unfortunate, perhaps, but when there's only so much to go around, I can't entirely blame the organisers for making those kinds of decisions.
On the more domestic front, we've spent several hours today in the garden. The shed roof has been re-felted because we had a leak somewhere and wanted to get that fixed before the winter. We've cleared a couple of the raised beds where the vegetables are done, mowed the lawn, weeded, trimmed hedges and generally tidied things up.
My next plan is to take a look at Bardic Web and Panhistoria and see what I need to do there. I think I'm reasonably on top of things, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do.
But they've done brilliantly since then. Even in sports nobody expected to get medals of any colour in. We've had medals in taekwondo, perhaps for the first time ever. It's decades since we won medals in several of the equestrian events, nobody expected them to take gold in dressage and showjumping, for example.
That said, I think a few sports will have a shock after the games. Funding in this country is performance related. All of the sports were set targets - x number of medals, x numbers of personal bests etc. If they haven't met those targets, they could find that they get less money for next time. Swimming, in particular, may be in for a rude awakening. They missed their target by miles. People are going to start questioning why they get money if they're not producing results, and consider giving the funding to the sports that are. Unfortunate, perhaps, but when there's only so much to go around, I can't entirely blame the organisers for making those kinds of decisions.
On the more domestic front, we've spent several hours today in the garden. The shed roof has been re-felted because we had a leak somewhere and wanted to get that fixed before the winter. We've cleared a couple of the raised beds where the vegetables are done, mowed the lawn, weeded, trimmed hedges and generally tidied things up.
My next plan is to take a look at Bardic Web and Panhistoria and see what I need to do there. I think I'm reasonably on top of things, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do.