Comments | oxoniensis: isles of wonder

oxoniensis

isles of wonder

Jul 27, 2012 22:24

I'm glued to the Olympics opening ceremony. Bravo, Danny Boyle!

eta: so many teams including women for the first time ever.

eta 2: all the countries taking part have included women in their teams!

I tried so hard to get a £20.12 ticket.

sport

Comments 21

elzed July 28 2012, 00:47:06 UTC

Amusing (in a bitter, angry kind of way) that for once Saudi men need the presence of women to allow them to do something, eh? Mind you they made their women walk far behind the men when they marched through the stadium...

d boyle really managed a brilliant, witty, hardly-any-dud-notes show didn't he? And the music!!

oxoniensis July 28 2012, 09:21:32 UTC

I didn't think the Saudi's actually *had* to send women, did they? I got the impression that all the countries simply had sent them, rather than it being a stipulation or anything. But then there was so much going on, I missed tons!

I'll admit that I was a bit worried about the rural scene at the start - I thought it was all going to be a bit flowery and rustic and embarrassing. I should have had faith!

elzed July 28 2012, 10:49:13 UTC

There wasn't an official ban, but they were heavily pressured to send women, yes - and only did this under duress, and with great difficulty as there is a paucity of female athletes in Saudi.... Absolutely not a spontaneous gesture!!! Bear in mind that sport is not taught to girls in Saudi, because, oh, it's immodest and unislamic (in the view of the medieval interpretation of islam which dominates that country).

And I too was cringing at the opening, but Danny Boyle did deliver!!!

oxoniensis July 28 2012, 10:58:01 UTC

I just hope the Saudi women athletes don't suffer for it when they return home, in that case!

Did you know anyone who was taking part in the ceremony?

a_fallen_sister July 28 2012, 01:34:11 UTC

We're still on identical tracks! I just got home and I'm checking LJ while.... watching the Olympics opening ceremony! :) And making plans for which events I most want to see over the next couple of weeks. (Swimming!!)

oxoniensis July 28 2012, 10:46:58 UTC

I love being so in sync with you!!!

I can't wait until I actually get to go to the Olympics - I have my ticket, but it's not until the last Saturday, so I'm trying to be patient. I'm going to London for the theatre before then, though, so I might see what's going on in the daytime that I might be able to see, if only from a distance!

(The comment has been removed)

oxoniensis July 28 2012, 10:49:25 UTC

It was fabulous! I want to see it again, catch all the things I'm sure I missed.

fabrisse July 28 2012, 02:14:55 UTC

I was thrilled to see the suffragettes, and that's a terrific link to the fact that every team has women. Will you be seeing any events?

oxoniensis July 28 2012, 10:55:31 UTC

And wonderful to see Emmeline Pankhurst's great-grand-daughter and I think her great-great-grand-daughter.

I had hoped to get to the archery ranking yesterday (it was unticketed), but things went wrong and I couldn't go. But I have tickets for the men's pentathlon, so I'm excited about that. There are also a few tickets available for rowing - I'm supposed to be working that Sunday, but if I can swap with someone, I might try for those.

pheint July 31 2012, 21:20:38 UTC

I thought it was AWESOME! Go Danny! I felt so ... proud of our wee isle!

Sorry you missed your archery event but yay men's pentathlon.

And as a plus, it's been SO QUIET to travel in these last two days! I think all the Mad Panic London Travel Will Be Awful has made all commuters stay away!

oxoniensis August 2 2012, 07:20:24 UTC

I've been listening to Underworld's score on repeat - love it!

I'm hoping to try to catch something at the weekend - there are lots of last minute tickets, so I might be lucky!

I was wondering what the traffic situation was like - watching the end of the cycling, the crowds didn't look too crazy at all, and I wondered if people had been put off going to watch by all the doom and gloom about how awful it would be.

pheint August 2 2012, 19:52:45 UTC

It is really good, at least in the morning it is fairly quiet, usual busy coming home I would say. The scaremongering must have worked in that people have gone away or worked from home or whatever.

Hope you get last min tix!

oxoniensis August 5 2012, 17:49:25 UTC

I went in yesterday morning (I got in just after 8 am), and I don't think I've ever got across London so quickly! And later in the day, it was just normal Saturday traffic.

And yes, I got last min tix! Fencing, which at least was something I knew a bit about (I used to fence at school).

Thread 12