I promise to post pictures as soon as I can figure out how to upload them to my friend's computer (no wifi in the house so I can't use mine to post).
London is in full Olympic spirit. People wearing shorts, hats, T shirts, backpacks with the Union Jack on them chat with others on the Tube. So far the transport has worked smoothly with no trains being too horribly crowded. The London police and games volunteers are lovely and friendly and there is a general feeling of goodwill.
I'm wearing my Team USA jacket which gets comments. I tell them that I have dual nationality which is great. If the US wins then I'm American and if the Brits win, I'm British!
Went to our first event, badminton. I have never really watched badminton but it was one of the only tickets we actually got. However it was great fun and we had seats close to one of the courts so I could really see expressions on the athletes faces. It's very fast and a badminton smash apparently goes at over 200 miles per hour. And those tiny Asian girls could whack it impressively.
My newly operational legs are protesting at walking up and down 48 stairs in the house as well as steps up and down to every tube station. I'm so grateful that I recovered enough to be able to do this and feel terrible for handicapped people in London. How do they get around?
Apart from seeing friends I'm in an orgy of TV watching. About 4 or 5 channels have all the sports on them so I'm flicking between rowing/archery/equestrian/beach volleyball. Of course when swimming comes on the channel doesn't change.
I am a little distressed about the expectations the TV commentators put on the athletes. They talk as if gold is a certainty when really their past performance shows that it's a long shot. Then when they only get bronze they make it sound like a failure.
As someone said on my Facebook page--they should try competing against the best in the world knowing that billions are watching them!
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