Sunday, July 29th .....

I finally watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony and didn’t it go on forever!  There were lots of high points but I think it dragged on a bit in some places.  I liked the introduction with the children’s choirs from the four ‘kingdoms’ – it was a bit disconcerting to see one of the Scottish singers, clearly of African origin singing his heart out  - ‘who fought and died furr ye’r wee bit hill and glen’, in his best Scottish accent.

There were lots of kids in the ceremony but am I the only one who cringes when he sees children expected to perform in their pyjamas?  I know there might be times when it fits the context but it’s just a bit sleazy for me.  I have visions of dirty old men furtively recording the performance for future viewing.

The concept of transforming the idyllic English countryside into the Industrial Revolution was brilliant – the way the chimneys rose out of the ground was fantastic and the clumsy dancing of the mill owners was great.  Again, there were so many elements, it was hard to notice everything and I’m sure some ideas just passed me by.  I was embarrassed when Sir Paul Mccartney got out of sync at the beginning of his song but I suppose that’s life.

Who would have thought they would feature the music from Chariots of Fire?  What could have been a sorry cliché was saved by the involvement of Rowan Atkinson, the man with the rubber face.  Hijacking the famous scene where Eric Liddell, Harold Abrahams and others ran through the waves was a delight.  To me, this was the epitome of British humour at its best.  I gather the organisers decided to shorten the ceremony and part of that was deleting BMX riders.  Thank goodness for that!

The lighting of the cauldron was also terrific.  It seems that Olympic organisers have to try to outdo each other in their method of lighting the cauldron.  Who could forget the arrow at Barcelona or Cathy Freeman wading across a pool of water at the Sydney Games?  The idea at London of not, in fact, having a cauldron but constructing it on site during the ceremony will be hard to beat (but I’m sure somebody will try in the future).

Like many others I watch the game to see top athletes doing their best and, although I like to see Australia win, I don’t want to see interminable replays of our successes at the expense of whatever else is going on.  It was marvellous that the Women’s Relay won and there are terrific stories in that success, but I think it’s been replayed every half hour since then.  And I’m also disappointed that WIN has the contract to broadcast the Games in Australia.  We see and hear too much of Eddie McGuire and Karl Stefanovic as it is without having them in our faces while we try to enjoy the performances of the world’s best.  There are some top sports commentators in Australia but Eddie and Karl ain’t among them. And what sort of twit is Leila McKinnon, commenting that the Queen had seen everything in her 60-year reign and that’s why she was looking bored?

Oh, well, that’s only Day 1; there’s a whole lot still to happen.