Going for Gold! 2012 and fish n' chips........!

The Industrial Revolution set of the
Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony.

Up till yesterday, Friday 3rd August, I had made no mention of the spectacular opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Neither had I commented on the Olympic Torch Relay. I had not, at the outset, been particularly interested in any of it.........but having had an emotional Saturday afternoon a few weeks back watching the torch pass through the Valley where I was born and by the end of the actual street, I was hooked!  I watched that particular torch relay live on-line, speaking to my two cousins who were in the my old town centre with the huge crowds, by mobile phone.  And another old friend who was at the bottom of my street was filming as it passed by.

I rang him on his mobile to find out where he was standing, before the torch arrived. 

"How did you know it was on it's way?" he said. 

"Well I'm tracking it on-line" I replied, and it's not long left Burnley, on it's way over to you." 

It was as though I was actually on the coach with the camera, looking out at all the people at the sides of the roads. The previous day there had been flooding in that area, due to heavy continuous torrential rain. In some places they were still mopping up.   

Later that evening he sent me his footage of the relay passing our old streets. Amazing. 
( I have another blog about our childhood in those streets in the 1950's.
http://capturinghistoryforthenextgeneration.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/story-about-tippler-toilet-and-clouds.html  )
The Olympic ceremony itself was as spectacular as it was bizarre and whimsical. Of course the pièce de résistance had to be the Queen receiving Daniel Craig (as James Bond) at Buckingham Palace, and then in the following footage, apparently parachuting alongside him into the Olympic Stadium in order to open the Games!! What an incredible coup for Danny Boyle. I loved "Mr Bean" aka Rowan Atkinson, with the London Symphony orchestra. Unfortunately there is so much copyright on the films that it is incredibly difficult to find any to upload to a blog, which hasn't rights reserved. The same with photos. Understandable I suppose. I did find one! At the head of this piece.  
So, I have been hooked ever since, watching the swimming, the cycling, gymnastics, and Well Done Team GB!!! Such enthusiasm and dedication, in all the athletes who are taking part, is a joy to see.  (with the exception of those badminton players who were disqualified).
Early yesterday morning we went off up to the Wirral, a peninsula of land, sandwiched between the  two rivers of the Mersey and Dee. Spending the day with an old friend.
We had a tour of her surrounding area, eventually arriving on the side of the coast facing Wales, across the water. There is a man made lake at one point, which you can walk around by means of a causeway, which is a narrow path built up on rocks and stone. At various points, the wash from the variety of boats using the lake flows across the path. Due to the inordinately soggy summer, there is far more water in the enclosed basin. I took off my shoes and enjoyed the sensation of a good old fashioned "paddle". So I walked the rest of the way barefoot. I love the wide open skies and sense of timeless space.  And sea air gives you an appetite!!                                  

Wide skies and reflections

Looking across the Dee estuary to Wales. 

The causeway

His nibs and me!

At the end of our walk we finished the afternoon off by eating the most tasty fish n' chips,and mushy peas(!),  sitting by the sea wall overlooking the marsh land. I bemoaned the lack of my camera and binoculars, but the pictures taken with my mobile phone aren't bad! I could hear the curlews calling and the peep peep peeping of the oyster-catchers.  A heron was stalking his fish, standing in a channel which ran through the marsh to the river. A flock of starlings noisily wheeled through the air, coming to rest on the roof of a nearby  building, jostling each other for position! They amuse me.  And it was good to see so many, as they are a breed, now, that is in decline.
We drove home as the full moon was in the sky, a real "harvest moon" . And after a journey of an hour and 45 minutes, it was time for supper and sleep. End of a lovely day,