Olympic atmosphere

Daughter and I had tickets for the tae kwon do Olympics this week.  Neither of us has ever attended an official sports event like this, not rugby, not cricket, not football, so this was excitingly different for us, let alone that it is our favourite sport to practise.

Don't go up there thirsty though.  They'll sell you something to drink, but they don't make it easy to get something without sugar or alcohol - ordinary water.  The queue for the drinking fountains and to fill your water bottle was longer than any queue for food.

The atmosphere was great.  We cheered and stamped and shouted and waved flags, especially when Jade Jones, the GB tae kwon do under 57kg came on. We saw her get through to the silver round, and when we got home, on the telly we watched her win gold.  We also watched Martin Stamper, who was up against a really good Afghan and didn't win, but was good enough later to earn a bronze.
Another that won the crowd's sympathy and support, despite losing, was Diogo Silva from Brazil, who had a gammy foot, and the doctor was called a couple of times, yet he kept getting up and fighting again.

See highlights here.

We took the opportunity to try out the London cable car, and on the way there instead of going on the DLR, got off the underground at Greenwich so got these wonderful views of east London.

Note daughter's patriotic head gear.

Late love

She blushed.  The red flushed from her checks, down her neck and up to her forehead.  You could see tears filling her eyes.   My colleague and I had just followed up on what this intelligent, beautiful woman had earlier told us, that a relationship, which eleven years ago had spluttered to a halt, less than a month ago sparked again - and the pair  instead of wasting more years had let that electricity flow.  She's in love, she's smiling like a girl, blushing like a teenager, talking about life-changing events, and she's sixty.

A few weeks ago, I blogged that middle-aged women had stories to tell, to tell of their loved but aging relatives, their young relatives who've left home, of grandmother duty, of how they balance home and work, if they're still allowed paid work.   What you rarely hear of is this late chance for love. We're privileged to be allowed to share her joy.