Some other recent headlines that make me angry that London bid and won the Olympics (my feelings have been made very clear, Paris had the infrastructure in place yet London won the bid due to politics ... wrong):
"Games venues likely to cost taxpayer millions."
"Recession blamed as Olympics fails to inspire youngsters."
"Olympic Park loses 75% of its value."
"Union chief crows about £2,500 Olympics deal for DLR drivers."
On top of all that, Cameron decides to double the budget for the pointless opening & closing ceremonies despite assurances in previous years that Britain would not try to match Beijing with wasted money and would mark these events with some prudence. So all this nonsense about China ramming their corrupt system down our throats with sick amounts of money is now being mirrored by Britain. Add in the Plastic Brits, mainly athletes who have competed for the US but realised they are not good enough so have found a way of ingratiating themselves into a GB vest at the expense of others more worthy, despite a broad American accent, then drape themselves in the union flag ... arghh! Plus the marathon not finishing in the stadium, the first time this iconic sporting moment will be lost at the Olympics, because London is embarrassed by its East End, why? Finally we have the sickening thought of an ageing David Beckham captaining the England - sorry, Great Britain - football team despite no longer being good enough to play for an English league team.
Anyway, despite all that I was mighty impressed by Mo's 1500m in Glasgow today, what an athlete thanks to Alan Storey. All the credit is going to Alberto Salazar but Farah was already on his way before they teamed up - I was in Barcelona to see him destroy the 5000m field in the Euro Champs in 2010, one of the most powerful performances I've ever seen.
Of course, if anyone does have a spare ticket - a good friend of mine this week got a call out of the blue and managed to purloin one for an evening athletics session ... for free! - I would be very happy to partake in the experience. Otherwise I'll just have to take Natalie on our annual father/daughter bonding session to a Diamond League meet somwhere in Europe - she's talking New York, I'm not!
Back on the domestic front, I attached a number to my Cirencester vest for the first time in over two years to take part in the Boxing Day 4m Challenge at Cheltenham Racecourse. It was great to meet up with some old pals - Paul Barlow, Dave Newport, Andy Prophett, Andy McCoy and a few others - as well as to trigger memories of the late 'Speedy' Pete Holmes who died so tragically at such a young age and whose name is on the trophy for the day's individual winner. Sadly, but not surprisingly, it wasn't me this year but I enjoyed pottering around and it was great to be in a mildly competitive race situation again.
After the race we spent the rest of Boxing Day with my sister Hazel and brother-in-law Max (pictured at our place) and others at their rented cottage in Whelford. We had a wonderful lunch, chatted about all sorts of issues, but mainly the state of the Euro, drank some wine, ate well and felt good about life. Two days later Max died at the age of 61. Puts into perspective all those silly little issues that we carry around with us all the time. RIP Max, I can still remember you cheering me on in the Olympic Trials Marathon in Milton Keynes in 1980 and being amazed that I then went on to party all night in St John's Wood with my Aussie mates!
