Let the Games Begin!!!!!!

£9billion and 7 years of planning, building etc, and here we are. Today is the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in London 2012. And it will be a triumph, I am sure. The torch made its way down the Thames this morning on the royal barge, Gloriana, rowed by oarsmen from many generations, and all that remains is for it to reach the stadium tonight and for the cauldron to be lit. Countless thousands have watched its procession through the highways and byways of the country (8000 miles) in all kinds of weather, and hopefully the sun will be shining this evening as the spectacle unfolds. It is still summer. The sun should be up late. Like most of the children of this land. And the billions watching around the world.

Welcome to Great Britain!

Welcome to London!

There is such excitement, especially for Team GB. And the whole thing is just making people smile. London is awash with visitors, and it is magical.

This morning, at 8.12am, bells rang throughout the land. Door bells, church bells, bicycle bells, phones, hand bells, school bells - even Big Ben, which last rang at an unusual time back in 1952 when the King died. I was outside as were many of my neighbours, joining in with any kind of bell we could find for 3 minutes. It made us laugh, and the laughter will, I hope, keep on throughout the next few weeks. The joy. The delight. The fun. The excitement. The celebration. The atmosphere is wonderful right now. I must go and pop my vase of flags in the window again. Hang on......

 Today is for celebration.  It is hot here in the village. More of the dripping kind of hot, and I am doing as little as possible after a fraught week of activity. The weather just made it harder to do the basics, but I will not complain about hot weather, after the months of dire wet stuff. Thank heavens for the pool at gym and the cool water to immerse myself in at times. Just wonderful.

On to other snippets......

I have found a mirror for the nook area, and I am going to find someone to put it up for me as soon as possible, because I can do anything to a brick wall, but those partition walls with plasterboard? Hah. I am clueless when I look at the fancy rawlplugs which I do not understand. Someone must just come and find the main beam thingy and screw in a hook for me. I think I know where it is but I need to be sure. I can just see the entire wall being ruined by a rash of holes in the wrong places. I do know my limits!

The garden is growing. Only one sunflower emerged from the pot this year and I did plant more seeds, but they have not done a thing. Those flowers above are remnants of last year's garden. I didn't have a clue what they were but they looked like flowers not weeds when I assessed the greenery in spring, so they stayed in the pot, and now they are blooming en masse and looking great. 

Now, a more mundane thing.

If I EVER mention that I am going to wash my sofa covers, stop me immediately and ask me if I have invested in a decent iron. I took one sofa's covers off and washed them and hung them on the airers to dry outside. It was like wrestling an anaconda to get them straight and pegged pleats sorted. And I did indeed iron them while damp. The iron I have is a disaster. I have had a series of really good irons which all bit the dust, and when the last one died, I spied the cheap (£5) one I got Diana for her student days and thought, okay, I will use that for now.

That was SEVEN YEARS AGO and it refuses to die. Which is excellent of course (says the frugal me) but a disaster if you try to iron anything heavier than a thin cotton. You can tell I don't do a great deal of ironing, can't you......

The sofa covers are heavy cotton, and I tried everything. I pressed harder. It was hot. I sprayed them. I tried ironing them wet. And at this point, because it was drippingly hot weather, I had a wet tea towel died around my head like a bandanna to stop the dripping. There was another one round my neck. You have NO IDEA, people. I looked like something the cat dragged in. And so did my ironed covers.

I only intended doing one of the couches, but when I saw the difference in colour, I had to do the other one too, and the footstool. It took 2 days. And nights. And they are in place. Creased, but clean. I am timing how long it takes for the creases to drop out, assuming they ever do, of course. So please make sure I have a good enough iron before I haul any more to the washing machine. Remind me. Yell, if you have to.

Sigh.

Life could be a great deal less complicated, I am sure.

This was taken last night - as the sun set. I just loved the golden sky. And now, on we go - the Opening Ceremony is just a few hours away and I think most of you will be watching too.

Let The Games Begin!!!!!