When I say met, I do of course mean that I sat at a considerable distance and waved a cheap plastic flag in their direction but, in this time of goodwill and community spirit, I’m sure you’ll permit me more than a slight nod in the direction of my good friend hyperbole.
It was some meeting too. Pistorius’ blades sliced through the air at a considerable speed, a Chinese triple-jumper leapt a full two metres further than his nearest competitor and Jason Smyth’s Bolt-esque domination of the 100m was quite simply incredible to behold. I clapped and I clapped and I clapped some more, ever wary that all this over-eager clapping could at any moment send my shoulder rocketing out of joint to rack up dislocation number 11, and waved with patriotic pride as the British runners generously donated the medal positions to our international visitors.
Walking through the Olympic Park for hours on end as we awaited the athletics it was clear that something was clearly not right. People were actually smiling and enjoying being in the presence of other people. The lion was indeed well and truly laying down with the lamb and not even the presence of two poorly placed trees slightly blocking the view of the big screen could dampen the mood. Rather, a general sense of unease permeated the park as we all realised that we simply had nothing to moan about. In fact, perhaps the only complaint we could have is that things didn’t actually turn out quite so badly as we all thought they would. Surely they could have at least forgotten the ramps for the wheelchairs or something, couldn’t they, so that we could all enjoy a good grumble?
Alas, the world has seen us as we have never even seen ourselves before. We are, it seems, a people who can cheer everyone on through triumph and adversity, who can put our metaphorical arms around anyone and anything that could do with a good hug, who can get things right when it matters most.
It’s all a bit tiring though, isn’t it? I’m sure we’ll all take a deep sigh of relief when we can finally stop celebrating things. Christmas is going to get a raw deal this year and Fireworks night might as well not even bother turning up.
Sparklers? That’s nothing. We’ve seen Becks on a speed boat. We’ve seen Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah. We’ve seen the world sparkle.
Put that on your bonfire.
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