I posted my last blog post about 30 minutes before the Opening Ceremony of London 2012 a little misty-eyed with expectation and anticipation.<\/p>\n
It feels like an awful long time ago now but, walking around central London, I’d had the feeling that the rhythm of the preparations in London had started to step up to a point where there was an odd conjunction of the organisational pulse quickening and the rest of the city relaxing into a mood that is probably best described as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjoyous\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (an instance where Seb Coe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice of adjective was perfect \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no Twenty-Twelve management speak). It felt exciting \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as if we could really allow ourselves to believe that London was on the brink of staging something momentous.<\/p>\n
And it did. It bloody well did.<\/p>\n
Boris Johnson’s ‘are we ready’ speech has been answered with one yes after another. London has delivered beyond perhaps anyone’s expectations.<\/p>\n
These 2012 Olympics have been absolutely wonderful \u00e2\u20ac\u201c brilliantly conceived and executed. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed this last two weeks so much and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve loved almost every aspect of the games.<\/p>\n
In fact, as far as the purposes of this blog are concerned, I’ve loved it too way too much — my writing has virtually gone on hold as I’ve watched the events on television and mingled with the crowds in London and taken in as many of the events as I could (two ticketed and four of the free events). I’ve drafted long blog posts on what I’ve enjoyed but been to busy enjoying the events to edit them (hopefully I can post some more before the end of the games).<\/p>\n
So in writing terms, I’ve been a little like Phillips Idowu \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I’ve gone AWOL. I’ve done some revising but missed yet another notional self-imposed deadline for getting my first draft edited down.<\/p>\n
But, to look at things in the zeitgeist of national positivity, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never get the chance again to experience the city that the novel’s largely about in such a uniquely relaxed, celebratory mood \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and to enjoy a genuine mood of euphoria which, after all, isn’t often something that features in many novels. So I’m convincing myself it’s writerly time well spent.<\/p>\n
I’ve taken loads of photos — some of which I’ll use in later posts — but I’ve put them all on a page in the blog to give a visual impression of what I’ve been enjoying so much (there are a few surprisingly good ones). Click here<\/a> to view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I posted my last blog post about 30 minutes before the Opening Ceremony of London 2012 a little misty-eyed with expectation and anticipation. It feels like an awful long time ago now but, walking around central London, I’d had the feeling that the rhythm of the preparations in London had started to step up to … <\/p>\n