Our " Golden Olympics " are over - and we're "gobsmacked " !!

"Gobsmacked" ? To those who are not familiar with this rather vulgar expression, it means "How the Dickens did we do it" ? Do WHAT ? It hardly seems real, but our wonderful Olympic athletes have arrived home with 19 GOLD medals, and a total 47, including silver and bronze .....WOOOOW ! It's the best result for 100 years !! I guess we are slow developers so there must be hope for the future...here's to 2012 in London. Considering the one + billion Chinese, millions of Russians and Americans, it does seem as though the Gods (whoever..) were smiling on us, and the Earth Angels were certainly flapping about - long may it last.... After those days - and nights- of heightened emotions all round - just as much here in the U.K. as in China, it's so quiet now, just Shady and me, (he's actually not that quiet when hes 'caterwalling' ..), no raising the voice and shouting 'Go for it' at the crucial last few seconds of a competition - as though they could hear .....Well, we all wanted to do our little bit to energise the contestants - and I believe that encouragement, through the ether, is powerful....many of my singers are inspired by it, or so they tell me....The person I was most concerned about was not an athlete but the commentator of the rowing events - he was so excited he all but split his vocal folds oooowh, painful to my ears and stressful to my throat - the same as experienced when listening to an un-focussed and airless voice 'singing', it takes hours for me to be able to swallow comfortably - know what I mean .? The final flourish, typical of this zany nation, was the apllication of a golden nose cone on the British Airways plane that brought the team home!! It was such a dignified greeting ceremony, with none of the super-power "glitz"and overstatement, just a lot of gold medals dangling around proud necks - we couldn't compete on those terms, so we did the "What's all the fuss about " routine - quaint. Yes, we will have a much "cooler" approach in four years time....we don't have to advertise that we're great, everybody already knows ..!! (Teasin', teasin'....) Now we await that Swedish "Golden Girl" event - "S & D" Royal Opera, Stockholm - 19.30 Sat. 13th. Sept. 2008, and if you don't know what I'm referring to, look back a few blogs - it is a very special date with destiny......My poor old eyes are still puffy from "blubbing" with joy for the winners from all races, and compassion for the 'losers' - 'losers' -no such thing ! To qualify and be chosen for such a life changing International collaboration makes them all winners in my book....So, k..p b.......g ....the most important element for all the Olympic athletes.......