The end of summer, thoughts on the Olympics, truth about Hillsborough and some wonderful news…

The end of summer, thoughts on the Olympics, truth about Hillsborough and some wonderful news…

22nd September 2012

This once a week lark is proving to be a bit of a hit and miss affair, isn’t it? It WILL get back to normal soon, I’m sure, but there has been quite a lot going on both personally and in London generally – I’ve started this entry about a dozen times but seem to struggle getting past the first section. Some of you that know me quite well will know why, others will probably come to know why, in time.

So, what has happened since I last put finger to keyboard?

We’ve seen quite a few endings. The closing of the Paralympic games marked the end of the “summer of sport” and London’s time at the forefront of world news. As an aside, in this all inclusive world of ours, why are the two Games events separated? Yes, I can understand why the two events can’t practically run concurrently, but why do the Paralympic games have a different name and even its own logo? Not exactly a level playing field is it, despite what everyone seems to think.

Of course, the end of the sporting events meant an end to the cessation of engineering works on the capital’s transport systems at weekends. As someone who thought that London would be a total mess and embarrass itself during the games, I think we coped brilliantly. I had a massive sense of pride watching the opening ceremony of the main event; Danny Boyle did a fantastic job of giving the world a potted history lesson of our heritage and also took the opportunity to stick it to Cameron & Co with his huge appreciation of the NHS. I was talking recently to a friend who is not from the UK but was asking about the NHS – they did not understand the concept, or why it featured so heavily in the programme. They do now!

It has been a big summer for the country and London especially. It all started way back in June, with HMQ’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations – it seems so long ago now and so much has happened. The last time I tried to write this entry was right after the Victory Parade on the 10th, it was hard to do then and is proving equally as difficult now, some 12 days later. It was fantastic to see so many turn out to show their appreciation of everyone that had had helped to make the games work.

Boris annoyed and entertained in equal measure, he should not have mentioned G4S (they were the only ones he did that were a profit making organisation – is there something in that?) but his comments about the forces, games-makers, TfL and the Police were spot on. His digs at the French were also greeted with cheers and I thought at the time that I was watching him set his stall out to be a front runner for PM in the near future. I don’t know if it’ll happen, and I’m not sure he’d be the right man, but he does seem to be able to rally a crowd – maybe he should be some sort of Chief Clown and Cheerleader?

Yes, I’ve had to stop for a moment whilst writing above, but I’m going to get to the end of this entry if it kills me – the reason for the struggle to complete the foregoing on so many occasions? Pure pride and just a bit too much emotion, which seems to be quite near the surface, lately. Oh, it’s 5:30(am) as I’m writing this, so no, I’m not well elephants!

There has been another “ending” in the past couple of weeks – the end of the search for the truth about the horrific events that took place at Hillsborough on the 15th April 1989. I remember watching the events unfold during Grandstand, but of course, the scale of the tragedy didn’t become apparent for some hours. I struggle to understand how those that conspired to cover up what really happened and place the blame elsewhere, have managed to sleep at nights. I was prepping my radio programme when the press conference was being broadcast and felt it only right and proper to include something about the news. Apart from putting my five eggs forward, I played the only track that would fit. For the 96, their families and all the other innocents affected by the events, You will never walk alone.

I had an e-mail at the beginning of the week from Ilford Imaging. Regulars will remember that I entered an image in a competition they were running and that they had asked if they could possibly use it at the Photokina exhibition in Germany. The e-mail was confirmation that the frame had passed all the relevant Quality Control tests and was being displayed on their stand! Proud? Oh YES! To add to this, my friend and colleague, Stuart Burns also had a image on display – we get everywhere!

Today is the first of the annual two day London Open House event, which is where I’m heading off to shortly, so expect the next entry (which WILL be out within a few days) to contain pictures.


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