I'm on holiday. And this year it's a good old fashioned British holiday in a guest house in Swansea. For once it feels a great time to be British and there are signs that we may even be reclaiming the Union flag from the BNP and xenophobic football fans. The red, blue and white looked pretty stylish wrapped around Jessica Ennis but even better as a cloak for Mo Farah. And good to see a ginga in gold as well. Watching the games this afternoon from the big screen in Swansea made me think back to the days when I used to watch the Olympics on a black and white TV with my Dad and we would marvel at the god-like perfection of the athletes and the extraordinary stamina of the marathon runners. Then one day I heard with amazement that my own brother Chris was running the London marathon and impossibilities were swept away.
The new generation take such challenges in their stride so that to run a marathon these days is almost a rite of passage. Jessica Ennis is a Sheffield lass and everyone feels they know her. She used to go to a school where I worked. I know her old sports teacher. She even budged up on her track for me so that 200 school children could launch pop bottle rockets down it. She is really a very extraordinary girl next door.
For years I've been chewing a mouthful of sour grapes over sports because back problems stopped me diving, dancing and running. Time to spit them out and smile and say well done. I, myself , am a long way now from being an Olympic anything, but maybe some of the magic will rub off. Well done all.
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