And now, the end is near...

Well, this is the moment when I’m supposed to be telling you about how I watched Aaron Cook win a fine Gold Medal for GB in the Taekwondo.  But, alas, the powers-that-be aren’t aligned with me, so it will need instead to be a post chronicling my thoughts, as the Games starts its penultimate day.  No camera-shaken photos, or distant videos this time...

For the past 15 days, I’ve felt like I’ve been spending my entire life inside a bubble... a Utopia of sporting excellence and patriotic fervour.  There are several things I have not done in these 15 days... I haven’t watched any non-Olympic TV or read much non-Olympic news... I haven’t been into my local town, or seen any of my neighbours (they are all asleep when I get home each night)... I haven’t done anything work-related......

On Monday, “normal life” resumes – whatever that constitutes.  It would be refreshing if “normality” was positively impacted by The Games – it has been noticeable in these past 2 weeks that strangers are talking to one another on The Tube – typically bound by a common “Team GB” logo on their respective T-shirts.  Pre-Olympics London was, on occasion, a grim place.  If the legacy leads to a longer-term improvement in public morale, this can only be a good thing.

At some point over the next couple of days, I’ll document here a countdown of my Top Olympic events which I’ve personally attended.  Initially I was thinking of writing a Top 5, which soon evolved into a Top 10, and has subsequently escalated into at least 20 or 30 moments which are worth charting here.

I was initially planning on attending the Modern Pentathlon tomorrow, but I’ve rethought that plan.  I already feel as though I’ve completed 15 Pentathlons of my own in the Olympics so far, and my reserves of physical energy will suffice for today, but not for tomorrow.

And so, today is my last trip to the Olympic Park – and I’m an honorary Norwegian for the day.  I have a very close friend who is a Norwegian, and a Handball fan, and we have talked for many months about how it would be great to watch together the Norway Women’s team winning an Olympic Gold Medal.  Well, they are in the final this evening, and so they face the final curtain......