Five Ring Circus

So they're here at last. The games have descended upon us. After a seven year wait we're now in the midst of the biggest sporting event to be staged on these shores for over half a century. 

I have to confess that from the outset to not being a fanatical Olympic supporter. We have an amazing ability in this country to build things up, only to be let down. Our national football team are a perfect example. Every time a major tournament comes along, the papers scream out with their headlines of "England to victory" while any rational person looking on, even though they might metaphorically be standing so far away from the touchline that they can barely see the field, knows that the English football team is not the greatest in the world. As a result the fall and the disappointment are so much greater.

And yet all Friday, my heart was aflutter in anticipation of what we would see on Friday evening at the Olympic stadium. Like many people I have some friends who had volunteered to be in the opening ceremony, and although they had let nothing slip, their sense of excitement in emails and messages was tangible. I watched the footage of the torch relay, my heart rising in joy, my eyes watering with emotion at possibly one of the greatest pieces of theatre we have staged in this country so far. The sight of the legless and brain-damaged soldier pushing his way through the crowd in Doncaster, never the most stirring of places, had me in floods.

And as we headed towards 9 o'clock on Friday evening, it was like the excitement of the last 10 Christmas mornings all rolled into one. I'm putting it down to tension that I managed to make a toad in the hole with Apple tea mix, rather than plain flour. It didn't rise, but it tasted rather wonderful. Was this an omen for the ceremony to come? I need not have worried. From a fabulous opening video right up to about three seconds before Paul McCartney played, everything was fabulous. The originality of it, the imagination of it, the creativity behind it, and the execution of it from all those wonderful volunteers (well done Colin, Polly, and Jay and of course the rest of you god knows how many thousands). The sheer fact that we can stand there in front of the world and have the ability to send ourselves up. My favourite quote posted by a friend on Facebook came from the New York Times

"Britain offered a display of humour and humbleness that can only stem from a deep rooted sense of superiority,

It's true. Were not Great Britain for nothing!

Perhaps this is why the Americans couldn't cope with it. The appalling decision by the American broadcaster NBC to cut out the tribute to the victims of 7/7 and the beautiful singing  of "Abide with Me" by Emili Sande. It could be said that the reason those people lost their lives was because we entered a war in tandem with America to pursue their interests. Imagine the furore if we had edited out at tribute to 9?11 from one of the their live broadcasts. This is the country whose response to the recent cinema shooting is to ban the sale of comic book hero costumes to adults. No mention of the guns that did the killing.

Or is the reason much more basic - poor and simple jealousy…because we do one thing better than anyone else in the world.

And that is theatre!

For that is what we have seen over the last weeks, in both the torch relay and in three magical hours on Friday evening. Theatre, glorious live theatre. Bringing people together both through participation and reaction. There cannot be many people in the country of 56 million people who did not either see the Torch relay or watch the ceremony. At a cost of £27 million for Friday night, that's around 48p each. Probably the cheapest price for such a quality piece of theatre that you are ever likely to find.

Yes, it appears to many that they have messed up the ticketing. Yes, the bloody coverage is on every single bloody channel, for 29 hours a day with repeats for those that missed the action the first forty times. Yes, we've managed to insult the North Koreans. Its not good, any of this. Neither will we see the returns the government promised. No Olympic city ever has. How long before the Olympic stadium is sold off as the Vodafone Arena to make millions for a private company.

And yet while it is here, let us celebrate the way we have all been given a common purpose for seventeen days. I don;t intend to watch it. It bores me on the television, but I am going on two visits. And I will thrill. I will be excited. I may even be moist with that excitement. I will enjoy and I will be inexorably proud.