New Beginnings

 So in the week when we thought we all thought we might have  life space to fill post-Olympics, we've actually been rather busy.

After the hectic day last Saturday visiting the Olympic park with Richards parents, I awoke hoarse but happy. The four hours we had spent in the Olympic Stadium had been absolutely fantastic. Watching Mo Farah win the 5000 m was one of those experiences that will stay with me for a lifetime. I was already welling up as they announced the name of the runners and  I turned to Richard's Mum and said  “I have absolutely no idea what I'll be like if he wins".

He did win in considerable style and amidst a noise so deafening and filling, the like of which I've never heard.

Having hugged Rich I turned to the man next to me, a perfect stranger, and he said “Brilliant wasn't it?"

“Yes" I replied and then as an afterthought “and I hate sport"

He laughed, and to me that's what the Olympics brought to us all - the great shared experience and ability to communicate with friend and stranger alike. Richards Mum was busy chatting to the two Spanish men in the seat next to her.  A fabulous experience.

Having dispatched the in-laws off back to Devon on Sunday afternoon, forty minutes later Richard collected his nephew Marcus from Paddington and brought him home to stay with us on Sunday night, prior to his starting his National youth Theatre technical course on Monday.

I remember starting my National youth Theatre course on a Sunday too.   I didn't have the joy of coming to stay with my gay uncles. I  said goodbye to my Mum and Dad at Doncaster station and arrived at King's Cross  some two hours later. I then found my way on the tube to Manor house and the rather beguilingly named “Catholic International Students Hostel" where I was staying - I'm strictly Church of England, and while Yorkshire did very well in the medals table it could hardly be counted as international, so looking back, I was an impostor on two counts.

 I then had to make my way to a school in North London where rehearsals were being held.I've never forgotten that afternoon. Eighty  of us, all new members, all in one school gymnasium with Michael Croft, the founder of the National youth Theatre,  and four directors sat behind a table. After the initial speech from Croft about sex drugs and rock 'n' roll, or rather the lack of it, then one by one over the course of 5 hours we each stood up in front of the other seventy-nine and did our audition speech. Terrifying, humbling, and yet character building. Nothing to follow could be as bad as that. In that room were Timothy Spall, Alex Jennings, Kate Buffery, Tim McInnerney ( yes all 3 of them! - The old gags  are the best !) and many other people who have gone on to prominence in fields other than that of the acting world.

These days the whole operation is much less self dependent. The members stay in halls of residence. They have people looking after their pastoral care. I suppose it is necessary, and yet it all seems a much more limited experience. I dropped off Marcus amidst a sea of Volvos  spewing forth their offspring. I'd like to think I looked like a sort of  wacky and hip uncle, khaki shorts and Nike hi tops  at the ready.  In reality I felt just like all the other parents, nervous about leaving their offspring for two weeks in the capital city to get up to as much of their own devices as the constraints of the 21st-century youth Theatre will allow.

Actually there couldn't be a better place to be. Post-Olympic London full of hope, energy, and friendliness. Let's hope it stays that way.

Postscript 

We went down to Devon on Tuesday to say goodbye to Richard's grandma Pip, a redoubtable grand and marvellous lady who died on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It was an honour to read a poem at what was a beautiful and simple ceremony in a Devon crematorium. Richard's father gave a beautiful eulogy telling  us  more of  Pip's life  and we all adjourned to an Exmouth hotel for a family lunch and a fond exchange of memories. The sort of party Pip would have liked herself.