Working Together.

Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

I can't believe that today is already the 10^th of September, it is amazing how the months go by so quickly once May comes to an end.

Midsummer's day is lovely but after the 21^st of June I always think, that the clock is starting to tick to the end of summer, which we did not really have this year.

This afternoon I watched the victory parade in London of all the athletes who took part in the Olympics as well as the Paralympics.

It was lovely to watch and to see these splendid sports women and sportsmen.

Such as Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Rebecca Romero, Victoria Pendleton (cyclists) and Sarah Storey (Paralympics cyclist).

Also athletes like Greg Rutherford (long jump), Jessica Ennis and Katrina Johnson Thompson (Hepthalon), Mo Farah (runner).

Beth Tweddle (asymmetric bars) Rebecca Adlington (swimmer), Ellie Simmonds (Paralympics swimmer), Tom Daley (diver) Ben Ainslie (sailing).

Hannah Green & Anastasia Bates (synchronised swimming) Jo Povey & Julia Bleasdale (runners) Katherine Grainger and Katherine Copeland (rowing).

Etienne Stott & Tim Baillie (canoe slalom) Jonathan & Alistair Brownlee (triathalon) Anthony Joshua & Nicky Adams & Luke Campbell (boxing).

It has been extremely enjoyable to watch these fine sports women and on top of the open buses touring through the centre of London being cheered by thousands of enthusiastic happy people.

The 70,000 volunteers who threw themselves fully into making the Olympics and Paralympics so successful also were receiving cheers from the crowd.

These unpaid volunteers proved yet again that people like to be involved in community projects which benefit everyone.

They will do it because they enjoy the involvement not because they want to profit financially.

What a wonderful world it would be if financial reward would be replaced by each the rewards of everyone working together for the common good.

Harmony And Unity Of Purpose.

Roberto Matta 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta

             

It's been great fun watching the various events at the Olympic Stadium, in Stratford East London over the last three days.

The athletics has been exciting, especially the Hepthalon, with my favourite athlete, the wonderful, Jessica Ennis.

The bike events have also been extremely exciting, the individual time trials and the team pursuit plus the sprints have all been excellent.

Another event which has been fascinating to watch were the gymnastics, it was wonderful to see the strength and technique of the competitors.

The floor gymnastics are wonderful to watch, I can't believe how high they can jump from standing to do amazing acrobatics while they are in the air.

Some of the other events that caught my attention were the vault, which they approach at an amazing speed in order to leap on it to perform more amazing acrobatics.

As well as the horse, the rings, the parallel bars and the uneven bars are all well worth watching, especially for the strength and technique of all the competitors.

It has been enjoyable to watch so many great competitors, and to see how friendly and supportive they are with each other.

Really brilliant to see such fierce competition taking place amid such harmony and unity of purpose.

On the news I just heard that the coalition government in England, of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats has begun to be very strained.

Apparently promises made to the Liberal Democrats to get them to support the Conservatives in forming the present government have been broken.

The coalition partners do not seem to be either in harmony nor do they appear to have a unity of purpose like the Olympic competitors.

Here in the Netherlands the coalition government was forced to resign because of a lack of harmony and unity.

So there will be new elections here in September, maybe England will also have to face new elections; maybe they will also get rid of their opportunistic coalition government.

A Glorious Win By Jessica Ennis

Roberto Matta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

Yesterday watching the athletics and other events at the Olympic stadium was very exciting, especially those in which Jessica Ennis was competing.

The Hepthalon is an exciting event, on Friday we watched Ennis and other competitors start by running a hurdle race, then we saw them throw the shot put and compete in the high jump.

On Saturday they had to compete in three more events, the long jump, javelin and run the 800 metres.

The 800 metres was extremely exciting, by this stage Jessica Ennis was already on course to win a gold medal, she was well ahead on points.

Jessica had already won the hurdle race as well is the high jump and the javelin and the long jump.

She didn't even need to be first she had already won, she could have just cruised along but instead she decided to make a race of it to thank the watching crowds for their support.

Then we watched Mo Farah running in the 10,000 metres race, he was wonderful in this event, from the beginning he positioned himself behind the leaders.

Staying there until right near the end when he took the lead and maintained it, thrilling the cheering spectators who were delighted to see him win so magnificently.

The other exciting events were the cycling events, where the GB cycling team won more gold medals.

Victoria Pendleton won another gold medal in the time trial and three other team GB cyclists Jo Rowsel, Laura Trott, Dani King won gold for their excellent team pursuit.

Greg Rutherford won the long jump with a wonderful performance; he jumped 8.31 m beating his closest competitor Australia's Mitchell West who only jumped 8.16 metres.

Ben Ainslie won his fourth gold medal after battling for most of the week against the other competitors in the Finn class sailing regatta.

It was wonderful to see Sophie Hoskins and Kat Copeland’s unexpected win in the women's lightweight skull; they won their first ever gold medal.

It was a very exciting day yesterday; it was wonderful to see all these events, what made it even more special was Jessica Ennis winning her well-deserved gold medal.

Relaxing This Afternoon.

Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

Yesterday I got very emotional while writing my post and cried so much that my glasses were covered in tears which looked like a fine cobweb.

Both the writing and the crying were a great relief for me; it was good for me to write this.

Today I've been taking it very easy; this afternoon I've been watching the athletic events at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, East London.

I enjoy watching Jessica Ennis, I think she is a wonderful athlete and I hope that she will win gold.

I'm sure many people will be inspired by her to take part in athletics which is brilliant for the sport.

Just as I'm sure many people have been inspired by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton to take up cycling as a sport.

Watching Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France recently was wonderful and it has generated a lot of interest in this event and the sport in general in England which is marvellous.

Last I caught some highlights one of which I enjoyed tremendously and that was the canoe slalom which was very exciting.

It made me wish that I was not handicapped as I would have loved to have had a go at this sport.

The other sporting event that really caught my imagination was while watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver a few years ago.

The sport that really caught my eye was the Luge, and Amy Williams who won a gold medal for her amazing race.

It looked like she was hurtling down the track on her back on tiny tea tray, she was going faster than I imagined possible.

After seeing Amy William’s race I told Richie and I would have loved to have had a go at this event.

It is very enjoyable for me to watch the events I like; watching takes my mind off my own situation which is nice.

Once I posted this piece I intend to spend the rest of today relaxing which is a good idea for me right now.