Saturday, August 23, 2008

London Olympics 2012 Oh dear

Having recently watched the opening ceremony for the Chinese Olympics and heard about the clockwork way the whole event has been organised you can't help but think we're going to shoot ourselves in the foot when it's Londons turn.

Already Seb Coe has been trying to dampen the worlds expectations saying that the Chinese Olympics will be the last ones to have such fantastic venues / opening and closing ceremonies and no other country would ever do the same again.

What he means is we simply can't afford to do it properly. Which leads to the question why did we bid? Does anyone believe had New York won the Olympics they would have toned down the event? I very seriously doubt it. If we can't afford to do the job properly then we should never have pretended that we could. Our bluff was called and unless something happens pretty quickly the country will be severely damaged.

The british are a great nation but we regularly over state our abilities and get caught out. Monty Python hit the nail on the head with this sketch about a business trying to be something it wasn't.



The problem is of course that this will have a lasting legacy on Britain's chances in many more ways. The millennium dome was a complete disaster but had little international effect as the whole world was to busy enjoying their own millennium experience. If we get the Olympics wrong the whole world will be watching.

I really do hope we can pull this one out of the bag and make a terrific advert for this great nation, but I have to admit, the signs are not looking good already.

I wait with baited breath to see the handover ceremony and what we have lined up for the entertainment, I have a horrible feeling it could involve double decker buses and bowler hats, please don't let me be right ...........

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Colchester Gladiators v Essex Spartans



One of the big rivalries the Gladiators have is with their nearest rivals the Spartans. Earlier in the year the Gladiators had travelled to the Spartans home ground and beaten them convincingly. The Spartans came to Colchester a few weeks ago intent on returning the compliment. Watch the video to see the outcome. Unfortunately I wasn't at the game as I was shooting a wedding. The same will happen this Sunday when the Colchester Gladiators travel to play the South Wales Warriors in the wild card play offs. I will have to ensure my phone is on silent as the text messages relaying the score will no doubt start coming in shortly after kickoff.

Been trying to keep up with the portrait / wedding shoots lately so the blog has been a little idle. I'll upload some stuff soon.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Breaking things

There are two times when anything breaks

1. When you need it.
2. When you've just spent a load of money on it.

Had my car serviced and MOT'd last week. It has decided it doesn't want to work any more.