Olympic Update from England- Day 1

So, yeah, these updates won't really be from me.  Sad face.

My mother and I were last in England together in 2004 when London was trying to win the bid to be the next Olympic city in 2012.  The signs supporting the movement were everywhere, and everyone in London was buzzing with excitement.  They definitely deserved to get the bid. And since that trip, well, I assumed I would be there this year.

After all, we have plenty of family living in England.  The aunt's (my mother's sisters) live about an hour outside of London by train.  And we talked about it.  All.  The.  Time.  I really thought I was going to be there... right up until the aunts got event tickets- for three. 

Jacqui, Lex, Sarah.  But what about me?  Are you kidding me?  I am going too!

Or not. 

So that's my sad tale of woe.  But I do want to share my mom's adventures and I know her friends are eager to hear about them too.  So I'll be posting her e-mails (and hopefully pictures, if she can figure out how to send them) as often as she reports.

Here's the first edition:

Saturday, July 28, 2012 3:04 PM

Hi!  It was a long day yesterday -- got in from the airport at 1:30 PM in time for the "Sissinghurst Olympics".  The gardeners and volunteers planned a very nice afternoon.  We entered carrying various flags (Lex with the Union Jack, Jacqui a Sissinghurst rake, me with the Stars and Stripes, Wendy with the Italian flag, and Jo "God Save the Queen" on some type of piano reed instrument!!!  After a bar-b-que, we completed in various sports:  spoon races (somehow I ended up on the stinging nettles and didn't even win a metal in that event), javelin throw (harder to throw the stick than I thought), and gymnastics.  I'll  have to send pictures.  We had a closing ceremony at the end of the afternoon and then I had an hour nap to rest for the opening ceremony.

I certainly hope the ceremony was explained to you in the USA because it sometimes took 3 of us to interpret the history of Great Britain.  (Taryn's note- we certainly found it amusing that universal health care was featured so centrally. Interesting to note that the NHS would not cover my aunt's mamogram despite a strong family history because she wasn't yet 55.  And the NHS prevented another aunt from traveling stateside for our wedding since the insurance only covers you while in England.  Or that pregnant women get no prenatal care and have the 'luxury' of laughing gas as their pain management during labor... but I digress.)   We did enjoy it though especially the bit with the Queen jumping out of the helicopter and Mr. Bean playing piano with the London Philharomonic.  (Taryn's note- The Queen Rocks!)

Today there are 300 people taking part in a walk at Sissinghurst for some charity.  There's a singer on the green and tonight will have fireworks at 10:00.  

Tomorrow, our first Olympic event!