Not feeling the London 2012 spirit

comments 31
Thoughts

The Olympic torch went through the little place that I live yesterday. Well, a 5 minute drive away, but close enough. I know I should have been excited. I know I should have made an effort to go and see it. But you know what? Yes. That’s what. I made no effort whatsoever. Instead I stayed in and did some work. I’ve got bills to pay! I can’t deal with faffing about some torch.

My never-ending beef with the London 2012 Olympics

Wenlock and Mandeville

Wenlock and Mandeville – what in the hell are these things? And why do they have to have such pretentious names?

With the London 2012 Olympics set to officially kick off tomorrow, there’s still a massive sense of apathy surrounding the event for me. I just couldn’t care. Sounds terrible of me. I know I should be excited. But all excitement for it has been extracted from me by everything from the ludicrous logo, the debacle that is the ticketing process, stupid mascots (Wenlock and Mandeville? Seriously? Who names their mascots those names?), the awful official song by Muse, and the fact that it took me almost double the amount of time to get to work thanks to all the Olympic lane closures on the roads.

I am outta here

Thankfully, I’m off out of the country next week. But, I’m now beginning to wonder whether I should make the effort to, maybe, make it to at least one Olympic event. I mean, when’s the next time this massive sporting event will be in my back garden? (Not literally. Though that would be more convenient for me. It’d probably mean I wouldn’t need to jump through hoops to get tickets.) Surely I’ll regret it if I don’t?

Olympic sized regrets

Maybe when it all kicks off I’ll be in the spirit. Because so far, I have nothing resembling an Olympic spirit or British pride for hosting the games. Obviously by then it’ll be too late to see about tickets. Bet I’ll still keep getting those emails though – “We’ve found more Olympic event tickets!”. Where in the heck from?! The sofa… in HELL?

Let’s see how what happens as the weeks roll by. I’ll either stay in my current state of apathy or be suddenly caught up in Olympic fever. Not to be confused with Chanukkah Fever. Wait, do I look like Greg Kelly when I think about London 2012?

31 Comments

  1. I have a face mask on and the Greg shout out is hurting my face from trying not to laugh!

  2. I must admit I am not the slight bit interested in the Olympic games.

    The mascots are hedious. Although saying that, I can’t think of any past mascots which were not hedious or ridiculous. As to their names…. well apparently Much Wenlock is a town in Shropshire and has some Olympic connection. And Mandeville has come connection with the Paralympic games. Very lame. And totally dreadful names.

    All I can say is, I’m glad I don’t have to be in London during this period.

    ps: Don’t start me on the logo. Just what the heck is it? And I bet it wasn’t cheap to have it designed either.

    • You should be very relieved to not be near London. I, naively, didn’t think I’d be too effected. Well, I was wrong. 2 hours to get to/from work = 4 hours spent on commuting. AWESOME.

      The logo costs tens of thousands, if I remember rightly. Ridiculous amount of money.

      I love sport and just wish I was enthusiastic about this event.

    • I hate it when the politicians all get on their soapboxes proudly saying that it all came in within budget. It bloody well didn’t!

  3. First off….you are right! What are those one-eyed things? LOL It’s like so ugly that after awhile your brain tricks you to think it’s cute.

    I kinda know how you feel. APEC, which is all the biggest world leaders come together and “discuss” issues around the world, was in O’ahu earlier this year. Honestly, it was a big pain in the butt. Main streets were blocked off, which caused a lot of traffic. There were certain times were we couldn’t fly, which made ticket prices really expensive. The main mall, which was close by to the hotel and convention center was on high alert. It was a mess. I’m sure you and London are going through something similar.

    Anyway…have fun in Portugal. Take tons of Instagram pictures…I want to be jealous! LOL

    • I saw a lot of posts that made note of the fact that there’s a little Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc in those mascots – http://www2.b3ta.com/host/creative/10643/1274351525/OlympicsInc.jpg

      Sounds like we’re in a similar boat as you were when APEC was on. *sigh* I don’t even really live in the city and yet I’m still getting effected.

      I will take plenty of photos. Photos of me doing nothing! Oh and the pooch. Lots of Cody for I miss that little girl.

  4. I’m not into sports so I’m not too excited either. Those mascots are awful! What are they supposed to be?

    • I like the sports, but not all this hooplah when it’s making my day to day life a tad frustrating.

      The mascots are ridiculous. Bet which ever agency was used was paid thousands.

  5. Those mascots are keeping up the British tradition of weirdo names like Benedict Cumberbatch or Lulu Popplewell or Queen Elizabeth.

  6. I want to be excited because I remember being excited watching stuff happening in Beijing 4 years ago, so surely I should be just as excited to watch when it’s over here? If not more? But it just feels like HASSLE!

    I went to some of the football yesterday and at least now I won’t get to the end of it all and say “I wish I’d gone to something, ANYTHING”. Karen might have a spare ticket for one of the football quarter finals next Sunday so I might be going to that too.

    • See, you’ve done it, you can be happy and at peace you’ve done your olympic-ness!

      I was investigating going to the Olympic Park but that’s hassle too. It’s a park! Why can’t I just go and walk around it like any other bloody park?

  7. Aw, get with the spirit, girl! I am looking forward to watching the road race as it comes very near our house tomorrow and Sunday and the time trials on Weds and the we are off to see the athletics on Saturday 4th. It just has to be done! I failed to do anything Jubilee, much to my daughter’s disgust so we are making up for it now. Mind you, there is a small part of me that is a little bit jealous of you going away on holiday next week. πŸ˜‰

    • I know, I know, I need to get into the spirit . I will try, maybe I will once it gets going.

      See, I wasn’t in the Jubilee spirit earlier this year either. I think I’m just a curmodgeon.

  8. I just heard on NPR the other day that a British journalist is spending the next 2 weeks in Canada to avoid the craziness around the Olympics, most of all the traffic, so I guess I don’t blame you. I’m curious about the opening/closing ceremonies though, usually those are worth a watch.

    • I know there have been some people who’ve gone away and rented their places out during the Olympics. Good way to get some cash!

      I’m intrigued about the opening ceremony. I’ve heard that if you’re a film fan, you’ll enjoy it. Let’s see what Danny Boyle has come up with.

  9. I’m not too excited about this year’s Olympics myself either. I personally really enjoyed the Beijing Olympics. Maybe I’ll tune in for gymnastics, but I may be too apathetic to do that. I think the mascots are supposed to be “cool and futuristic”, but they’re just not interesting.

  10. I won’t be following the Olympics much either. If I’m told something amazing happens there’s always youtube for brief highlights.

    Enjoy your trip/holiday out of the country!

  11. I am pretty apathetic about the Olympics as well. I would probably be just as annoyed if they invaded my area. πŸ˜€ Thankfully Chicago missed its bid for 2016..

  12. I used to love the Olympics as a kid but these days, I really have no interest in watching any of the events. I would rather watch a game of baseball or a movie than tune in to freaking gymnastics or rhythmic swimming lol

    • Haha. You know what’s crazy? The one event I have really enjoyed watching has been the men’s beach volleyball! Though all its missing is the Top Gun soundtrack.

    • Got the bug! Not being at work and so directly effected has probably helped with the catching of the bug.

  13. If the torch passed by my house, I prolly wouldn’t make an effort to see it either, unless it was like right outside my window. I don’t like crowds. That’s what TV and others’ photos are for. I think it’d be rather nightmarish to be in the city for the Olympics too — tourists, signage, crowds (I don’t like them, remember ;)). Those are some funny mascot names. Actually, I didn’t even know there were mascots. Were they in the opening ceremony? They look like amoebas.

    • You know what? I don’t actually remember the mascots in the opening ceremony! Perhaps Danny Boyle just said no to them!

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