Friday 28 February 2014

Throwback Thursday: London 2012

I will admit I'm not really much of a sports fan, I'm personally not very good at sports and as a rule don't get much enjoyment out of watching them either. 

Living in London during the Olympics of 2012 was pretty special though and it would have been impossible not to get swept up in it along with the rest of the country. 

There was something so lovely about tuning in to the Games on TV and seeing it set to the background of our beautiful capital city - following on so quickly from the Royal Wedding and the Jubilee it was a very proud time to be British.

It was one of the few times we could get away with watching a bit of TV in the office and it was fun to sneak up to the canteen to watch events on the big TV screens and we had an enjoyable afternoon attempting to catch Tom Daley diving whilst doing our work.

I was very lucky to get free tickets to the rehearsal of the opening ceremony thanks to my housemate.  I only found out the night before but jumped at the chance to attend and cleared my diary pretty swiftly to get myself there. 



It was so fantastic to finally get to sit in the Olympic Stadium having watched it slowly be built in Stratford over the years.   Even though it was only the rehearsal the atmosphere was great and there was a real buzz as everyone realised how lucky they were to be getting a sneaky peak.  We were told we could take as many photos as we wanted but not to share them on social media as it would ruin the ceremony that would be going out live a few days later.  At the time I wondered if everyone would respect this but it seems the audience took it very seriously and we were all very careful to keep everything quiet.










We were there for a good few hours watching the main performances with a few bits missed out - I was just as surprised as everyone else when the Queen jumped out of the helicopter in the Bond sequence on opening night.  She certainly didn't do that the night we were there!



My favourite part was the industrial revolution, the way the stage transformed was so incredible to watch and the drums completely surrounding us gave me goose bumps,  I will never forget how amazing it sounded.   That night I felt truly blessed to live in London and to have got a chance to witness something so special.



Like many others I'd also entered the ballot to get tickets for the main Games.  I'd purposely selected lesser known sports and was thrilled to get tickets for the Beach Volleyball.  I was joined by two of my closest friends for a gorgeous day at Horse Guards Parade.  The sun was absolutely scorching and it was a perfect afternoon to grab my new bright Summer shades and enjoy some quality entertainment.






The Volleyball was perfect for someone like me with limited knowledge of sport, it was a very fun event, they were playing cheesy pop that we all sang along to, we were encouraged to jump about in our seats and at one point we even did a conga round the stadium.   Add to this the bikini clad dancers entertaining the crowd between sets and the voice of the X Factor doing some comedy commentary and we were in for a fantastic afternoon. 

Shockingly  I couldn't really tell you much about what happened on the Volleyball Court, I was far too busy enjoying myself joining in with the crowd and marvelling at the beautiful view of London from the stadium. 







It was such a beautiful day that we finished it by returning to my home in Wimbledon for cocktails in the sunshine.





































London 2012 is certainly something I will never forget.




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