What a night...
I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves otherwise I might start crying again...
I was there.
And I will never be able to forget the roar of the crowd, the cheering, the raw emotions.
It was a real privilege. It was a beautiful thing.
Pinch me, please.
It was a dream come true.
I don't know if you've ever made a list of the things you most would like to do before you die... well, I am quite certain that I won't get the chance to dance on stage with Bruce Springsteen, but this day was a huge tick
(By the way I can't remember the other items on that list... a part from walking to Everest base camp... I was a strange teenager, obviously).
We were lucky lucky lucky to get tickets for the athletic morning session.
We got to London EARLY.
We were ready.
We took our fabulous places (row 7!)
and for the next 3 and something hours we admired and cheered athletes who trained all their lives for that moment... to throw further, jump higher
or longer
or run faster...
...when Mo Farah entered the stadium the whole place erupted!
The 10,000m Olympic Champion was ready to start his 5,000m quest.
We were all behind him.
I can't stress enough how wonderful it was to be there.
How well organised it was
How I've never seen so many people (and we're talking thousands of people!) walking around smiling)
How beautiful. (the flower beds were crammed full of the most glorious wild flowers)
I hope the boys will look back at this day and remember it all and appreciate how lucky they were to have had the chance to be part of it.
Even if at the time... they were a bit... tired!
And the best thing? I'm getting to do it all over again on Saturday night!
- I can't believe I've been absent for so long.
- I ran the 'run' yesterday (it wasn't a 'race' it was a 'run'... big difference)
It was gruesome.
And wet
very wet and windy.
I felt good I've done it. Mentally.
Physically... well... next question?
- Yesterday it was also No 2's birthday party:
a testoreone fuelled/petrol-head kind of party.
9 boys, 9 go-karts. A lot of noise.
- And I forgot the cake.
- I didn't leave it at home.
- I didn't leave it in the boot of the car.
- I simply didn't make it.
- I didn't even think about making it.
I - FORGOT - TO - BAKE - MY - SON - A - BIRTHDAY - CAKE.
Now if you'll excuse I'm going to take my lactic acid-laden limbs and go and cry in a corner.
Today's post not only is - again - random, but it is sponsored by the Italian Football team (soccer for you across the pond) after all the Football World Cup Final is coming up shortly and we wouldn't want you to start cheering for the wrong team, right?
So lesson 1. Let's looks at the colours of the Italian national Flag:
GREEN
green for the verdant grassy fields
WHITE
white for the snow capped Alps
RED
Red for the blood spilled by those who died defending their country.
BUT of course when it comes to sport Italy plays in 'sky blue'. The colour of the 'Azzurri''s (the Blue Ones) distinctive shirt is enough to instil terror in the minds of football players all over the world - I'm playing a mind game here, stay with me. It's kind of like a marketing campaign...)
plate weaving by No 2
and by me
(Idea 'taken' from here)
And there you go, geography, sport, food, crochet and weaving... have a good weekend!
drum roll... ITALY!!!!!!! (loud cheers, furious clapping etc. etc.)
Wow, what a night. So nerve wracking and tense! Just as well these things happen every four years. I couldn't cope otherwise. But we won it, against a lot of odds and in style. After the games the boys and I ran around on the front garden for a while... just as well that we're moving soon... the neighbours we'll probably be relieved to be spared such spectacles in the future. Unfortunately our sleepy small town wasn't exactly alight with activities, infact I think I saw only one car driving by. One. Oh well. WE WERE VERY HAPPY!!!
This morning, while still in post victory glow I was caught off side (football joke, ha ha) by my children and convinced to do some baking.
Last time Italy won the World Cup I was 12 and I remember afterwards my dad drove us to the water front in our tricolour tee shirts beeping the horn together with thousands of people going mad. In the morning everything seemed to be painted green, white and red: entire stretches of road, shop windows, houses!
I guess painting our house might have slowed down our sales even more. Better stick to backing!
yes, they're really everywhere. You can't go out without seeing them. Your neighbours have them, and the people in front, and their neighbours. You find them in supermarket and petrol station and charity shops. On old cars, new cars, big cars small cars. Some even have two, one on each side.
I'm referring to car flags of course. What else? Is there anything else more prominent these days? And you know what? I bowed to my children pressure and got one too, I'm ashamed to say. My mission is to display an Italian one on the other side before the end of the week - if you can't beat them... join them, that's what I say!
Needless to say No 1 and No 2 are very excited about it (which is nice) but have now another reason to argue in the morning (which isn't so nice). Whilst before it was "It's my turn in the front", now we have "It's my turn on the side with the flag". It's hopeless. It's a battle not worth fighting in my view, and in my role of official family referee I'm getting very good at keeping tabs of thousands of events in order to resolve thousands of disputes thousands times a day. I'm sure I'm not the only mother on this one.
The thing is once your mind is set on this 'red and white' mode, you start spotting it everywhere. Streets signs are red and white. Post boxes are red with a white sign. And I'm getting soooo obsessed by the whole thing that today I stopped the car and took this photo:
I simply couldn't help myself.
