At Excel

Olympic tower

First view of Olympic tower against a stormy sky yesterday.

Ladies bike race

The ladies bike race field rounding the bend at Brompton Cross

It is sunshine and showers on this, the second day of the Olympics 2012. There was even a great clap of thunder as we approached the barriers to watch the ladies bike race field speed by. This time we knew the form: a series of a dozen or more police motorbikes, greeted with friendly cheers, and some official cars come by. First we spot the police helicopter overhead, then, as the race starts, two TV helicopters hovering over the field as it comes closer. There were fewer members of the public lining the road than for the men's bike race yesterday, but there was a good deal of friendly banter including with three very big policemen who arrived on their bikes this time to stand by the barriers near us and one smaller one who was on his walkie talkie. Our three policemen shouted out 'hello Alan!' to one of the heavily helmeted, booted and no doubt body-armoured police motorbikers who rode past us flashing their blue lights and sounding their sirens ahead of the racers. I have not been to any of the great state occasions such as any royal wedding or the jubilees other than to sit in Hyde Park for the Golden Jubilee so I am impressed by the sheer good nature of the crowd, at how many children and babies there are with their Mums, Dads and nannies (grannies not child carers). One member of our group said he spotted Elly with Zac on her shoulders on the TV. Everyone is prepared to chat, and a biking enthusiast explained to us why Mark Cavendish failed to win the men's race yesterday - that all the other teams ganged up on team GB forcing them to be ahead the whole time and lose the advantage of being in the slipstream in the middle or even towards the back of the field. Or that was what this man said. I never knew until I watched this year's Tour de France that pedal biking was a team sport, but now I do. News later of the ladies hockey from Excel. For now, a nice cup of tea after watching The Lorax cartoon with the family.

bikes and parallel bars

Men's Olympic road race field coming round the bend at Brompton Cross

Men's gymnastics day at 02, north Greenwich

The day started well with watching the men's road race from the Fulham Road just by the Michelin building at Brompton Cross, then we got a river boat down to north Greenwich for the men's gymnastics. Team GB did really well at the gymnastics, the city looked wonderful from the river and Cafe Rouge do a mean croque monsieur. Hockey tomorrow! ps A reassuring note: at Embankment Pier, a couple were handing out postcards of the Houses of Parliament on behalf of the Muslim For Peace Association.

Your Olympic correspondent

Warrington Bank Quay

Wigan

Your correspondent's notebook and Kindle

Preston station

Your Olympic correspondent here, well I am well on my way to the Olympics. What is there literary about the Olympics? Well the Greeks had a word - the original word -  for it and a type of poem called the Pindaric ode. We will not dwell on that for the time being. The atmosphere was very festive on the train from Lockerbie to Carlisle. A fellow passenger was on her way to London not for the Olympics but for the Proms. Another group from Moffat were heading to York to celebrate a birthday at York Races Ladies Day. There were men in pink top hats made of cardboard, and a woman wearing a white shiny riband across her t-shirt that read 'Mother of the Bride'. Now that I am on a packed train on my way to Euston, so far all I have seen in the way of dressing up is a youth wearing a false beard. The sun is shining and the only tiny worry I have is how to get from Euston to my lodgings in southwest London with a wheelie case containing survival kit for two weeks, my handbag, my backpack containing my laptop and the remains of my picnic (bacon buttie, tomato, cheese slice and an apple). I usually get the tube but changing from one line to another involves lots of stairs. I have walked it (from Euston to southwest London) once, but that was without a wheelie case.

Green view

Green view

The view from my bedroom window, of the birches in full summer leaf on the mill leat, is beautiful enough to tempt me to lie in, like Marcel Proust author of A La Recherche de Temps Perdu (Recollection of Past time)who spent most of his adult life lying in bed. There is another good book by a man who was confined to his room: Voyage autour de ma chambre (Journey Round My Room) by Xavier de Maistre 1763-1852

The reading ram

Ram sans spectacles

Just had a fabulous session at WeeSleekit our web designers where Nicky put spectacles (horn-rimmed I assume) on the Moffat ram with the tag 'Better for reading here'. Great fun - also, do not miss the astonishing image under 'Future Events'. You will be amazed

Hay Fever

Yesterday it rained all day, but now the sun is out.

Yesterday it rained all day and I have hay fever. But overnight I took my antihistamine tablets and some paracetamol and today the sun is out.  I downloaded a book 'The Last American Man' by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of 'Eat, Pray, Love'), about a US woodsman, to read when I have finished reading  'The Enigma of Arrival' later today. We collected half a beakerful of rain in the red plastic beaker left out on the patio yesterday. I could write a novel about this place, I'll tell you all about it later.