I get lots of questions in my timeline on Twitter about what London is like just now – I live close to Greenwich Park where many events are taking place so my daily life is kind of upside down really. Parking restrictions, a Rapier missile, road closures, things that keep popping up on the heath where I walk my dogs… including a huge screen, a Spiegel tent and a full-on fun-fair, dressage teams exercising their horses.. and a main walking route to the park. It’s really very different, and there’s only one way to go with it and that is just to embrace it. There are plenty of negative comments locally about how it is affecting us; actually it has caused a lot of divisions, but we’re finding the postitives and not being negative at all. Lastnight we watched the Opening Ceremony on the huge screen on the heath with friends and the atmosphere was phenomenal.. just lots of people coming together with their picnics and wine to have a good time. We stood for the national anthem, saw the coloured trail from the fly-by, sang along to the songs (well, I didn’t…I can’t sing!) – it was all so much fun. 

I might say that this morning on the heath I was greeted by a very cross dog-walker and his extremely guilty looking dog, shouting, ‘It’s a sea of crisps out there. A sea..’ My dogs thought they’d found cheese and onion paradise, but he was right.. there were a lot of left over crisps!

Anyway, all this is an introduction to saying that there is such a sense of community in London; the Olympic volunteers are wonderful, so friendly and eager to help. I keep having to say it’s okay, I’m not lost, I live here! London is a very transient city; people move all the time, it’s full of visitors and sometimes it is a hard city to live in, but at the moment, it is radiating positivity. I’m so proud. My timeline is full of people choked with emotion and if there is one thing I’d recommend for BBB readers watching the Olympics it is waterproof mascara!


But, it isn’t just about us – it is as much about the athletes and their families. I very much like that P&G (massive sponsors of the Olympics) have opened a pamper salon at the Wella Studio in London (as well as on the Olympic site) focussing on treatments for the mums of athletes as well as athletes and media. Being an athlete’s mum must be so nerve-wracking, and not to mention the years of 5am drives to practice on dark winter mornings, eternally washing kit, attending events all over the country and all the while trying to see to the needs of the rest of the family. I cannot imagine it is an easy life. Other than Judy Murray (mum of tennis player, Andy Murray) you don’t really ever see athletes’ mums in the limelight. P&G have put a focus on the backbone of athletes; their mums. And yes, I know, it’s all part of the bigger media picture for them, but it genuinely has made me think harder about what it must be like for the mums, and I hope they are pampered beyond all known pampering measures! They couldn’t deserve it more.



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