Kick-started by Cuppojoe (see comment no 3 on last post)

Ah ah! So I CAN tell it the way it is after all!

I am moved beyond reason by the praise of my peers. My acceptance speech for the latest accolade I thus received runs as follows, spoken in a slightly Brummyfied French accent (tears of joy optional: I look marginally better when not crying, really!):

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This stupendous and totally unexpected award would not have been possible without the contribution of the following people whom I would like to thank from the bloggom of my heart:

-The doctors at my local hospital who said it was ok for me to stop lecturing and to take retirement due to ill-health (for while I was working, computers were the bane and tripple bane of my life: no time to catch up on all that technological guff, you see)

-The lovely people who gave me loads of money in exchange for my big old house, thereby providing the ready cash to afford a lovely little laptop (which is neither too scary, nor too imposing in a room, and very,very, old user friendly)

- Super Paul, my son, for teaching me with the magical patience of an elder most of what I needed to know to be getting on with this (and of course for introducing me to the secret world of the blogs!)

-All the athletes, commentators, cameramen and so on ... who made it all possible....."

By now my voice is breaking up a bit and I am being dragged from the stage by two burly chaps in toxedoes to be unceremoniously bundled into a taxi and sent back to my little cul-de-sac, from where I can continue to write in peace the charming nonsense that you, my lovely and patient readers have come to expect and to appreciate!

I did have some more to say about the Olympics, but it was really more about the opening and closing ceremonies, and my love of the diversity of cultures.

The Chinese thrilled me to bits with their exhuberant and delicate dancing. Accrobatics seem to be the norm for them. I liked the rich reds of the costumes, in contrast to the beautiful blues of Athens. I loved the faces of the Bejing Opera performers, which reminded me of a book my dad had brought back for me from Paris, when I was seven years old. It was the story of a little girl whose dad brings her dolls from all the five continents of the world. This must have been my first glimpse, -bearing in mind that the year was 1955, that we had no TV and that I had never yet been to the cinema -, my first glimpse then of the wonderful differences between the peoples of the world. And there was a Chinese doll, all red pursed lips, eyes in a line and very black pigtails on top of her head.

The Greeks bored me with the singing (sorry, I should be more tolerant...but I like to understand what is being said, and I didn't) BUT... I loved the fact that there was more than a sprinkling of wrinklies on the front line. The strutting was phenomenally ridiculous and highly entertaining, and soooo unsexy, I felt. My heart bled for the chap that tripped up in front of the whole world...How does one in show biz recover from that???

It all seems very long ago already. On the plus side, I have been outside several times since the end of the Games; I have done a walk in a pine forest, seen some friends. The house looks tidy once more, there is food in the fridge, and my clothes are ironed. Order is restored.

I'm off to bed now, with a new set of easy peasy reading books : The no.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Set in AFRICA, see!!! and funny and touching and easy to read. Just like that book about dolls of the five continents.

Good night. I hope I haven't bored you! Good feelings of belonging to One World to everyone,

Jocelyne