Olympics Opening Ceremony

[ExSurveyor]

That was a very different ceremony. The first part seemed very disjointed but the second half, from the horse on the river to the cauldron attached to a balloon was very clever.

Celine Dion was outstanding, especially given what she has gone through in the last few years.

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

That was a very different ceremony. The first part seemed very disjointed but the second half, from the horse on the river to the cauldron attached to a balloon was very clever.

Celine Dion was outstanding, especially given what she has gone through in the last few years.

I guess the rain didn’t help the overall effect and the time taken to take the torch from the opening ceremony to the cauldron was a bit drawn out.  Like you, I thought it was all a bit disjointed too.  I think . . . . . . . . . . . . . no, I’ll rephrase that, I know that I’m far too old to appreciate a lot of what was going on. 

[SwanR]

I didn’t sit through it all but I felt so sorry for those out there in all that rain. People are so proud to host the Olympics and they work so hard for what might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. We visited Paris back in 2005 when they were bidding against us to host 2012. You could see how much they wanted it. 

I thought the Eiffel Tower was used to great effect standing tall over the city. We’ve spoiled London’s skyline in my view with too many high modern buildings.

I was really moved by Celine Dion’s performance. What a voice and what courage under her own very difficult circumstances. A beautiful song to round off the occasion. 

[Turnoar]

18 minutes ago, SwanR said:

…visited Paris back in 2005 when they were bidding against us to host 2012.

Me too!

 

 

[Lulu]

I obviously missed the best bit at the end. I went to bed after the speeches. I do like Andrew Cotter though, very witty with his comments as ever.
 

 

[kpnut]

I remember you showing me that video Sam. It’s so amusing. And I could just hug his voice and accent 😂

[William92]

I was a bit busy on the day to be watching it, but having the parade along the river rather than in the stadium was novel (even if some people would consider it in Seine).

Gradually catching up on various snippets as I go along, though I'm not actively following the events like I used to back when it was the summer holidays for me and the TV was always on in the background...

[Hylander]

Shame about the weather and the drag artists.       I also found it very disjointed but then it was a bit ambitious using the river instead of a stadium.      Celine is wonderful.

[BroadAmbition]

Hoisting the Olympic flag upside down?  

Griff

[PaulN]

10 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Hoisting the Olympic flag upside down?  

Griff

It always annoys me, seeing our National Flag hoisted upside down or held up by hand that way too, seems about 50% of the time.

I was recently sitting at our local beach keeping an eye on our grandchildren playing, when an instructor (probably in his 60's) at an RNLI Lifeguard Station, assembled a number of trainees for tuition. His first job was to put out the RNLI banner and then hoist the Union Flag on their flag pole.

I waited until his students were sent of to paddle out to sea and round a buoy and couldn't hold back any longer. I politely advised him that he was flying a distress signal, when he looked at my blankly I explained the Union Flag was upside down. To his credit he did go and correct it. What I don't understand is that I'm sure when I was a youngster, we all knew which way up our National Flag went.