Like all other Brits I put down our country, I moan, I whinge – it's a national pastime and in case you wonder why we do so, it is a hedge against disappointment and letdown. There is a quote "Despair I can deal with it's the hope I can't take" and that is it really. So many times we have had our expectations raised and then dashed in all forms of sport, mainly in cricket and football it seems to me and we take refuge by grumbling 'Well, I knew we weren't going to win anyway". We feel safer that way.
Well, never again. This year has been a simply stunning summer. We kicked off with the Queen's Jubilee weekend and the heartwarming sight of all the crowds turning out to support and cheer on Her Maj, despite the BBC's best efforts to wreck it with their ghastly coverage. Then we had Wimbledon where Murray, despite losing, won the hearts of the public with his speech at the end where he thanked 'You guys' and assured us that we did not put pressure on him and that our support meant a lot to him. When he first started playing there was always a wag in the crowd who would shout 'C'mon Tim'. Well go in peace Mr Henman, you won't be hearing it any more.
And then the Olympics. No need for me to go into detail, read the sports writers and journalists who have posted some wonderful stuff. I have publicly admitted that I was Totally Wrong about the Games (I still object to some of the sponsors etc, I mean McDonalds?), but all my pessimism vanished and I can pinpoint the moment it happened. It was when Her Maj turned round to Daniel Craig and said 'Good evening Mr Bond'. Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, but in the UK would you have such a stunning moment full of wit and British humour and I gather it went down a storm all over the world. The Opening Ceremony was simply stunning and we all knew that everything was Going to be Alright. And so it proved.
Of course the BBC had to have their crass moment, they always do and the Director General of the Beeb (a pox upon him) intoned that we must not go overboard with our support of British sportsmen and women and we must support other nations as well. He had the gall to say this after the night at the Stadium where the predominantly British crowd had been cheering on Usain Bolt. That night we did not have many medal contenders so we yelled and shrieked ourselves hoarse over runners from Africa, the USA et al. I doubt other host countries would do the same. Needless to say he was shot down in flames but I do wonder sometimes how these people get jobs when they are obviously so utterly utterly stupid. Heartwarming to see that the Paralympics were sold out and that the level of support for these Games was the best ever in its history again from a public who rejoiced in it all.
For me I am proudest of the fact that the Great British Public recognised excellence when they saw it, be it from Belarus, Addis Abbaba, Leeds, Clackheaton, Colchester or anywhere in the world. We yelled, we shrieked, we screamed support to athletes who had been left miles behind but were determined to reach the finishing line and were treated by the spectators as if they had just won a Gold Medal. I have watched many Olympic Games and the partisanship towards the host nation participants has sometimes resulted in everybody else more or less being ignored. Not so this year in London and that makes me proud.
This is turning into a long burble of joy but I have not yet finished.
Watched the Parade through London yesterday and, once again, the joy, the delight on the faces of all the Olympians and Paralympians at the reception they were receving just filled me with happiness. Many of them carried placards saying Thank You which they waved at the crowds. There were people hanging from lamposts, on rooftops, standing on window sills to see them all go by. As John Inverdale said in the studio later 'There wasn't a single Health and Safety rule that wasn't broken today'. Mostly there were no crash barriers on the streets to control the crowd and they were not needed. A fly past and the the Red Arrows and a stunning finish to it all. I have to say that the sight of our Beloved Prime Minister, David Cameron, standing next to Boris Johnson who made a totally mad and hilarious speech which had the crowd whooping and hollering, with a rictus grin on his face trying to pretend he was loving every moment, finished the day off beautifully.
(Lowest point of the day was when Katherine bloody Jenkin came on, half dressed as usual, and sang the National Anthem. Is there somebody, anybody who will take this ghastly woman off to a desert island and leave here there? If there is then please step forward and take Lesley bloody Garrett with you as well).
And yet, and yet there was still more to come. Andy Murray was to Play Djokovic in the US Open Final and could he do it? Could he? Must be his year, made Wimbledon final, won Olympic gold and now surely he would round off this glorious summer by winning? OK let me just say that at 1am when it
was going into a fifth set I keeled over. I was a nervous wreck, had been pacing the floor, even went into the kitchen at midnight and made a batch of pastry and I could take no more. Woke up at 4am in a muck sweat having dreamed that Andy had lost. Staggered out of bed and switched on laptop and sat and looked at the screen and prayed and then up comes my home page and UTTER JOY!!! I cannot think of another tennis player at the moment who has worked so hard and come back after disappointment after disappointment and put up with nasty comments and sports writers saying he will never win a slam (other tennis players too), and now he has done it. What an end to the Summer of Sport.
OK so burbling over – oh no not quite. Watched the Last Night of the Proms and this year there were very few moaners about its jingoism and when we got to Rule Britannia on came a selection of Olympians and Paralympians to join in. I honestly thought the roof was going to come off. Not ashamed to say I was in tears.
Right that is it. It is all over and yet the memories of the Summer of 2012 will go on for ever. If there is one thing that has come out of all this is that it is now cool to say I am Proud to be British.
And I am.
Thank you one and all.
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