London 2012

I have to admit that the Olympics were amazing, and to think that Team GB finished third is stunning.  I think it was at Atlanta in 1996 that we got 1 Gold and a total of about 7 medals.  Not that it really matters where we finished in the medal table because it is the taking part that really matters. Just goes to show what we can do when we set our mind to it and just get on with it.  I just wish I had been able to actually go to an event, I think I would have enjoyed the rowing from Eton Dorney or the equestrian events but never mind - you get a better view on the TV anyway.

Critisisms?  Tickets were a bit of a mess and the BBC commentators did whitter on a bit too much and got a bit too excited by the Team GB successes but we haven't done this well in over 100 years ... so wait an Olympics or two and it will be back to normal service.

Everyone seems to have really enjoyed themselves.  Some of the students from the college where I work were volunteering at the hockey events and I bet they had the time of their lives.

They having been going on about the legacy of the Games.  One legacy which I hope will continue is in volunteering for various things, and that youngsters will see it as a worthwhile thing to do.  I just hope that organisations will open up to those who come forward because sometimes volunteering seems to be a bit of a closed shop as far as those who run them are concerned.  They should be open to new volunteers and new ways of doing things.

Will there be a real sporting legacy?  I hope so, but the Health and Safety Tzars need to ease up a bit so that people can get involved.  For too long the ideology that competition is bad has held sway in schools.  It is still possible to win and lose without it being a negative thing.

I am at Ely in Cambridgeshire at the moment and on the way up here I went past Stoke Mandeville Hospital which was where the paralympics started.  I bet those who have gone through the Stoke Mandeville experience don't see winning and losing as being negative.  None of us wins all the time and we all have setbacks, but that doesn't mean that we stop trying.  I think we just find a new way of winning.  I spent today in Cambridge wandering around the city.  These days I am slow on my feet and I need walking poles to help me get round, but I managed to see the things I really wanted to see.  I saw a wonderful exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum 'The Search For Immortality, tomb treasures of Han China.  I went round King's College and had a look at the chapel and the grounds as well as having a wander around the town.  I am fine if I keep moving, slowly but surely and today I achieved all the things that I wanted to achieve.

Yesterday I spent in Ely itself and spent a few hours in the cathedral on a quiet day.  Tomorrow?  I'm not sure, but I am getting the things I want to do done, which is the important thing.  They are not important in the grand scheme of things, but they are important to me.