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I was not in favour of the Olympics coming to London.  The UK, sure, but not London.  In 2005 we were all being urged to "back the bid" but I was one of the many sceptics who thought that it was a Bad Idea.  On 6th July 2005 I, like many Londoners, just shrugged instead of rejoicing.

And then came 7th July 2005, and the games went from everyone's thoughts for quite a long time.

And then there were the years of preparation. Lots of my friends became involved, JJ is an assistant for one of Team GB's sports and Rock Chick and four other friends are"games makers". 

My "bah, humbug" about the games just kept increasing, especially last week when it took almost twice as long to get to work.  To add insult to injury, London buses started to play recordings of London's buffoon's mayor's voice reminding us to allow for travel disruption over the PA. And don't get me started on corporate sponsors or on tv advertising (especially this sponsor of the games and this wretched ad campaign).

Even when I knew that some of my colleagues were going to be in the opening ceremony I couldn't get properly enthused. And then two things happened in quick succession. First, I met the cousin of someone I vaguely know, who is a member of Team GB and just listening to how hard he had trained and how beside himself with joy he was at competing in London 2012 chipped a huge whole in my cynicism. Then I watched the opening ceremony and cried in a very un-British, uncynical way.

I may be easily led, but I've been completely converted (apart from the corporate sponsors but that's another story).  And, dammit, I'm proud of my city :-)

another year

Yesterday was my birthday, I turned 44 (gulp) which I find inexplicable because surely it was only three years ago that I was 21...?
I had taken the day off work and had many lovely things planned (aromatherapy massage followed by a picnic lunch with my cousin then out for dinner with a friend).  Instead I woke up with a migraine which made me feel like the inside of my head was on fire, so things had to be called off and I lay in my darkened bedroom, when I wasn't worshipping at the porcelain altar.
However, I was recovered enough by evening to be placed into a cab, taken off to a posh bar for some superior pub grub (which for me was a pail of extremely delicious chips) and then placed in a cab back home.  By this time I was feeling in very fine fettle and was able to partake of a cocktail and open my presents, one of which was this splendid item - a solar-powered, royal-waving Queenie!

slip of the tongue

It was 7.45 this morning and I was coffee-deprived when the following conversation took place while waiting for a meeting to start.
Junior Doctor: Hey, Illanare, I'm sorry I haven't got back to you about when I can commit to a week of teaching.  I wasn't sure what my availability would be (lowers voice) as my wife is pregnant.
Illanare: Oh, congratulations!
Junior Doctor: Thanks!  Yes, I didn't feel like I could commit to teaching until we had the 12-week scan.  That was last week and everything is fine, actually she's 13 weeks now. It feels like we had to wait forever for the 12 weeks to pass.
Illanare: (whose few functioning brain cells are only thinking about coffee) yes, the first trimester can feel like it goes on for twice as long.
Junior Doctor: Ah, so you have children!

I was back in the moment with a bang and had no idea what to say.  After what seemed an eternity, I mumbled "er no, I don't" and then thanked a god I no longer believe in for the meeting chair calling us all to order.

I was off my guard and so ended up blindsided.  What would you have said?

Norway

Before I bore you with holiday snaps, I have to first explain something.
I like trains.  Or, more accurately, I like train journeys. When I was 20 I did the obligatory inter-railing trip around Europe and since then I've been taking as many railway journeys as I can.  Like the Carlisle to Settle railway, the Duoro Valley line in Portugal, the amazing Indian Pacific in Australia and a few more. All very lovely but were not on my list for as long as the train journey between Oslo and Bergen.
So anyway, a friend wanted to go with me and so the two of us took an early morning flight to Oslo.  We were only there for a day and a half (been before) but took the opportunity to hop onto an Oslo fjiord cruise.  It was very cold... (I wasn't wearing a feather mask but I was wearing a fleece, waterproof and blanket)

 Happily, the sun came out as soon as we got back to the city.

This photo and the next were taken at 10.00 at night :-)

After a day and a half in Oslo, we took our sleep-deprived selves down to the station to catch the early train to Bergen.  My friend thought that perhaps we'd have some time to catch up on sleep or to do a little reading but in fact we spent the entire 7 hours glued to the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If that wasn't enough beauty, we had arrived in Bergen.  An UNESCO heritage site, which is ridiculously lovely, even in overcast weather.

 

 

  The next three photos were taken around midnight, thanks to the midnight sun

 

 

 

On our last full day in Bergen, we took a boat trip through Sognefjiord to Flam. Again, not the sunniest of days but it reminded me of the South Island of NZ...

 

    

  

 

And then from Flam we took the Flamsbana, to continue with the railway theme.

 

 

Norway is so beautiful I wish I knew more poetry!  I want to go back again and go further north, but that is a trip for another year.
I wasn't going to include any travel on my 12 for 2012 list as I do travel often.  But I have to put the Oslo to Bergen train on there because I have wanted to do that journey for 20 years.