A summer afternoon ...

A perfect Sunday afternoon - watching the final marathon through London, the city looks terrific and again one is stunned by the determination of those athletes. The closing ceremony tonight with the handover to Rio (cue those dancing Brazilian boys and girls...) and that 'Symphony of British Music' as devised by Kim Gavin and directed by Stephen Daldry should be worth catching too, with the likes of Annie Lennox, Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, maybe Take That and Kate Bush, some of Pink Floyd etc and of course Ray Davies' "Waterloo Sunset" ... will Terry and Julie still meet on Saturday night ? 

I like this new jug by Emma Bridgewater, with some flowers from the garden - and a whole pile of fresh fruit: cherries, greengages, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, all now in season.

 Arc of a Diver

I was one of those skeptical about the Games in London - would the city cope? But it has all been so marvellous its a pleasure to recant.
We have been stunned by so much during these tremendous games - the genius and delight of Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, discovering those wonderful athletes like Allyson Felix and Christine Ohuruogu; that triathlon (swimming, cycling and then running) with the determination of the Brownlee brothers and the Spanish Gomez; the successes of Jessica Ennis and Sir Chris Hoy; the terrific commentators like Clare Balding and Ian Thorpe; then we turn to the swimming and diving ... how they do all that - the training and determination ... good to see Tom Daley getting the medal which meant so much, comiserations to the others like Sascha Klein, and Matthew Mitcham .... let's play one of my favourite albums to recapture the mood: ARC OF A DIVER by Stevie Winwood. Here is one time you do not want A BIGGER SPLASH!  

West End Girls at Waterloo Sunset

What a stunning closing ceremony - over 3 hours long here in the UK ----- it was marvellous but eventually it wore our patience out, as it climbed past 3 hours with more acts coming on after midnight - it began at 9pm. Great to see the Pet Shop Boys included, and Ray Davies and "Waterloo Sunset". Spice Girls totally unnecessary (and presumably miming) and we did not need those final acts like Darcey Bussell, Take That, or what's left of The Who. But it was all splendidly done and did anyone have a bigger audience to promote their new record than George Michael (naughty George...), who was terrific here.  Annie Lennox also great and those tributes to Lennon, Bowie, Queen. "Imagine" was the perfect song in this context .. and how wonderful to hear "Wonderwall" again. Apparantly it was all cut for the Americans with commercials! 

Regarding those rock dinosaurs, it seems one never sees The Rolling Stones at events like these as apparantly Jagger (like Rod or Sting) does nothing for free. Does Bowie (like Kate Bush) not appear in public any more? Eric Clapton and Cream would have been nice, like Steve Winwood and Traffic.

PS: I have just pre-ordered the 2-cd soundtrack of the closing music, with all those numbers .... out next week ! and I see that there is a documentary "Under African Skies" Paul Simon's journey, as narrated by Paul, to South Africa and the creation of the "Graceland" album - http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/under_african_skies   
(which only seems to be Blu-Ray on Amazon).
Now its back to West End Girls" ... and the song of the summer: Paul Simon's "So Beautiful or So What". (more Simon at Music label).