Olympic Inspiration and other "stuff".....

Apparently I didn't publish this blog. My profound apologies.......

Well, the Olympics are almost over for another four years; I have always been proud to be British, and now is no exception.  No matter where the competitors came in their individual events, they gave their all in front of a home crowd.  I admit that I haven't watched much of the athletics but I saw a fair bit of the swimming, diving and rowing (one of the perks of working from home).  Seeing the rowers unable to even walk after their events, the swimmers that said "sorry" because they didn't manage to win a medal and all of them thanking the crowd for the support was lovely to see and yet heartbreaking at the same time.

If anything can inspire people to get up and exercise, or to pursue a dream, then I hope this is it.  I am looking forward to the Para Olympics too; even more inspiring and all the more poignant when one considers all the adversity and challenges that many face, or have faced, in life.

Athletes aside, what or who else can inspire us to greater heights?  And more importantly, why do some reach their potential and achieve their dreams whilst for others it is just like a snap of the fingers and whoosh, it is gone?  A lot is obviously down to talent.  The question, surely, then is, are we born with talents or can we learn them along the adventure that is life? Assuming that we do have some sort of talent for some thing that requires dedication and hard work (and I am not just talking about sport here; it can be anything from cooking to art, from being great with children to having a tidy, spic and span home that people would die for), can we actually achieve this without someone teaching us and encouraging and pushing us?  My own answer would definitely be "No", simply because I am intrinsically lazy at heart!  I really do need someone to continually push me and encourage me - even to do the housework I have to have the best excuse ever, and that is someone coming to visit. Luckily for me I don't have that many people visiting (all together now - aahhh) otherwise  I would have to spend my life tidying and cleaning; and I am pretty sure there must be something better in the world than that! I need someone to be pushing me to my limits and allowing me to see that I can achieve anything that I put my mind to.

Talking of inspired acts; as I mentioned, I have been watching the swimming and loving every minute of it.  Bit bizarre really as I can't swim and have a fear of water.  Learning to swim is on my bucket list (and will probably stay there forever unless I can find a swimsuit that fits me and covers all the bits I don't like) and I don't really know why. Is it the feeling of freedom - a bit like running allows you to escape from your worries - or just the mastery over your own body?  Who knows; and to be honest, does anyone actually care?  I suppose I just like the idea of be able to swim.  I quite like the idea of learning a new language too, but that one will never materialise simply because I don't have talent at all in the direction.  I did basic French at school and although I was told that I was quite good at it, the teachers where sadly not the best and gave no real encouragement, so it was one hour a week and that was it.  Not long enough to learn and retain anything, or certainly not in my case.  If you tell me something about a million times, I will never forget it, but my brain does not retain information easily. Well it does, but usually only trivial snippets that are good for quiz nights (and even then I have never managed to win - but then I can happily blame the rest of the team for not knowing enough!).

Oh dear!  I thought my week was going so well on Monday morning; by late Monday morning I realised that it was doing nothing of the sort. It ended up going in the wrong direction - literally! I had driven across to my friends to pick up something (and a very trusting friend she is too as she works and I have a key) and on leaving her house, I discovered I needed to do a three point turn in order to escape the rather large van that had appeared at the end of her cul-de-sac.  I have done this manoeuvre many, many times in the past; usually in my (expert!) opinion it can only be done in three if you are in exactly the  right spot, but for some reason, in a moment of aberration I put the car in reverse and put my foot on the accelerator rather than the brake! The car shot across the road, up the kerb and lodged firmly on the three brick high wall on the common ground (right next to a huge tree and an electricity pylon!). The noise it made was enough to wake the dead and once I had recovered enough equilibrium to actually realise where I was, what had happened and turn the engine off, I was really expecting to see the entire back end of my car smashed to smithereens.  I have to say at this point that although there were people in the street, and a woman walking past several seconds later on the other side of the road, none of them even came to ask if I was okay.  The one person who did come to my rescue was a man living right next door to my rather inelegant perching atop said wall. All the more remarkable as I had heard all sorts of rumours about this man and yet, despite his rather unsavoury past (according to the neighbours at least), he was nothing but brilliant, and kindness himself.  He organised the men in the delivery van to help push me off the wall, checked the underside of my car for damage and changed my tyre.  When he told me that I was very lucky I believed him, as I had only bent the wheel (offside back in case anyone is interested in the minutiae of the details) and flattened the tyre. There is not a scratch on the car (well there is one but it has been there for a while - just a little brush with a garden gate....) and everything else seems to be in working order.  Whilst he was changing my tyre I did hear a potted history (straight from the horses mouth so to speak) and he was nothing but nice, even making himself late for work in order to help. I know that even the most evil of people can put on a persona that is charming, but until I have proof otherwise, I will consider him nothing but a knight in shining armour.

The downside to all this tragic (for my car and my pocket) tale is that my spare tyre is one of these half size things that will only allow speeds of less than fifty miles per hour (and should only be used to get you to the garage to get it changed).  That wouldn't have been a problem, but the wheel is painted bright blue with huge yellow stickers warning of the speed limit of the tyre, so no street cred in that.  The car looks quite lopsided when viewed from the rear so I was hoping that those travelling behind me would excuse the slow speed and recognise the reason why.  Of course it is Murphy's Law that every road in the town and surrounding area where I live has maximum speeds of forty miles per hour, but the road that I had to use twice had limits of sixty for several miles.  You can imagine the tailbacks.... and people's views of women drivers. C'est la vie and all that.

Here's hoping that the rest of my week is going to be better.  The weather is certainly perking up a bit although it is very humid. 

Hoping you pop in again soon.

Susan xx

P.S.  The little positive bit (that I keep forgetting to give) for this post is:

Challenges are all part and parcel of life.  What doesn't break us makes us stronger. Even if we cannot do anything to change the situation, our own attitude to it will certainly change how we view it.