And so it begins ...

(this isn't all about Olympics)

Unless you've been living under a rock lately, it will have been impossible to notice that there's a big sporting event about to take off in London ...

I've taken a week off work, partly because I need to recharge the batteries a bit but I've picked next week for two reasons : it lets me watch Olympics until I get bored of it ... plus there's not much on next week at work that demands my attention.

(The worst thing you can do is believe that you are indispensible, it's a big kick to the ego when you find out that you're not - I know I'm the only one in the team that can do the stats work as quickly as I do ... but it wouldn't take long for someone else to learn that)

I'm quite looking forward to the Olympics. I sense that it will be a typically British affair. A lot will go like clockwork, with military precision (especially the security stuff - lol) but there will also be gaffs and oopsies along the way. And we'll quickly gather up the pieces, sweep up the dust and make a new plan to get things back on rails - like coping with the security firm not delivering on their promises. Brits are like that, we don't waste time making recriminations (ok, the politicians do but that's all they know), we get on with coping with the emergency and making it right.

I bet there will be a lot of British character in there too. We won't win all the medals, my country is a bit too small for that. There's a much reduced pool of athletes and sportspeople to choose from. And they will all be trying their hardest :-) (Except maybe the footballers)

I have the opening ceremony preamble on at the moment. I have the volume turned down low as listening to them will make my brain bleed out of my ears before too long. Opening ceremony starts properly at 9pm and I'll be listening to iTunes semi-random picks until then.

Ok - that's you all bored of Olympics by now and looking to click elsewhere.

I still feel on the ropes from Wednesday's game. Second day after first game for a while tends to be the worst. The injury inventory is :

Bruised thumb - thought I'd broken or dislocated it when it got whacked but the quick "can I move it ?" check showed not even a broken nail. Still sore and very stiff but ignorable.
Other bruises - yeah, these will fade. I have one in a place I cannot show off to anyone too. Wink-wink...
Legs ... hmm. These are sore and hurt like hell but there's a reason for that - unaccustomed exercise. This is why the second day is the worst, because it takes a bit of time for the stiffness to settle in.
Bad back. Ouchies ...

The back is what will slow me down. What I've damaged is the soft tissue on the left side, in the lumbar (lower) area. I have full range of movement but because it's swelled up a bit, it impinges on the sciatic nerves that control my left leg. That passes on pain etc to my legs and generally make it difficult to move around. Stairs have been literally a pain today.

Painkillers I hear someone suggest ? Nah. I avoid them. I'm the kind of person where if I think I'm ok, I'll go full speed ahead. If painkillers took the "be careful" signal away, I'd be running up the stairs and making it longer to recover. In games, I'll do the painblocking thing naturally, such that I was still diving around behind the stumps after injuring my back but after the game and the adrenaline wore off, I was having to bend over to cough because coughing while stood up was too painful.

I still get the "Let's Go Bristol!" "Yeah ! Fresh air will do you good and will let you walk off the stiffness".

Was seriously thinking about a Bristol wander but escaping work at 4pm made that not an option (again). Maybe later in the week when my legs are interested in stairs again. However if someone had said "Yeah, let's do that" - all pain would have been forgotten for a while :-).

Week's leave - here we come :-) But I can't close without mentioning a few people who made me smile today :

The new team people who asked if I was ok after seeing me limping around;
Miss F - who I spotted last night coming out of work in the car behind me and again today when I did a "oops - forgot lunch ... again" chocolate machine raid;
Contractor girls for not laughing too much when I was going OW at them;
And the Snow Queen for chuckling at my fate (to be honest, I was making jokes about it)

Hour to go until the opening ceremony :-)