Wednesday 13 August 2008

There She Goes

Mass e-mail to Commercial Departments at all stations:

From: Account Manager
Sent: 12 August 2008 15:22
To: Commercial-Everyone
Subject: WONKATHON TOMORROW!!!

Please bring night shirts or pyjamas for tomorrow. You could wear them to work or get changed here. Up to you.

Any blankets you have at home will help also to create the scene.

xx

From: Planning Manager
Sent: 12 August 2008 15:26
To: Commercial-Everyone; Account Manager
Subject: RE: WONKATHON TOMORROW!!!

I perhaps we should do lunch first Account Manager.
best
Planning Manager


I am counting down the hours til we leave for our trip to Portugal and Spain; it is now 11:15am and there are exactly 18 hours and 15 minutes between me and the most anticipated holiday of the year. I am so tired today I am seeing spots. Last night (or this morning, if you live in China) was the team final of the women's Olympic gymnastics competition. I don't think I need to mention my obsessive love for gymnastics again - I'm sure I dedicated a post to it some time ago. Suffice it to say that I have been in ecstasy ever since the opening ceremony last Friday. I watch anything acrobatic related: gymnastics, diving, synchronised swimming (I don't care if it's not a real sport!), tumbling, trampolining and swimming. Ok, this last is because I am in perpetual awe at the anatomy of male swimmers, but I digress. The BBC has fantastic coverage of the Games. They have 6 interactive streams dedicated to 24 hour live coverage, and when there are no events taking place, they show highlights and news packages. However, the coverage on other stations, such as British Eurosport, is usually reduced to roughly half the actual event time. So in the case of the women's team final, Eurosport has an hour of highlights coverage later this evening, whereas the BBC's live coverage is over two hours. One small flaw in the BBC Master Plan - you cannot record interactive TV.

As I simply can't settle for anything less than the maximum gymnastic overload, it follows that I had no choice but to watch the full two hours of competition. At 3:30. THIS MORNING.

I set my alarm to wake me at that ungodly hour, and for a split second considered doing what a normal person would do - rolling over and going back to sleep. But the pull of my most beloved of sports was too strong, and somehow I rolled out of bed, blind (which I am without my contacts), deaf (I still had ear plugs in to shut out the drone of the fan) and dumb - no way was I going to speak and risk enraging Shoes anymore than necessary. To be fair, I had offered to sleep in the lounge to preserve his beauty sleep, but he felt sorry for me and said it was ok if I woke him up. So far I have not had any complaints, but he shot me arsenic-in-a-look this morning when I didn't get up to make his sandwiches and thereby made him 15 minutes late (15 minutes to make sandwiches? I guess this is why mothers and not fathers generally make their children's lunch).

It was completely worth it in the end. It was a drama-filled battle for gold between China and the USA, and I lived every second of it with the gymnasts. I would have been on my feet with the tension of it all, had I been able to rouse myself from my coma-like state on the couch. But let's face it, there are limitations as to how involved one can get at that hour of the morning. It was enough that I could see past the sleep in my eyes to root for my favourite - which kept changing from China, to USA, and back again. I would have been happy for either to take gold - both teams are absolutely phenomonal this year.

So I haven't exactly started my countdown to holiday on the best foot, considering sleep is minimal at a trance party at the best of times. However, despite my fatigue I feel strong like bull, and I reckon if I take last night as my first party night and go non-stop from now til Monday, I should be ok!

I will be loving and leaving you then until Tuesday 26th, when I return from my quest to chase the sun. Just to remind you, we're spending 4 days at the party in Idanha a Nova in Portugal, then flying to Barcelona for 3 days of sightseeing, and ending the holiday with 5 days on the beaches of Mallorca. I'll tell you all about when I get back!

7 comments:

phillygirl said...

wishing you a spectacular holiday ... finally :)

Sweets said...

enjoy every second of your trip whooohooooooooooooo!!!!!

before you leave maybe buy a roll of ductape and tape your passport to your back? just kidding LOL

:)~

The Divine Miss M said...

I hate you.

How go play somewhere else.

Lopz said...

@philly - thanks hun! *breathes huge sigh of relief*

@sweets - maybe I'll do that, just in case! Or I'll hire a really big, strong bodyguard to guard my passport at all times.

@Miss M - jealousy makes you nasty. You and QOM must stop behaving like 3 year olds now, or I won't bring you any presents!

The Divine Miss M said...

Presents??? Did you say presents???

Okies Lopz. I loves you and Shoes.

po said...

Hey I am obsessed with gymnastics too, I watched the Olympics at BBC online, and woke up every morning at ridiculous hours. It was worth it though, to see the likes of Anastasia Liukin winning the gold :)

AngelConradie said...

i am glad it was incredible despite the little mishap with the burgers...
and the gymnastics was about the only thing i watched of the olympics apart from a little archery. it was indeed awesome!