I am not looking forward to many of the planned events for this summer. Today is Derby Day so the crowds will be piling onto the Downs around Epsom for one of the real highlights of the racing calendar. I know nothing about horses — in the horse racing sense — but hopefully all will go well and a good time be had by all. It's a bit cool and cloudy, though.
Next week-end we have the start of the football Euro 2012 internationals in Poland and Ukraine. These countries look like potentially very troublesome venues with their reputations for trouble with Nazi gangs and racists at football matches. It is said that expectations for the England team are at an all-time low. Perhaps this is because all too often the team performs badly. I am not optimistic about this year being any different but I wish them luck anyway.
This week-end the great Jubilee bash gets under way with flotillas on the Thames and Handel's Water Music etc. I suppose its OK but I am against all the other flag waving and hanging out the bunting and the extra Bank Holiday. It all has an air of forced jollity and probably somewhere it gives somebody the chance to make a lot of money. Still.it looks as though the rains will come this evening and damp things down a a bit. The Queen and HRH Prince Phillip are spending lots of time this year touring around the country visiting people at work, at play and in their own homes and giving the image of pensioners a boost. I think this is a better way of celebrating the 60 year reign. Still, all of it is getting the republicans all hot under the collar and that can't be bad.
But then we have the nonsense of the Olympics. This crack-pot money wasting extravaganza is preceded by the torch journey around Britain. I have already commented on this but a few days ago it reached the height of absurdity — literally — when the torch was borne to the top of Snowdon — which is, said The Times, the highest mountain in England and Wales. It could be one or the other but not both, surely. Is it going up to the top of Scafell Pike, which is, I suppose, by the same reasoning, the second highest mountain in England and Wales? I suspect that the answer is, No, because the top of Scafell is a rather more rigorous climb and the summit is not served by a railway line. The crowds of people and the press and TV all gathered on top of a mountain in Wales did seem to me to be one of the more bizarre events in this trundling of the torch around Britain.
Other Olympic News: Sponsorship is becoming an issue so daft that even the wonderful Sebastian Coe must be wondering if perhaps the whole thing is out of control. WI woman knits Olympic rings onto a cuddly toy intended to raise money for charity and is threatened with legal action by the owners of the brand image — presumably the IOC. Similar action is threatened against florists and funeral directors who put rings on their window displays for the days that the torch thingy passed through. One of the commercial sponsors is Visa and they have made their mark by banning all other credit cards from being used anywhere near the Olympic venues. They have removed all money machines that accept any card other than a Visa card and imposed a blanket ban on all other cards for any purpose. Crackers!
And, if you think all that rubbish is bad enough, you can go for a sit gown, mop your brow and buy a cheese and tomato sandwich for about £4.00 and then wash it down with Dutch lager at £7.00 per pint. Sponsors deny access to old-fashioned English beers. Will the Dutch have to watch events in their underpants because orange is not a permitted colour? It has happened before. If you are a "VIP" guest you will be ferried around everywhere in one the official cars — BMW, of course. The joy of the Olympics is, so they tell us, in the taking part. You can say that again!
Now, I will cheer up. Today the Isle of Man TT Week gets under way. That's something to look forward to and for the most part it is unhindered by the OTT activities of sponsors. I hope everyone enjoys the week and that no rider is killed or seriously injured. It has to be admitted that riding a motor-bike on public roads at speeds up to 200 mph can be dangerous.
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