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Post by Claire on Jun 19, 2012 20:09:28 GMT 1
Does anyone get or care about this Olympic torch thing. The blasted thing is appearing in my town tomorrow and I heard that they are closing down the town centre, some of the roads and some of the public transport will be delayed/not on as well! The annoying thing is that no-one round here seems remotely interested in it and yet we are all having our lives disrupted by it. My friend is coming to stay by train and bus tomorrow and I have been trying with no avail to find out whats happening with the buses. When you google it, you get plenty of info about how great the Olympic torch is and how its bringing communities together blah blah....but nothing about how it actually affects the roads/transport in your town. Just wasted an hour of my life searching the web and ringing up phone numbers and still dont know when my friend is going to arrive or even where they bus will turn up!
Phew feel better now that rant is out! ;D
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Post by kunuma on Jun 19, 2012 20:39:15 GMT 1
See if you can blow it out Claire! ;D Yep, we got it down here too, luckily I found some wet paint which desperately needed to be watched! It messed up the roads round here too - I drove half way round the county to avoid it!
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vera
Pony Clubber
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Post by vera on Jun 19, 2012 22:17:04 GMT 1
I am sorry that you could not find some joy in the moment. We had the Olympic Torch come along Kingston Beach in 2000 when the Olympic Games were in Sydney. Now we just happened to be walking our dogs in that area having forgotten that it was the torch relay but we got really caught up in the excitement; there was a big crowd and everyone just seemed to be so happy that we were pleased we got to see it. The dogs were happy because they got lots of pats and also .some treats from people who were too excited to finish off their hamburgers! We just had a visitor from Scotland and I told him he'd just missed the Olympic torch going along a Scottish beach and he said so what, who cares about the Olympic Games and it's all about England anyway. I love watching the swimming, gymnastics and any equestrian events they deign to televise. Just wondering if Aus is more of a sport minded nation ?
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Post by trixiepony on Jun 19, 2012 23:37:28 GMT 1
Yes I think may be we are more in to sports think how we all most worship our sports stars, mm. Sum of the poor sports stars start believing it to we're problems come in with sum.
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Post by Claire on Jun 20, 2012 9:10:18 GMT 1
Sorry for sounding like a grumpy old woman...well lets face it I am a grumpy old woman! I know there are people interested in the torch but except for you Vera, I've yet to talk to someone. I appreciate the original spirit of the old Olympic games but its got so commercialised now and has brought out all the moneygrubbers, like landlords putting up rent in London so the tenants can't afford it and have to move out, leaving room for them to rent it out to people staying for the Olympics at exorbitant prices. And they even charge the people chosen to carry the torch if they want to keep it as a souvenir.
I think another problem is that we are such a small and overcrowded country that all the road closures and disruption for the torch is causing chaos. It wouldn't even be so bad if they gave out information about what would actually be closed etc but as with the usual British organization its just a mess. And it will be 100 times worse in London when it actually starts. We are too small a nation to be equipped to deal with an event of this size. So even tho lots of British people do love sport and are looking forward to watching the events the rest of the fol-de-rol is not overly appreciated here by a lot of folk.
What do others think?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2012 14:33:44 GMT 1
I'm in the take it or leave it camp. Some of my friends are really excited about it and I know someone who is carrying the torch through their town I don't expect I'll go and watch it when it comes through my town coz I'm a grumpy old woman too
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Post by kunuma on Jun 20, 2012 18:46:18 GMT 1
Playing sports, (with the exception of those so called sports involving cruelty) I understand, watching them.........not so much! If I want to watch the Olympics OK, but please don't bring it to my door like some new religion messing up the entire locality in the process!! Won't go into the whole political thing of playing sports with countries who have appalling past and current histories!! You can just call me president of the Grumpy Old Women Club!!
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Post by Claire on Jun 21, 2012 0:49:17 GMT 1
Well there obviously were quite a few people interested in it round her cos there were a lot of people waiting around for it, mind you mainly school kids who were just happy to have been let out of school and old fogeys. Luckily with good timing my friend just managed to miss all the road closures and only half the town centre was blocked off not the whole as someone had said.
You learn something new every day as I never realised Australian people were so into sport. What would you say was the nations favourite sport vera/trixiepony?
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Post by trixiepony on Jun 22, 2012 7:16:14 GMT 1
By all the TV time it gets I'd say Footy or cricket, in Olympics I'd say swimming our teams strong in swiming.
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Post by trixiepony on Jun 22, 2012 7:18:05 GMT 1
Oh forgot flat racing all the big races get on TV every one seems to love the GG's Tehe if thy win.
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Post by Claire on Jun 22, 2012 11:21:17 GMT 1
Oh forgot flat racing all the big races get on TV every one seems to love the GG's Tehe if thy win. Is there much jump racing in Australia trixiepony? Football is by far the most popular sport here in the UK. Cricket is big in my country (Yorkshire) lots of cricket pitches round here and you often see them playing (whenever it stops raining that is!) Ian Botham one of our top ex-cricketers lives in a village nearby. As a post-script to the torch contretemps we did get one thing out of it - we had some roadworks on one of our main roads which were causing a lot of delays but they were told to pull their finger out and get them finished in time for the Olympic torch coming thru! ;D Otherwise they would prob have dragged it on for another few weeks.
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Post by susanb on Jun 22, 2012 17:08:23 GMT 1
America is sports mad, and Boston in particular is over the top....Red Sox (baseball), Celtics (basketball), Patriots (American football), Bruins (ice-hockey).....the seasons overlap, so there's always something! (Not for me though, team sports bore me senseless)
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Post by trixiepony on Jun 23, 2012 0:00:06 GMT 1
Jump racing it may get dun but it only gets air time if there's a big pile up crash, I see a good lot off trotting races mainly the pacing races, we have a trace just in outer limits off home town, the pony club yous it as well.
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vera
Pony Clubber
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Post by vera on Jun 23, 2012 11:36:19 GMT 1
Favourite sports tp participate in, swimming, footy (Aussie rules), soccer, tennis, cricket. favourite sports to watch, footy, cricket, tennis. Flat racing is often shown on tv. Jump racing is banned in most Australian states now because too many horses have been injured and killed. Somebody paid for a panel of experts to find out why and they came up with too many inexperienced riders riding too many inexperienced horses. I do not think they needed a panel of experts for that conclusion to be reached. We love watching any sport where we win, no matter how minor it is. As for participating as opposed to spectating there is joy in watching an athlete perform superbly. And when you are as far along in the grumpy old woman race as me, sometimes doing is beyond the old bones ability. But I can see that all that commercialism and ripping people off is bad and creates bad feelings and is not part of what true sport should be. .My family has had some very strong athletes in it and when Zane won his first sprint race at his school carnival, the little skip of delight he gave after he crossed the line expressed what the joy of sport is all about!
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Post by Claire on Jun 23, 2012 12:59:21 GMT 1
Jump racing is banned in most Australian states now because too many horses have been injured and killed. Somebody paid for a panel of experts to find out why and they came up with too many inexperienced riders riding too many inexperienced horses. I do not think they needed a panel of experts for that conclusion to be reached. I did used to really like sports and I did a lot myself, especially running, but nowadays the money/commercialism in it all has put me off. I'm even going off equestrian sports somewhat in my old age. The older I get the more I think that maybe we shouldn't use animals for sport as so many of them are exploited and put second to money making/winning. Its a thorny subject! But I hope everyone who likes sport will enjoy the Olympics. I am not quite so grumpy that I want to stop other people's enjoyment.
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Post by kunuma on Jun 23, 2012 13:37:13 GMT 1
Have to say I am really surprised and please that some Australian states have banned jump racing - and this country would say that we are softer with animals than Australia - yet we continue to run the Grand National............ Sorry Claire as I know you are a fan of flat racing, but in an attempt to make my last racing memory a bit better, I started watching Royal Ascot - I watched the first race, and a horse (The Nile) quite clearly went down with a broken leg mid race - that finished me, I had only decided to watch it because I had been sure they would all come home safe.
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Post by Claire on Jun 24, 2012 2:12:54 GMT 1
Thats really sad Its not that common compared to jump racing which is why I prefer to watch the flat but in some ways I prefer jump racing due to it being less commercialised and money grubbing (except for stuff like the national) and you can follow the horses for a number of years. I've never been to a jumps meeting or a point to point as I'm too nervous about seeing horses fall.
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Post by kunuma on Jun 24, 2012 15:34:05 GMT 1
The most dangerous and exciting racing I have ever seen, and didn't see a horse hurt, (although I am sure they have been ) was the trotting races. Those horses looked like worn out old hirelings before they were hitched up (hate to say it, but trotters are not the best looking nags!) but OMG once they got going! It's my age I think, I cheered Red Rum round Aintree five times and loved watching him, I honestly don't think there was anything like the carnage back then? Desert Orchid was another I will never forget, and does anyone remember Nijinski?
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Post by Claire on Jun 24, 2012 20:57:41 GMT 1
OMG I LOVED Red Rum. I think it was watching him win the National with my grandad on telly that got me into horse racing. When he won in 1977....I dont think there will ever be a moment in racing history to match it! Bit too young to remember Nijinksy tho I have read about him.
You've just reminded me of what I forgot to say earlier about pacers/trotters. Why are they so popular in the USA and Australia but have never really taken off here?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2012 6:34:54 GMT 1
I remember Red Rum and Nijinsky and loved Deset Orchid.
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Post by kunuma on Jun 25, 2012 20:35:30 GMT 1
Can we have a thread with pics of famous horses? Meaning can someone else post the pics while I am arguing with photobucket ;D
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