Winter Olympics Closing

I've very much been enjoying the late nights watching lycra-clad sportsmen and women careen down mountains, icy tunnels and half pipes on skis, boards or tiny tea-tray like sleds. I've stopped paying much attention to the ice-dancing which was one of the favs when I was a kid (Curry, Cousins and then Torville & Dean) - now it seems like slightly more awkward come dancing. And anything that is judged just doesn't seem quite like sport anymore. Much keener on sports where there is an out and out winner. Loved the skeleton (dangerous, head first), luge (dangerous, feet first), bob (dangerous in pairs or fours), also the ski-cross and speed skating. Other events appeal to the altnerative in me like snowboarding aerials - athletes look like skateboard stoners, all long hair and outlandish outfits, doing imppossible-seeming tricks. Not that keen on the bowling-on-ice sport of curling. Don't seem to be clear enough about the rules and the tactics. And find it terribly irritating that they don't just toss the stones down as fast as possible rather than gently releasing them to waft gradually to the perfect stopping point. Also all the sweeping - at times its like watching street sweepers standing round having a chat.

In a phrase borrowed from cousin Tania (she'd just crashed her fiance's brand new ford escort who was hopping mad and irritable, she was in the kitchen with all the female relatives saying he was showing himself up in a very bad light) - the Canadians have shown themselves up in a rather bad light being stingy with access to the runs before the games began, which suprises me about them.