Dear Diary...
This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):
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2021 |
Saturday 7th February - Let the Games Begin
I still wasn't fully well, and so wasn't heading out anywhere in the pouring rain sometimes soon. I did make myself some porridge for breakfast and settled in for the mixed doubles curling, as Great Britain faced Canada. I have to say that the final shot from Jen Dodds in the first end, knocking out various Canada stones and leaving Britain lying three to take an early 3-0 lead was really good, and that set the tone for remaining ahead, and they were always in control. I had to switch over to the red button for the final two ends as understandably, they switched to the blue riband event on BBC Two..
And yes, that was the men's downhill skiing. I know this normally comes very early on most times, but felt even earlier this time around as the long course at Bormio, complete with its iconic San Pietro jump around two thirds of the way down, where most of the top skiers do around 50 metres or so. The first few that went were not the top ranked ones, so was able to stay with the curling to its conclusion - and thankfully, Britain beat Canada 7-5 so that was a well played match overall. Those with start numbers 6 to 15 in the skiing were the supposed best ten in the world, and it did not take long for this to be proven.
The Swiss had a packed team as you would expect, and first of all Alexis Monney went for it, took some risks and then took the lead. His team mate Marco Odermatt was next, and edged ahead by just 0.05 of a second. However, the third Swiss athlete, Franjo van Allmen, absolutely nailed it. He smashed the section with the San Pietro jump especially and gained some time to be able to win, and get ahead quite comfortably, 0.70 seconds ahead of Odermatt. This does mean though that some other athletes may be able to do similar and get a great time and push for the podium.
The Italian challenge was three out of the next four from bib 11 onwards. Giovanni Franzoni went first, and did a superb run to be second, 0.20 seconds behind. Straight after the veteran Dominik Paris pulled off a great effort and was 0.50 seconds behind, but that was enough to land bronze, and Italy's first medals of these games too. Mattia Case in bib 14 did not have such a good run, but should be worth noting that despite the late start bib number of 27, Kyle Negomir of the United States did so well in the worsening snow conditions and landed a great effort to finish 10th, well ahead of anyone else around that start number. I had the Ski Sunday theme in my head all day during that so tune of the day it is!
Before some of the afternoon events got underway, I headed out and to the new Home Bargains store that had opened not far from me - which would save a trip to Wimbledon if needed (although I tend to go after my haircut as an on the way home journey.) Although not as big as the Wimbledon one, the store was very busy and there were queues of traffic to try and get into the car park, which said a lot really. I did manage to get a fair few bits including a four pack of the Brooklyn Stonewall IPA for a mere £2.49, as well as some soft drinks, batteries, and some household bits. I have to say that it really is a positive to see a retail place busy but also shows its reputation for being good value and for a company that values its staff says a lot.
It was back to the curling when I got back as it was Great Britain versus USA. This was a much more tight affair and it was 5-5 after five ends, but Britain managed to get one with the hammer on the sixth, and an error from the American team meant a steal of one to go 7-5 up with one end to go, albeit with the USA with the hammer. However they kept it tight and kept all the US stones out, and the final one as a blocker meant that there was no way that they could get the two to level, so they shook hands and it was the seventh win out of seven for Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat - they are doing us proud!!
Friday 6th February - San Siro Sensation
After being in the office today and nursing somewhat of a head cold, which was not nice, it was time to head home on the train and get home in good time for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, with two host cities (Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo) jointly hosting it in Italy. This meant that all the events that were on the slopes were nearer to the latter, with bases also at Bormio and Livigno as well as Predazzo and Tesero. It definitely meant that the best locations for some events are going to be used, which is sensible, with Milan itself having indoor arenas for the ice skating, speed skating and ice hockey.
I had already been watching some of the events that started off earlier, including the mixed doubles curling where Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat were showing their considerable skills in being able to carve out a number of wins. In fact, they had won four games already prior to the one this afternoon, where they managed to make light work of South Korea and so make it five wins from five. They do have both Canada and the USA tomorrow, both of which will prove to be challenging, but some of the shots being played have been absolutely superb, showing so much skill and knowing when the line is good.
The opening ceremony was to be held in the San Siro in Milan, a place I have been to watch football (and Manchester City at that.) I do remember loving the city a lot so seeing the world famous Duomo, the old trams and so on brought it all back for me. It was interesting that the BBC had football legend Zlatan Ibrahimoivic (who played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan incidentally) introduce a piece about what makes you fall in love with Milan, and his admission on the red carpet later he would love to be good at the Super G (super giant slalom skiing) event, which was nice to see.
The ceremony itself really showcased Italy off well with the arts, opera, music and even people dressed as espresso pots making their way around the impressive stage. There was even Mariah Carey doing a version of Volare early on, and splashes of colour everywhere to really make the stage pop with joy. The athlete introductions were different too - although some did come out in the San Siro and some with their flags, those in Cortina walked down a street in the centre with a golden arch to walk through, with both Livinio and Predazzo having the same, and carefully co-ordinated. It actually worked really well and showed that it made more sense to do it this way - something to note for the future I think.
BBC had Hazel Irvine and John Hunt doing the commentary, and Hazel of course is fab (we love her from the snooker!) but it was good to hear John's voice too - and like The Love In My Heart said to me, considering what he had gone through (look it up) it felt a positive that he was able to be here and present so well, and the humour between him and Hazel also worked ever so well, likening the three statue heads of Italian classical composers to something reminiscent of It's a Knockout (classic!) - and generally worked nicely. And Andrea Bocelli belting out Nessun Dorma had World Cup 1990 vibes all over, so tune of the day it is. I'm sure it'll be a festival of sport for the next two weeks!
Sunday 1st February - Chelsea Crushed
The Love In My Heart and I woke up with Litlte Miss O all snuggled up with The Love - she had been asleep some of the night but had woken up a little upset. I do seem to remember holding her bottle of milk for her and as she had a drink pointed to the bottle and went "cat cat" because there is a little cartoon styled cat on the side of the bottle. She seemed fine when she got up though and shortly Little Miss E got up too, and the three of them went into the front room so they could have some cereal and juice, and I did manage to get a little bit more time in bed before heading up to keep them amused.
In fact, we had some of the colouring out and Little Miss E was content to do some of that and I even put on an episode from the original Gladiators via Youtube to show her "this is what me and Daddy used to watch when it was first on" and of course being the same theme tune helped recognise it. I mentioned some of them back then and how for a lot of people, their favourite was Jet (Diane Youdale) and me included. I must admit I always thought Nightshade (former heptathlete Judy Simpson) was a little scary, but she had skills! Also Wolf (Michael van der Wilk) was also featured on the front cover of the computer game Barbarian, released way before Gladiators too.
Later on The Love got the girls in her car so she could drop them back off with her parents, and for me, I had a little game of football to attend to. There was no way I could get tickets for the men's team away at Tottenham today, so I decided it'd be good to give the women's team some support. We were playing Chelsea, who were the only team to beat us this season in the league (and I was at Stamford Bridge for that one) and since then the women had won the next twelve league games on the spin. Going into today, we were nine points clear of Chelsea, and with Man Utd's win over Liverpool earlier, they were now second and eight points behind. So could we extend the lead at the top?
It was not a massive crowd but most of the bottom tier was full plus some in the middle of the second tier of the East and Colin Bell stands were the hospitality bits were, which I was tempted by to be fair. The City side looked a good line up and with Chelsea having a couple of injuries, with Lucy Bronze being one I thought they would miss, it may be a good time to play them following their 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal last week. It maybe didn't need The Wanted 2.0 to play a "live" set before the match but I guess that might have got some people in the ground early at least.
The teams came out and straight away after kick off, City looked like they meant business. The battles in midfield were being won with Yui Hasegawa being her feisty self, and Laura Blinkilde Brown (for me the most improved City player this season) doing all the unsung hero stuff as they both broke everything down so well, allowing the attackers to do their thing. A corner came over, a chance was punched away, but on the half volley, Kerolin Nicoli went for the shot, and with a slight deflection off Ellie Carpenter, it went in past Hannah Hampton i the Chelsea goal for 1-0 to City. Happy times, and Chelsea did try and come back into it with Yamashita in the City goal producing some quality saves.
You always felt though that if City got on the break they would be dangerous. An attempt to play the ball out from Millie Bright put the Chelsea midfield in trouble. Hasegawa robbed the ball, passed to Vivanne Miedema, and the ball forward was gorgeous for Khadija "Bunny" Shaw to muscle her way past Naomi Girma and slot it perfectly home. The Chelsea players were claiming a foul but when you see the reply later, Girma was trying to pin Shaw with her arms and of course the Jamaican international was having absolutely none of that. So 2-0 at half time and a well deserved lead, and one I really was enjoying.
If the first half was good, the second half was even more of the same goodness. City looked ruthless on the counter attack and as the ball was punched clear from a Chelsea corner, Lauren Hemp charged forward and won the ball, with her challenge releasing Kerolin Nicoli, who ran from her own half, held off Keira Walsh and deftly chipped the ball over Hannah Hampton for 3-0. Absolute dreamland. Even more so when Ellie Carpenter tried tricks, Vivianne Miedema saw that and went "that ball is mine" - she fed Lauren Hemp, who ran down the left and it was a simple finish for Kerolin Nicoli. In my view behind that goal, Hannah Hampton should have done better so for her to chastise the other players was a bit rich to be honest. 4-0 to City though, well this was unexpected but very welcome!
Chelsea did press on a little bit to try and get some pride and after a missed lob, they did manage to pull one back with a very good finish from Alyssa Thompson. I did think it was maybe a deserved consolation based on the first half's attempts, but City were then ruthless a few minutes later. Lauren Hemp had a shot well saved by Hampton, but from the resulting corner Kerstin Casparij (my current favourite City women's player) found the head of Vivianne Miedema, and well she does not miss those! 5-1 to City, and I do like a good 5-1, me. The City tannoy even played that theme from the darts (you know the one, Chase the Sun by Planet Funk, and tune of the day). What a win this was, and a statement win too!