Timing

 

Timing

                                Red grouse (Lagapus lagapus scoticus)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

My parents’ wedding anniversary was 16^th April. One year, when I was about seven years old, they were having a small party to celebrate and I piped up with, ‘They were married on 16^th April, and I was born two days later.’  This caused some mirth, which I didn’t understand at the time.

It was my second youngest grandson’s birthday on Sunday. Charlie is now nine years old. Our wedding anniversary is the day after his birthday. I don’t think he’s likely to make a similar observation.

August 12^th is the beginning of the grouse shooting season, but, as Barry is not a shooting man, the date completely passes him by. It’s only been fifty-seven years, though, so there’s still time for the date to lodge in his brain. 

Before we were married, we did once eat a grouse, or maybe it was a pheasant, that he had shot. That was the only time, and I remember little of it other than the lead shot still inside the bird.

I watched some of the Olympic shooting. That’s all about timing, too. I noticed that many of the competitors were left-handed, but I don’t recall the archers being other than right-handed. Some say it’s an advantage, while others dismiss it. I am just simply impressed by all the Olympian athletes and everything they’ve had to do to achieve Olympic standing.

I’ve just seen a lovely sight. The Chinese weight-lifting gold medallist, Li Wenwen, pulled her coach onto the stage and picked him up. That was such a delightful thing to see, and they were both so, so happy.             

Leap Year 2024

 

Leap Year 2024

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Happy New Year!

2024 is a leap year, a year with an extra day to balance the calendar year with the solar or tropical year. An astronomical year lasts slightly less than 365 and one quarter days. Without an adjustment every four years our calendar would soon become out of synchronisation with the tropical year; in four years, it would be out by about one day and in 100 years it would be out by approximately 25 days.

Julius Caesar introduced the leap year in 45 BC. The Julian calendar ruled that any year number divisible by 4 would be a leap year but this resulted in many leap years. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582 to regulate this. The Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. It is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as in Oriental Orthodoxy and by the Berbers in parts of North Africa.

Leap years occur every four years except for years that are divisible by 100 but not 400. 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was. For most of us, at least until 2100, if the last two numbers are divisible by 4, the year is a leap year.

The summer Olympics are held every four years, usually in a leap year. The 2020 Olympics were postponed for a year because of Covid. This year, Paris is hosting the summer Olympics from 26^th July to 11^th August. 

The opening ceremony is usually entertaining though sometimes needs to be interpreted by the commentators, as the dance/drama sequences can be quite mystifying. I wonder why, when all the nations of the world can put aside their differences for two weeks to participate, such willingness to cooperate cannot translate to daily life. Of course, the athletes are competing for medals, not attempting to annex other people's lands. The spirit of apparent goodwill does not last. Consider the 1936 Olympics in Germany, which so incensed Hitler. 

What state will our world be in by the summer of 2024?

The Ballet Dancer and the Hammer

The Ballet Dancer and the Hammer

It may sound like the title of a thriller but actually refers to Sophie Hitchon, the 21-year-old Olympic hammer thrower who broke her personal best record in qualifying, setting a new British record.

It’s difficult to reconcile ballet and hammer throwing but both require dedication, strength, balance and timing. Good luck, SophieJ

The Keirin

The Keirin

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Great Britain is doing extremely well in the Velodrome. 

The Keirin is a fascinating discipline. It is led out by a man on a derny – a motorised bike. He gradually increases speed until he reaches 45 kmh/28mph then peels off and the race proper starts.

The man on the derny is sombrely dressed in black and rides the bike in what I can only describe as a ‘country manner’ – legs widespread. He is very serious about his task, a true professional, but I think a string of onions round his neck would complete his Gallic image. The photos below, taken from the television screen, are not good quality.

Olympic rowing

Olympic rowing

Great Britain is doing well in the rowing. While I appreciate the enthusiasm of the commentators – and indeed, the onlookers – I am more than a little weary of hearing about the second/third/fifth/extra person in the boat that is the crowd!

The first time I heard the crowd described in this way I thought it rather endearing – now it’s just annoying. In every discipline the GB athletes have commented on the support given them by the onlookers and how the cheering lifts and encourages them. All the commentators remark on it but they don’t keep repeating asinine comments about the invisible or additional member of the crew, team or partnership that is formed from the spectators.