NEWS and SPORTS: The Olympics

[feather_ghyll]

I was saddened by the news that Maeve Binchy has passed away. I became aware of her after Circle of Friends came out as a film and then bought quite a few of her books second hand without ever wholeheartedly loving them – there’d be characters or sections that I liked, but I think perhaps I was too young for some of them. So I stopped buying more and left most of my copies at the back of bookshelves I never visited, a little embarrassed by them. Then I started rereading a couple recently - the latest was Quentins - with a view to getting rid of them, but found them warm and wise, better than I remembered (although rambling!)

I’ve only recently had an opportunity to watch more than snippets of the Olympics, so I have no opinion on the opening ceremony. I did watch the exciting conclusion of the men’s gymnastics and caught some tennis last night – the end of the first set tiebreaker between Sharapova and Robson and then bits of Maria not letting go (the Russian women gymnasts could learn from her mental toughness) and then the end of the epic Raonic versus Tsonga. A good final point, and I am sure whoever is facing Tsonga next will be delighted by that third set.