I decided to go for the hat-trick and get another little job done, and ended up doing quite a bit more than I intended. After I had filled the bookshelves the other day, and was pleased with myself that it all fit better before, another box in the bedroom turned out to be half full of books. Tonight I emptied it out and managed to squeeze them all on the shelves. Then I secured the shelves holding Jayne’s books – I had just thrown the shelves onto the backets to get them out of the way, but now they are screwed down tightly.

Feeling pleased with myself I then did the nasty job I have been putting off: I fixed the toilet seat in the bathroom, which has been falling off a lot and makes taking a dump a bit of a white-knuckle ride. To be able to reach the screw holding the seat on I had to unbolt the whole thing from the pan. That was when I found out that the bolts are more than a bit corroded and very, very sticky and smelly, so the whole thing came off easily enough but I was worried that it might not go back on. After fixing the seat on firmly to the hinges I did somehow manage to get the bolts back in place so thats one less thing to worry about.

While sorting out the books I was watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Athens. I thought the whole thing (or at least what I saw of it) was very impressive. I especially liked the people dressed as statues and in sorts of tableaux vivants of famous historical scenes. And the fireworks were pretty spectacular. While I was watching it all I couldn’t help thinking about how easily it could all go wrong, and whether we would be able to put on such a show if London hosted the 2012 Olympics… I figured that it would be better if Paris got it as they are just so good at grand spectacles (I was thinking about Jean-Michel Jarre concerts, Circus Archaos, and other very visual French artists). And then the commentator mentioned that the design was down to an English company, so maybe we could handle it after all – as long as some bright spark didn’t decide to make it a PFI deal!

I only watched a bit of the parade of the national teams before going up for my bog-fixing, but I was getting quite emotional watching it, particularly all those tiny teams from tiny countries sending their handful of competitors. Some of the costumes were a bit strange (like the Bermudans wearing long black socks with their shorts) but I some of the African countries put on a good show – I loved the way the Ghanains looked in their kente cloth. I really must try and get a shirt like that! And wasn’t it great to see the reception that the Iraqi team got?

I’m not really into sport, except for football, and don’t get too excited by the Olympics, but I do like the opening ceremonies.