News from London: London 2012 is brilliant!

TLOML and I have been getting fully involved. And as your eyes and ears on the ground in London, I can tell you with confidence that London 2012 is ace.

At first our involvement was limited to appreciation of the nice new signs...

 ...and the purchase of memorabilia. I like stuff that says London 2012 on it, because we moved back to London and began our married life in 2012. So when I see a lovely London 2012 tin of biscuits with the Union Jack on them, I buy it as a tribute to the year TLOML gave up his American lifestyle to live in dear old Blighty.

More recently we've stepped up our involvement.

On Friday we watched the Opening Ceremony from a friend's flat in Hackney Wick, which overlooks the Olympic Park. The buzz of Olympic fever was tangible throughout Hackney Wick: smiling stewards on the train platform, rooftop and balcony parties, and just a generally good, Olympian vibe. In fact, the view from my friend's telly was rather better than from her balcony, for all those close-ups of grinning nurses, dancing miners and text-crazed youngsters. Still, we could see those helicopters arrive 'live'. Which we loved.

On Sunday we got really locked in. We went to see the swimming, TLOML's own sport, in which I think he'd win many medals if he hadn't chosen the path of legal entrepreneurship. We cycled to the Olympic park, afraid of the volume of traffic on the train (apparently it wasn't actually too crowded). When we got to the park, we parked our bike in a massive bike park where some nice people gave us free safety checks and the police put security markings on them. The park was so underused they looked delighted to see us. I was delighted to get my tyres pumped and my brakes tweaked for free.

Then into the Park itself. Entrance was fast and painless: if only 'airport-style security' was like that at actual airports. And all the volunteers are so helpful. I wish London was always full of smiling people saying 'Do you know where you're going?' or 'Have a great evening.' They were almost Californian in the quality and quantity of their smiles.

The swimming itself was brilliant. We saw two world records being set, we watched our girl Becky Adlington win a bronze (the gold is yet to come we are assured), and the brilliantly exciting 4 x 100m relay. Shame that TLOML's team (and I was cheering for them too, like the good American wife I am) missed out, but sooooo exciting to watch. And what a treat to see the living legend that is Phelps, and the about-to-be-legendary Lochte powering through the water like great big dolphins. A special mention too to the Italian Fabio Scozzoli, for making it worth my while to bring my binoculars (for some reason the big screen wasn't showing close-ups based on looks...).

From now on I think our involvement will be curtailed to watching from the sofa at Fox Corner. Bring it on! We love the Games!