2012 Olympics

Yesterday was a big day as far as the local olympic celebrations went.  The olypic torch came through Kettering.  My daughter took the day off of school to go and watch.  One of the torch bearers was Dean Barnett, a local sportsman.  He is ranked about 5th in the UK for cyclocross and does a lot for the local cycling community, including organising regular Go-Ride sessions for kids (Which is where my daughter recognised him from) and he does a mean Tuesday night skills session for the adults. 

This, as far as I am concerned, is what the olympics are about.  Bringing the sport to the people throughout the country.  So as far as the Torch goes, I think that the organisers have really got it right.

Now for the moan.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Olympics is not so national.  It is called London 2012 for a reason.  The rest of the UK is not included.  It is purely for London and Essex.  If I were running the games I would have planned events throughout the country.  Take the mountain biking for example.  The UK hoasts some really nice, world class mountain biking countryside.  Lots of epic terrain or interesting singletrack.  They did not even need to use an existing track, but could have picked from any number of locations to stick their course.  Wales has a lot of great terain, as does the North, where you have the Lake District, the Peaks, etc.  So where do the organisers decide to put the world class mountain biking venue.  Yep, you guessed it.  Near London. 

The Terrain for the MTB event is flat.  So they have had to build little hills.  The usual gnarly roots and natural obstacles that make this such an interesting and challenging sport have been replaced by rock gardens and man made obstacles, along with nicely paved track to ride on.  I think they missed the point, especially since the UK is a really muddy country.  Something that, if exploited, can give a really nice advantage to local riders or people used to UK conditions.  However, as it stands there are no snake like muddy bits, with roots.  No epic ascents or descents.  Just a moderate track of uninspiring, but camera friendly, proportions.  Ideal for 29ers, but....

Now I can understand the need to have the track events centralised.  After all, competitors will be competing in several events and it would be very stupid to have them wizzing all over the country for different events.  However, there are some events that are mutually exclusive.  Cycling competitors probably won't be long jumping.  Boxers will not be pole volting etc.  So the opportunity to stage different events around the country has been lost.  The Welsh call this the English games.  It is not even that.  The rest of us do not get a look in.

True, trains etc run to London and it has an airport etc.  But so does Birmingham.  Leicester is not badly served by support networks either.  Milton Keynes has a nice ice rink.  You get the idea.  The thing I find bites is that the whole country is paying for these events, about 12 billion.  And only London and the South are gaining benefit.

Nothing like undermining the North/South devide, especially where North is considered anything above the Watford Gap.

There you are.  Moan over. 

By the way.  Well done Dean.  You deserved to hold the torch.

Driver Reactions


I have been having a laugh at some of Magnatoms helmetcam videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/magnatom

For the uninitiated, Magnatom rides his bike to work everyday and records his route with a helmet video.  He gets a bit heated with his fellow road users since he posts any particularly nasty motorists on his web site.  He gets the police involved.  He has received verbal abuse, death threats, etc.  So what is he doing that makes people hate him so much?  Simple, he criticizes their driving.

Now some of his videos I agree with and some I don't.  He can be a bit mouthy at times, but he is from Glasgow.  The most interesting thing about his Youtube videos is the comments left underneath:

I hope you die.

I hope that somebody kicks the ***** out of you.

However, lots of the motorists are really peeved off that he:

A.  Slows them down.

B.  Doesn't pay road tax.

There seems to be a lot of motorists out there who feel that they have more rights on the road, just because they display a tax disc.  They were defending one van driver for tailgaiting the cyclist for just this reason.  Following that logical conclusion it follows that I am OK to stick my bumper 3 inches from theirs, just because I pay more road tax or drive a faster car than theirs.  Dumb.

The question of who is right or wrong seems to be lost on many drivers.  If you point out the errors of one driver, they take it personally, as though you have insulted theirs.  I watch one video from another helmet cam where some thug and his mates got out of their car and smacked a cyclist, before getting back into their car and driving off.  And motorists were defending this blatant act assault as somehow justifiable.

Another thing that I find interesting is the complete ignorance of the highway code that most of these idiots display.  The sort of motorists who offer death threats seem t assume that because you ride a bike you have never passed your driving test and that, by definition, they know the law and safe driving practice.  Hah.

So they don't understand the tax system.  Think they are the only ones who have a right to be on the road and are obnoxious when their errors are pointed out to them.

Einstein once said that he had hope for the future of humanity whenever he sees someone riding a bike.   I, on the other hand, despair for our future whenever I see anybody behind the wheel.

Luck

Adoption

OK so we are looking at adoption.  What a palava.  Interested in adopting a sibling group.  But it is not an easy process.  The want to know everywhere I have ever lived and same with partner.  They also want to interview relatives and have no qualms about getting my 80 year old parents over here, from Mid Wales, to be interviewed (Social workers don't skype).

The thing is, we already have a child.  This actually seems to penalise you.  They want a nice clean blank slate where they can get you to go on courses.  Looking at the course list that you have to go on.  What a load of bunkum.  The reason that you have to go on all of these courses is that adopted children are harder to deal with than other children.

OK, I agree to some extent.  However, reading the list of all the things that adopted children do, I can relate these things to my child and her friends.  All of the stuff that an adopted child will do and be blamed on their trauma, will also happen with children who are not adopted. 

It is sort of like the definitions of ADHD.  Reading down the list of things that could be attributed to adhd and, low and behold it is the same things that ordinary kids do.  Hmmm.

Also, aparently in order to avoid the, by the way your adopted thing when child is 18, it is recommended that you tell them sooner.  Fair enough.  But the guidance is to keep telling them and discussing it with them.  In short, you have to point out that they are adopted and different and not mine and that we expect you to be more trouble.  Talk about alienation and picking at a scab.

So back to the courses.  Some might be useful.  However, a lot of them are going to be a case of the social workers covering their butts.  Looking at the list of courses, they are trying to turn us into defacto social workers and not parents.  All of the literature talks about the problems but doesn't actually give any good advice about parenting.  What a load of tosh.  I am a parent and my child is happy, well adjusted and enjoys life in our family.  We don't keep telling her she is different or making excuses for her.  We are her parents.

There is an old army maxim that there are no wrong decisions as long as you make a decision and stick with it.  In short, you need to lead, not dither.  It is the same with parenting.  You need structure and consistancy.

I understand that it won't be easy, but a lot of the support and help I feel is the Social services ticking boxes and covering their butts.  Also, as well as spending months and months going through the selection process, you then can go from meeting the child to moving them into your home in as little as two weeks.  And, funny enough lots of families suffer difficulties.  Perhaps, and this is just me, you should cut down on the paperwork and courses and put more time into the handover process, so that you have a chance to get to know each other and address any concerns while still working in partnership with the foster carer.

I don't know, I just find the whole process unecessary in some areas, and weak in others.

Luck