I am just wondering how long it will take to take down all those Olympics signs from the underground, road side, public buildings etc. What a massive infrastructural effort the Olympics has been! Where do they put all those "London Live" screens from Hyde Park and other parks all around the country - and flat screen TVs, flags, mascots, bunting that are everywhere and the huge knitted "Lions Heart Project" lions in front of natural History Museum?
It took two hours to drive through London on our way to the men's bronze medal football game in Cardiff. No comments! Even our teddies who have travelled around the country looked fed up.
Not that I want to be rude but I didn't know that they play football in South Korea or Japan. And that they are good. Very good.
I missed the Olympics Opening Ceremony when we were in Oulu but was lucky enough to arrive just in time to my God Daughters' house in Segovia to see the Closing Ceremony. WOW. It was amazing. How did they manage to get Freddy Mercury to lead the Sing-Along Session? And the madness of the medley led by Monty Python's Eric Idle that combined Naughty Nuns, Morris dancing, Bollywood Bling under the umbrella of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". As mad as Great Britain can be on its best. Veeeeeeery enjoyable indeed! And my holiday continues in an appropriate Olympic Theme as my lovely God Daughters dive into the pool for their 'Moment of Shine': 27 meter's free style swim.
It is difficult to say which one shines brighter under the burning Sun; girls faces or their medals?
Friday the 18th was a Red Nose Day. At the moment after last night's TV show the total amount for donations is a whopping 74 million pounds (about 86 million euros). WOW. This top record figure is still likely to rise as people are downloading programmes or music from iTunes and companies, schools etc. haven't got their money into the system yet.
You can not escape from it: Red Nose Day is in the shops, packaging, accessories, TV adverts, TV daily shows, TV celebrity challenge programmes, news, radio and social media. The final loooong show on the TV on Friday night gathers millions of people to have some good laughs whilst observing the rising figure of money donated.
The idea of Red Nose Day is pretty simple - everyone has a good laugh whilst raising money to help change lives across the UK and Africa. Every two years, thousands of people do something funny for money. They do it at home, at work, in schools and, well, just about everywhere. Comic Relief'sRed Nose Day is extremely well organized and is a launched trade mark. For marketing minded people it is well worth of exploring their concept. It works. And it works well around the globe from Finland to Australia and between.
The slogan "Do Something Funny for Money"inspired me and my colleague to organize a Fun Day for this worthy cause. It was great to see that 99 % of our staff and clients were wearing Funny for Money. Superheroes, pirates, princesses, Scooby Doos and clowns were favourite characters but also just a hint of red in odd places or a Red Nose Day Sticker demonstrated their support for the day.
In the morning we had a crazy costume parade followed by the final dance with cascading balloons. In the afternoon money, books and cakes changed their owners in our Red Nose Day Bazaar. It was a lovely happy, relaxed day and good for our team community spirit (which is brilliant anyway). The books which didn't sell I took to OXFAM so actually two charities benefited from our efforts. I have no idea how much money we managed to raise but our effective office staff will find it out on Monday.
This video about Charlie's Comic Relief Fail summarises nicely the spirit of the whole thing although his effort went a bit pear shape.
Coming back from work
M: Guess what was another thing I looked on line when I couldn't sleep?
E: Hmmm.
M: You know that one of my colleague's surname is Furlong. So I red something which made me think that it actually means something. And I found out that Furlong is an old measurement which origin is the length oxen were able to pull the plough before they needed a rest. And that's by the way 200 metres which equals 220 yarns exactly.
E: I bet you know now more about her surname that she does herself.
M: Hmm. And have you heard the expression "furlong for fortnight"?
E: No.
M: It means any unclear, unknown length which need to be expressed unclearly. In Finnish the same meaning is expressed by the word "poronkusema", reindeer's pee. It is the length of time that reindeer pees as he can pee when is running.
