Three-quarters of the way through the extraordinary calvacade of the Olympic Opening ceremony last night, sitting on our sofa in the heart of SW France, we experienced an entirely appropriate British moment: It started to rain!
If you are British or have ever been to the UK in summer you will be familiar with the expression Rain Stopped Play.
It happens regularly at Wimbledon even though after decades of delay they finally put a roof on Central Court!
The expression is mainly associated in British minds with the game of cricket.
Images of a British summer would not be complete without a shot of a few dedicated spectators, plastic mackintoshes or umbrellas over their heads, resolutely sitting in the pouring rain in a sparsely populated arena waiting for play to resume–with no realistic prospect of it happening.
Obviously one of the adversities that have helped forge the British spirit!
There we were, on a sofa, engrossed in the show when we heard large, thunderous drops outside. The satellite reception was interrupted, turning the screen black on and off for fifteen minutes.
Rain stopped play!
Doubts had been expressed about whether the Brits were fully prepared.
But taking their cue from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “the readiness is all”–the Brits were undoubtedly ready.
From what we saw, it was wonderful (i.e. full of wonder)–eccentric, moving, ironic, proud, honest, humourous, serious, self-deprecating, sometimes confusing, dense, theatrical, ambitious, worth a second look, spectacular, unexpected!
Maybe even persuading some that the Queen had taken parachuting lessons for her part in the drama:
(Overheard early this morning at Castres market–two women in their 70s chatting. One said to the other: La reine est bien!)
And like those dedicated and determined spectators at summer cricket matches, we held on and reception was restored!
Robin Ellis 
I watched most of it on tv, i think Danny Boyle got it completely right – beautifully OTT, lots of splendour and wackiness included – very British 🙂 did us proud!!
I stayed up till midnight in Vermont to watch the whole thing! Kudos to Danny Boyle indeed. I am very proud of my country, certain US pols be da*ned (insert appropriate letter).
Only to familier with those wards “rain stops play” while sitting at old Trafford cricket ground under a brolly waiting for the wet to stop.If you havn’t shared a brolly with a total stranger while the rain poured down,waiting for the game to re-start you haven’t lived, doesn”t seem to matter whether it’s old Trafford or Heddingley,or even Lords it’s self, it’s all part of living in England. The opening was very good though, did you manage to see the end?.
La reine Anglais est bien! Long live the British!
“Cool Britannia” was one of the headlines today. That’s true – great show ! I liked this mix in the show what you described very well.
Our TV commentator said when the rain started “Brits are always prepared for rain and have their umbrellas and raincoats handy”. I can be sure when I take my umbrella with me it will not rain.
I hope that the games remain peaceful. Munich 1972 was a terrible experience.
Some of us Yanks were scratching our heads at the Boyle-orchestrated tribute. The voguing top-hatted guys were especially perplexing, as was the tribute to the NHS. But whatever. Rule Britannia…or something.
Hello Barb!
Top Hatters were the bosses bowing to the smoking chimneys. Tribute to the NHS was a tribute to the NHS!
My take anyway!
Well the ceremony certainly wasn’t boring. And Boyle could’ve paid tribute to giant-sized bangers and mash, for all I cared, if only QE2 had ACTUALLY sky-dived into the stadium.
Hey Robin!
You beat me to the words “eccentric, moving, ironic, proud, honest, humourous, serious, self-deprecating, sometimes confusing, dense, theatrical, ambitious, worth a second look, spectacular, unexpected!”!!!!
What some saw as “boring and confusing “hodge-podge” I saw as a England’s Story, its rich background and its innovative people forging on….
AWESOME job and ‘well done’ by all involved. BTW we do apologize for ‘some’ that doubted ‘the readiness and enthusiasm’ from British people. They were ready to rock and their enthusiasm was a roar that could be heard ‘cross the pond!
Melanie
Mind boggling show last night. I’ve never loved the queen more. As for politicians, some are born with their foot in their mouth. Obviously, in the 21st Century, to play at the national level, one must have money. We in the U.S. have few choices for our Federal elections.
Hi, Robin,
Smiling faces were a welcome change after the past week…
Wasn’t that amazing in the very beginning how they transformed the grounds “through the ages” as time passed? That’s one BIG stadium!!!
How’d you like that closing act, though–um, McCartney something or other? 😉 Had to admit the Queen’s helicopter ride thru London & her “drop-in” stole the show, however!
PS: Great pic of the chicks yesterday! Did Meredith pose them?!
Cheers & hugs
Yes M’s photo.
A German newspaper remarked that the new “Bond girl” is 86!
Robin, I couldn’t better your description! I thought Danny Boyles’ production was hugely entertaining, a bit whacky, and great fun! Kudos to everyone! And I LOVED the queen and Mr. Bond:-)
Brother Jack just told me he watched it on a big screen at The Old Vic theatre with an invited audience of actors etc.. He loved it too.
i loved it . could identify with the singing children. Songs we use to sing as children ourselves. It was a mixture of period history. done in classic style
Priceless bit of advertising for the UK when James Bond escorted the Queen. Great of her to do it. England is now on my Bucket List to see. Love the Corgies. “God save the Queen”
Sat up too. Represented us British very well. Eccentric, definitely. And the rain held off!!!
Superb, Brilliant, Only the Brits could have pulled it off. I loved every minute. It is the first time for seven years I have been nostalgic for my homeland. The tribute to the NHS – amazing – all volunteers, totally unpaid. How did they find the time to get it so right! Well done to everyone.
I didn’t watch all of it, but most. My favorite parts were 007 and the Queen and Mr. Bean playing his part. Wonderful!
The only thing missing was a tribute to Poldark. For me, nothing says England more than Ross and Demelza (RIP). Hope you enjoy the games!
Best for me were the Queen, James Bond and the corgis. Also Rowan Atkinson was brilliant as usual.
Hi Robin,not sure the people I spoke to yesterday we’re as took with the ceremony as much as others .
I didn’t see all of it but a Twitter remark had said it had shown the KLF burning their million pounds !!!
Belief Bill and Jimmy did for arts sake!?!
Love ,peace and happiness!
Good morning Robin & Meredith
My family and I moved from just outside London to the Shetland Islands over 8 years ago and I can completely empathise with the situation of weather/tv sat reception. Our web us also affected by the challenges of the weather. Not a fan of the Olympics I chose not to watch the opening ceremony and it seems that I missed a splendid show. I caught the beebs film with Mr. Bond and ma’am on YouTube and was blown away! The immortal line ‘Good evening Mr. Bond’ spoken by her Majesty instead of a Bond
villain is priceless. I didnt think weather parallels would exist between your beautiful Southern town and the most northerly outpost of the UK – I hope then that a rerun of the event is shown for all our sakes. Danny Boyle and all involved clearly did us proud. Including of course HRH. Vive les Brits! Regards Stella
Shout Out to Stella – lucky you! Made my third visit to Shetland in May. It rained, and blew, and rained, and blew. We did not care. Shelagh in Vermont.
We sat with drinks charged and managed to watch just about all of this unique story telling festival of all that is British. Have not watched an opening ceremony in yonks,but the build up with the excellent adds whetted my appetite. Excellent, congrats to Danny Boyle on his individual visual feast. A celebration of our past told with emotion(Emile Sande) and humour.
Congratulations to London. Also I would like to add my apologies to Great Britian in general for Mitt Romney’s social ineptness and rude, thoughtless behavior. I am watching the Olympics in London because I can briefly relive my all-too-short visit there in 2004. I happen to like the “narrow streets…” and the fact that there are more historic places to see and things to do than I could complete in a lifetime on “a small island…” Totally loved Rowan Atkinson and Daniel Craig with the Queen. Sometimes people miss what’s important because their view is so narrow. Love it, love it…
Pat H is “spot on”.
Hi, dear Robin and Meredith,
it was a stupendous opening of Olympiad 2012 in London. I was able only to listen to it all on BBC World News transmission and hear the tremendous sea of human voices. This took me back to ancient times… 2,000 years ago Romans called England a “Misty Island”. Great Britain and the United States of America were two shining Liberty beacons to the people of occupied Europe… Hitler underestimated the tenacity and the unbeatable courage of British people during WWII. Dr. Josef Goebels (his propaganda minister) declared the film “Mrs. Miniver” (Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) the greatest and the most influential British propaganda film.
It is estimated that at first Millenium only one million people lived in England. I wonder how many millions greeted and watched the opening of these Olympic Games 2012? Rain or no rain it was a job well done.
I’m so sorry you have had a fall, Odette–animal to the rescue though! Remarkable.
I hope you are fully back on your feet.
I was very unhappy with NBC coverage here, they missed some important parts of the ceremony and their commentary -groan. Having said that though, I really enjoyed what I did see, and the queen parachuting in had me in stitches. I wonder if she gave them a hint as to what she was planning to wear so they could wear the same? I think your description is spot on and in my mind reinforces the whole concept of the ceremony being about diversity.
I’m having fun&games with my “oracle” at the moment. I hope you have received my reply sent a few minutes ago. I’ve rescued my reply to Meredith from Drafts very badly trimmed off. Might as well write again. C’est la vie… Yes, thank you, I’m up and “running” again… I may be just in time to run in the Olympic Games…
I missed it. The opening ceremony. The weather was fine here so perhaps it was bad in South Africa where our signal comes from. Mind you, that does not explain why some Angolans managed to see it and were telling me all about it in the shop the next day. Perhaps it is because I live in the sticks running a trading post where the river runs into the sea on the West coast of Africa. Either that or God hates me.
‘Sr Thomas’ they exhaled breathlessly, ‘you’d never get our President to jump out of a plane like your Queen did!’
Probably because he’d never find anyone he could trust to pack his parachute, I thought. And then I realised, they believed it. They actually believed HM back flipped out of a helicopter.
‘But she was accompanied by James Bond’, I pointed out.
‘JAMES BOND! That was JAMES BOND!!!’
I gave up and went back to reducing my sauce for the venison.
Nothing so exotic as hippos on our lawn here, Tom. A mole though is working hard to leave his mark!
Pity you missed it–and the Angolans were not alone in believing it was the Queen in the parachute.
Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today show was also convinced. I liked the comment in a German paper that the new Bond girl was 86. Thanks for linking on your site. Angharad touched so many hearts.
I believe it was an American who bought the old London Bridge thinking it was Tower bridge and who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humour?
It wasn’t just Angharad who affected a few lives:
http://hippo-on-the-lawn.blogspot.com/2012/07/angharad-rees.html
Thanks!–I would have liked the fee for the Colgate ad!
You mean… It wasn’t you kissing all those girls with a ring of confidence!!!
I’m going to spit all my teeth out now.
Mr Ellis, I really do not want to gush but at least let me tell you how much of an inspiration you were to Micky (or should I say, ‘He Who Should Not Be Named’) and I you were were, As far as we were concerned, by comparison Clint Eastwood and his fistfulls of dollars was a thug.
And now after all these years I have given up soldiering, have more or less married my maid (we’ve been together seven years now, it’s a complicated African thing) and I am building a restaurant and will cook while Micky, worryingly, is still pissing about in places like Syria.
Diabetes has been a bit of a killer in my family. At the age of only 33 I became the oldest surviving male member of my family (the women seem to live forever) and at 53 I am half blind. I have a three year old son and would like to hang on a bit longer so will be paying very close attention to your recipes.
Oh please hang on! and no matter that you are a silver tongue–thank you! Winston wrote a character that at that time (1945) he identified with. The end of the war and Labour newly elected. Ross was anti–establishment and this was a new start.The opening ceremony which you haven’t seen as yet barely featured the establishment–Crown and Church–and was the better for it. Clint I think was abetter shot than I could ever be.
We watched the ceremony in the US, but not live, and we never got to see the rain event. It did not seem to even be mentioned.
Having done a lot of long distance walks in the UK, either in spring or summer, I am very happy about the small drama that a little rain brings, whereas a soaking is another matter. I just love the English “keep calm and carry on” attitude, and the ability to be polite and not worried even in adverse situations.
Is it me, or is it raining more and more each year in the UK summer?
I shall endeavour to do so and I am hoping that your Shakshouka, which we all devoured this evening, will have extended my worthless existence by another few days.
You are quite correct, I did not see the ceremony so should reserve judgement but it was screened in its entirety by the Angolan State TV channel and made a HUGE impact here.
http://hippo-on-the-lawn.blogspot.com/2012/07/good-evening-mr-bond-i-mean-boyle-and.html
Regarding Clint. They were muzzle loaders in your day, I doubt Mr Eastwood could have fumbled and rammed his balls fast enough to avoid being run through by a decent bit of Sheffield steel. With a good man behind it, of course.
Tom, I have been reading your fascinating posts!! You have an interesting life in Africa
My father told me once that ‘May you have an interesting life’ was an old Chinese curse…
Do you have a blog, Ann? I apologise if my blog posts are sometimes a little… colourful!
I found Robin’s blog quite by chance and I am very glad I did.
The Olympics are a special time for me and my father because he participated in the Olympics in London 1948. We are originally from a small country in Southeast Asia. He was on the first Olympic team (6 to 8 members) from that country. He won no medals but for a young man of 19 it was thrilling. He met Jesse Owens (youngsters on the blog can read about this amazing man on internet). My father was a runner.
What was his name, Ann?
I am so sorry I missed this. I am an anglophile (of course- because of Poldark!) People here in the USA told me about this opening. I think it sounds brilliant and hilarious! I love the fact that the “QUEEN” parachuted in! LOL! Someone told me that she had a “wicked sense of humour” I never knew that. Wouldn’t know by looking at her! England-one of my favourite places to visit. *yes I started spelling certain words in the Brit fashion while I was studying Shakespeare in high school)