I am on a roller coaster.
It’s not very fast, but it’s very steep. Very steep indeed. I’ve been on it for longer than I had realized, buckled onto the hard plastic before I’d volunteered myself to be so. My thighs are aching and sweaty on the bench, and holding on to the bar makes me want to wash my hands, makes me want to test its strength, makes my hands ache from holding for hard. And although the sun is in my eyes, the wind is in my hair, and the sounds of the fair are below me, the truth is I hate roller coasters and always have.
I’m at the apex now.
It started this weekend with a camping trip to the Isle of Wight, complete with lots of extended family and more barefoot games of football with numerous cousins for the twins. While we were there the weather finally – finally! – broke. It’s as though someone woke up at the control board and went “Oh fuck, sorry! What was I meant to be doing? One second.” The sun came out, the heat came on, the rain (the relentless fucking rain) went away. In one day the smell of Britain’s sizzling flesh could be whiffed from a continent away. This includes my flesh, as although I coated the children, Alastair’s face and neck, and what I thought was all of me, I stupidly missed the back of my legs so I look like I am walking on peppermint sticks.
We camped. We didn’t sleep enough. We had loads of food. We fished (and caught mackerel). We ate the mackerel. We laughed and played games and talked crap. It was lovely.
The rick-rick-rick pull of the roller coaster clicked on.
We headed back to the mainland today.
And now the roller coaster has paused, mid-air, and we are about to scream downward in a rush of G force.
This week a little thing called the Olympics starts. Alastair’s been devoting his heart and soul to it, and they are ready. For his devotion he’s gotten a large amount of grey hair and a free ticket to the dress rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony, which he has given to me. For my devotion, I get to see the dress rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony this week, and why yes I am pleased beyond compare. I am, strangely, extremely stressed about it too.
That’s me, looking the equine dentition straight on. I am so incredibly grateful, yes, but at the same time I too have given up a lot to support London 2012. On Thursday our fridge broke down, and I was facing paying £400 and waiting a week for a repairmen. I have neither £400 nor time for my food to go off, so while on conference calls Thursday morning I dismantled the fridge down to the motor, fixed the fridge, and put it back together. I had never done this before and did it with help from web forums and YouTube, and when the fridge started working I felt like a fucking rock star.
And it creaks ever forward. The roller coaster. It goes, that heart stopping moment where you’re not sure if it’ll come to a dead stop or not, if it’ll get stuck or soon you’ll be flying.
On Friday the father of my children will be working the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. I’ll be watching them at home on 3D. And I will be watching them with my father and stepmother, who fly in and visit us. They are also partaking in the Olympics experience – over here the tickets were awarded in a lottery system. We didn’t get any. The second round was a sort of lottery too (along with serious luck), in which if you had the keys to the castle you could compete with others to try to get tickets to different events. Still nada. The third round we scored – we got a pair of men’s synchronized diving tickets. And we got a pair of men’s basketball tickets (we didn’t know who was playing as the teams weren’t assigned to groups then).
I gave the basketball tickets to my dad for Father’s Day, as he is a crazy basketball fan.
And as luck would have it, we did well. My father and his love of basketball will go with my stepmum to the Olympic Park, where it transpires they have tickets to see Team USA play (I have no idea who any of the players are, but if you know them, they’re these guys).
My dad is beyond thrilled. He doesn’t even seem to mind they’re cheap seats (premium tickets were £250 each. I could fix my fridge for a pair of those).
I have off work next week to try to get some sleep, to try and recover, to try and breathe. I can’t even get the chance for a goddamn hair cut. Alastair has been working with the Olympics for a few years now – it all starts this week, at which point we will see him only occasionally (and randomly) between now and mid-September.
The sun is out. The Games are nearly on. Work gallops. The twins reach for school. I can’t sleep at night for fear of dreams. I can’t stop any of this and it’s fucking crazy and brilliant and real.
The roller coaster has the pull of momentum now. Hands up, everyone. It’s about to begin.
-S.
Don’t you just love the ride?
Seriously seeing even part of the Olympics is amazing. When the Olympics were in Atlanta was so fortunate and lucky to see Dressage ( beautiful beyond compare) and other equine events. In addition we were able to drive to Columbus, GA for one of the women’s softball games .
I know you and your Dad will be thrilled.
I would love to be able to see even one event at the Olympics!
One of my blog friends is there now; accompanying her husband who is, in some capacity, working for a sports network (or so I understand.) I was pleased to hear that the weather broke; I think she prepared for a deluge!
I bow down to you! Fixing the fridge? Unthinkable in my lifetime.
How very exciting! What are you going to do when it’s all over and you don’t have to rush around and do everything at once? Oh, right – the twins are off to school…
I assume you are coming to Wednesday’s rehearsal? I really hope you enjoy it. I am dancing in it as a volunteer and it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
As my adored father always told me at the top, “hang on tight!”
The torch is in our borough today … Wok hoo!
We have tickets for basketball … Rory is very excited!!
If you told us, I don’t remember; what’s Alistair doing for the Olympics? Networking? Communications? Security? ??? If you can’t tell us now, will you be able to tell us afterwards?
The Super Model Mrs. Solomon is our church’s secretary and has incredible organizational skills, so she gets asked to handle/coordinate all our week long summer camps and other ministry events throughout the year. While she doesn’t have to stay overnight in another town or be gone for 3 weeks, for all practical purposes, she disappears for a week at a time. On a small scale, I know how you feel and empathize with you greatly.
Enjoy the ride and look forward to when it ends and you get back on solid ground. I hope you have a great time with your dad & step mom.
“I had never done this before and did it with help from web forums and YouTube, and when the fridge started working I felt like a fucking rock star.”
All hail the Internet! It has saved me a fortune in similar information for fixing various products, including replacing my ipod nano screen, repairing my garage door opener and fixing and then replacing the ice maker assembly.
Christopher
Men’s synchronized diving, you say? As in, scads of muscle-y young men in matching speedos? I hope you’ve polished your telephoto lens.
The coverage of the Olympics over here has mostly been limited to:
a) there are missiles on top of apartments, which is funny
b) there are sheep in the opening ceremonies, which is funny
c) there are athletes trapped on four-hour bus rides around London, and they need to pee, which is funny
and d) the US Olympic uniforms were made in China, and this is not funny, and we should burn them all in a big pile.
So in those moments of doubt, I urge you to get a hold of an episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” from this week or any week in which there is Olympicking, and laugh at the only things that make it to our airwaves: stupid, trivial shit, alternated with artfully photoshopped pictures of presidential candidates.
And if you haven’t already, try guided relaxation CDs for the sleeping. Or a recording of Christiane Amanpour talking about anything at all, for her voice is the most soothing sound on the planet.
You fixed the fridge?? You are one hard core chick. I am so very impressed with not only your ability to complete the job, but even more because at one point you thought to yourself that you might be able to do it. And then you did. : )
I won’t know until I get there what I have, but if I can dig up any free tickets for you, what would you want to see?
You ARE a fucking rock star. Christ, you Fixed The Fridge, woman!
Your description of the weather’s change has just made me snort my philadelphia-on-crispbread supper sharply up my nose with laughter. That is exactly, exactly what happened.
Hopefully, Alastair is scheduled for some serious downtime between Autumn & Christmas? Shurely…?
I cannot even imagine trying to take apart and fix my fridge. And I’ve built porches, poured concrete, built wall to wall bookcases and have been known to work on an air conditioner or two. I am so absolutely in awe of you doing and like was said earlier, just the fact that you thought you could, and did is amazing to me.
I am watching the opening ceremonies even as I type, I love that JK Rowling was part, as well as Voldemort, and the @ueen parachuted in with Bond, James Bond……and I cannot wait for the coverage of the games to begin, it will be nice to hear the King’s English for awhile, no matter what is said, it sounds intelligent!