......the party is indeed over!! And what a party it was.
One of the newspapers reported it this way,
Something has shifted in the last 17 days. Something fundamental.
We waved flags, cheered, won things. We smiled. We spoke to people in the street. We said please and thank you. We were nice about the BBC. We had good news in our newspapers. Men in vans stopped swearing at cyclists. We stopped blaming people for failure. We stopped failing. The Queen jumped out of a helicopter. (refering to the Opening Ceremonies)
It all made us as giddy as Americans!
And to add to that I would say,
For a nation who is not given easily to patriotism, or optimism, or winning, these games were amazing. The people embraced the excitement, lined the streets, and stepped out of their stiff British ways, cheered, dressed up, waved flags, and had a whole lot of fun! Even the non Royalists sang "God Save the Queen!"
For us it was a taste of the Brits at their best!
The questions remain....How long will it last? Or as one paper put it...
How long before we stop smiling in the street? How long before the war between cyclists and motorists begins again? Before we stop saying Please and Thank You and Hello. How long before we forget what it felt like to be proud of being British?
Oh that it could last.
And don't we ask just such questions after every General Conference when we vow that we will be better and more consistent in our commitments!
Maybe next time we really will!
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