Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Surprise

I have to preface this by saying that in the grand scheme of things I am not a huge sports fan, and I’m not a loyal follower of the Olympic games, but this one was in one of my favorite places on Earth, London. Couple that with seeing a few of my friends post that the opening ceremonies tonight were quite good and I tuned in part way through to see what the buzz was about.

And I was absolutely floored! Before even knowing that the artistic director for the ceremonies was director Danny Boyle, I commented that the event was incredibly cinematic. How close to the truth could I have been? From the Queen parachuting in with James Bond to Mr. Bean in Chariots of Fire and around 40 odd years of popular music, there really was a little something for everyone as the opening ceremony built to a crescendo with an innovative torch lighting.

It may well be the only part of the games I come even close to catching in entirety, but even I was quite struck by it. Yet, you may be wondering what I meant by surprise? Well, that would be seeing a mockup of none other than Glastonbury Tor at one end of the stadium! Wow!

The stage version of Glastonbury Tor looked a wee bit different versus the reality, but I felt an instant connection that’s hard to describe seeing the Tor there, real or idealized. Glastonbury is of course the site of the massive annual music festival, but the tor is also believed to be the mythical Avalon from the Arthurian legends. Before the lands were drained for farming, the massive hill would have stood in a lake which might better explain the connection with Avalon.

The interesting thing is maybe this explains a small surge earlier in the year of T-shirts featuring another version of this photo? As best I recall all those sales were in the UK and although no complaints on my part, it was a puzzling blip in sales of the shirt. Seeing the Tor featured so prominently tonight immediately made me wonder if there was some connection, but maybe it was something else entirely?

At any rate, Bravo to London on a huge spectacle to start the games! Even if seeing the city did make me a bit wistful to realize it’s closing in on four years since I was last there! What’s up with that? I’m slipping!