13/08/2012 - 21/08/2012 - Olympic Hangover

Getting a taste of some authentic English food pre take-off - a Nandos then! Easy on the sauce IronRik!

Getting into the swing of things with Mum and Eddie at
Hyde Park. Yes, Tony does weigh more than them combined!

Enjoying the London lights

After all the excitement of the previous 2 weeks, finalising some admin before beginning the next leg of our avoidance of reality tour was never going to be too exciting… a mixture of job admin, culture at the Tate Modern, family time, and a couple of au revoir drinks with friends.

Some fascinating modern
art at the Tate Modern...

Reminiscing about earlier
times

Tubey tubey tube (complete with Torbay poster!)

Some big biscuits and some other
post round refreshments...

Olympic postboxes

Getting into the swing of
things at dino mini golf

All smiles on the Olympic wheel
(Tony minus beard due to job interview!)

The famed Chimney keeping us warm during the barbie!

Not wanting to clutter up James’ flat with our extensive collection of Olympic tat, we headed back down to Torquay to drop off the Gorge and try and get our travelling essentials from the 76 boxes residing in the Balfour leisure centre. Needless to say, such a trip would not have been complete without a ride on the Olympic wheel (which seemed to have been relocated to Torquay with amazing speed!), another delicious Balfour BBQ and a trip or two to the Balfour Arms!

11/08/2012 - 12/08/2012 - Another Super Saturday?

Voiceless after another shouting extravaganza above the Olympic torch in the  stadium, with ironRik and J-Fish

Day 15 was all about one man

Keeping the Mo-mentum up - starting from the back but
coming through in style - Mo-bots all round!

The last main attraction however was a return to the Olympic Stadium on what we were hoping was a second Super Saturday. Don’t know how the Balfours did it, but we’d scored the hottest tickets in town bar the opening and closing ceremonies (and maybe the 100m final, but that doesn’t even take 10 seconds!)! There weren’t as many events this time round, but everyone was waiting for the same thing – Mo time. If possible, the noise was even more deafening this time round, and our boy got the tactics spot on to take his second gold, what a legend! The 4x100m was almost a letdown, given TeamGB’s horrible disqualification, but what a sight to see Usain run down the Americans in the final leg and give the Jamaicans another track gold. Was a great finishing touch to the night to see Usain and Mo give an impromptu interview – who said that athletes were boring? All told, we’d seen all of the TeamGB gold medals in the Olympic stadium so were very privileged – a shame we didn’t make it into the Velodrome but can’t really complain!

Celebrating more TeamGB success with the Dawsons

And they're off - never any doubt that Jamaica would
dominate the 4x100m - a new world record to boot! 

Andy clapping the runners on, wishing he was out
there with them. We didn't!

Enjoying the marathon
with the multitudes under
Big Ben

Headed to the marathon on the Sunday, and after joining in the seething mass of sweaty English bodies (and that was just the spectators!) it was time for something more civilised. Andy introduced us to a lovely little laneway, where it almost felt we were back in Melbourne! A night in with Jumbo to watch the closing ceremony, and our Olympic experience was well and truly complete – what were we going to do with ourselves for the next couple of weeks? Before we worried about that too much, we had time to reflect on the medal table. Destroyed our Bejing result, dominating third position on the table – commiserations have to go to the Aussies I’m afraid, this time we even smashed you on a pro rata basis…

05/08/2012 - 10/08/2012 - Voll Hand the Wrest

Sporting yet more paraphernalia outside the basketball arena whilst warming up for the handball 

Outside the Olympic Stadium with
bags of Olympic tat - deja-vu?!?

Sunday was spent enjoying watching Murray win the ‘5^th major’ with family, and watching the highlights of the night before – this would happen a few times over the coming week! As would plenty of couch time to take advantage of the amazing amount of coverage the BBC were doing throughout.

Those famous rings, against the
backdrop of TeamGB's stronghold -
the velodrome!

Volleyball at Earl's Court - complete
with giant player!

Volleyball continued our Olympic agenda at Earl’s Court, where unfortunately no TeamGB presence but Spain Vs Montenegro was an interesting one – their flags are virtually identical so you could hardly tell the supporters apart! A night out with Andy on the British leg of his tour finished off the night, and Mr Ilett was once again a welcome sight for James first thing in the morning!

Handball, enjoyable although amazingly confusing - the
superheroes also were having a ball!

More handball with Irish cousins
Angeline and Susan getting involved
in the superhero party!

Next up on our live experiences was handball – was a fun spectacle but even though we were sitting next to a specialist (Annaliza’s cousin, Angeline) we left still scratching our heads over some of the rules! The basketball arena was great, amazing place for a temporary building, and nice to have some more time chilling out in the Olympic Park. Went to the BBC studios again, and this time were rewarded with a fleeting glimpse of Daley Thompson and John McEnroe. Also bumped in to a couple of TeamGB gold medal winners (the rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning), before getting our hands on an Olympic torch – sweet action!

Munching carpet at the wrestling,
where exuberance was the name of the
game - typical Americans!

Last event of the week was a return to the Excel Arena, where Annaliza then got a taste of wrestling (and the bodies writhing around on the floor!). Tony was left to enjoy the show being put on at Hyde Park, with Dave, Sam, and Cristian - due to obscene drink prices they relied on the crowd noises to figure out what was going on in the various events...

Pre, during and post wrestling action!

It wasn't all about the Olympics - also got to enjoy the English
summer! Tony's godson, Edward, has a fantastic
taste in ice-creams!

03/08/2012 - 04/08/2012 - The greatest show on Earth

If the day wasn't special enough already, bumping into Jess in the stands took the biscuit! Led to some excessive
celebrations, both inside the Olympic Park and out...[Note Annaliza's extra large Union Jack onesy - ridiculous!]

Horse Guards Parade - even Nelson
was getting patriotic!

More beach volleyball action -
the party event of the event!

Headed in convoy with M&D Balfour back to the big smoke for the second instalment of our Olympic adventure. Beach volleyball at Horse Guards parade was first up, a great way to get the party started.

Spot Tony on one side, and Annaliza on the other - also
some fun and games with the locals, then later at Ping Pong

A group shot outside the temporary stadium at Horse
Guards Parade

Welcome to the Olympic Stadium indeed! 

Warming up for the big night ahead
by purchasing some TeamGB kit...

Go on Jess, go on, go on! You
little rippa!

The real treat however was the Saturday night, where a date with the Olympic stadium awaited. After braving the London transport system (which was far better than we expected throughout the whole two weeks), we got a bit patriotic with TeamGB apparel in the shopping centre at Stratford… Had to be done!

The jump of destiny - done as JEnnis was doing the lap
of honour - great timing!

God Save our Gracious Queen...

The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, and it was all gearing up to the 800m heptathlon final where Jessica Ennis was the home hope as the face of the Games. She romped home in absolute style, not content with the overall win instead smashing the field on the home straight accompanied by a wall of sound. Shortly after, one Greg Rutherford stepped up and jumped 8.31m in the long jump, which was good enough for gold, and we were in dreamland. Enter Mo Farah. Now you can get a bit excited about distance running on TV, but when it’s live and there’s a home interest it’s a different beast. The wave of cheers rotating round the stadium for the 25 laps meant we’d lost our voices well before the end, it beat any Mexican wave we’ve experienced. Awesome performance by Mo, and 3 TeamGB golds in 45 minutes in the Olympic stadium is a feat that might never be repeated. Still sends shivers down the spine writing about it now…

Mo, mo, mo your boat, gently down
the stream...

No-one in the UK had ever heard of the Mo-Bot - all
that was about to change forever...

Didn’t want the night to end, so hung around by the BBC recording studio in a desperate attempt to get a glimpse of Jess before heading home. Wasn’t quite that lucky, but enjoyed the renditions of Mo Mo, Mo Mo Mo Mo, Mo Mo Mo Mo, Mo Mo there’s Mo Farah! [to the tune of No Limit, in case you’re wondering…]. IronRik even managed to get in front of the cameras, although the rest of us weren’t quite so lucky.

If truth be told it was a fleeting appearance...

31/07/2012 - 02/08/2012 - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

The Sturge and Balfour families collide at the Captain's Table

New Polzeath beach

Come on - those cowries have to
be down here somewhere!

Once again we headed down South, this time to Polzeath and a throwback to Tony’s childhood in Broome House for some time with the wider family. A bit of a smaller affair than Tony remembered though – only 25 for lunch! Tony got beat by his Dad in hunting for cowries (only just!) and we almost escaped the weather on a trip to the Pepperpot from Padstow… The performance of holiday horror by the young ones was superb, although Dad Sturge and Auntie C’s acting let the side down!

Some Lotti (no 'e'!) Love

A quick game of whackers
on the way to the Pepperpot

Sunset just outside Broome House

When Annaliza sees the flower
arrangement, she knows she's home

A Looe with a view

Decided against an early morning swim before heading back to Torquay with M&D Sturge, via a quick lunch and toilet stop at Looe. Casa Balfour awaited, where a trip to next year’s wedding venue was followed by Big Al’s Torquay Tour. The Captain’s Table at the Cary Arms was an ideal setting for pre dinner drinks, followed by a lovely meal. Fortunately no illness hampered proceedings this time, and it was the Sturge’s turn to be a bit late!

26/07/2012 - 30/07/2012 - Let the Games commence

The extended Balfour crew at Excel for some weightlifting

Where should I put these
76 boxes sir?

Best man locked in!

After landing in Plymouth, we headed straight to Torquay for a quick stopover (and some fridge raiding – thanks again M&D Balfour!). Also timed it to perfection in that our Australian shipment arrived that day – all 76 boxes of it! Still not quite sure how we brought back that much…

Catching up with familiar faces at Trinity Church Square

Ministry of Sound -
not everyone was impressed
with the worm...

Didn’t have too long to sort it out, other than count the boxes, as we had an Olympic opening ceremony party to attend! Cheers for the hospitality Dave and Mairead, was a fun evening and great to catch up with so many friends from the past. Not sure the trip to Ministry of Sound was really required, but despite Annaliza going missing for a while it was a top night!

Getting into the
Olympic Spirit

Getting fit (or dreaming of!)
with Wenlock

Watching the show with a multitude of
Londoners in Hyde Park

Wouldn't want to go toe to
toe with these ladies!

Taking table tennis to new levels

The next few days were the real start of the Olympics for us - despite missing the cycling road race we saw a world record in the women’s 56kg weightlifting and some frankly ridiculous rallies in the table tennis!