Hello again

Hi Everyone!

Hope you're all well and have slowly got back into the daily routine of rolling out of bed early in the morning and preparing yourselves for a long day ahead of you. ( I know I have what with all the 9am lectures and late afternoon lab sessions I've been blessed with this year!)

Summer 2012 was one of the best summers I have ever experienced! Although the weather was not exactly as predicted (then again how can we EVER predict the British weather?) and there was a great deal of speculation in the air about whether London could live up to the high expectations of the events set to take place during the summer,  the city proved to be one of the greatest cities in the world and made us Londoners feel proud of where we live!

It all started off with the Queen's historic Diamond Jubilee Celebrations which took place over an extended weekend between the 2nd-5th of June.  The celebrations included the Queen attending the Epsom Derby, communities enjoying the big jubilee lunch, The Thames Diamond Jubilee pageant, The BBC concert in front of Buckingham Palace where a network of 2012 beacons were lit throughout the UK, a service at St Paul's Cathedral, a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace and a flypast to mark the end of the celebrations.  But the celebrations didn't end there...

It was not so later that the summer of sport was officially underway! The annual tennis tournament, Wimbledon, held between the 25th of June- 8th of July  did not disappoint one bit! Though Andy Murray didn't quite manage to clench the gold medal in his epic final against Rodger Federer, we were thrilled that he  was the first British male player to reach the Wimbledon finals for 74 years and that he is now on point to become one of Britain's greatest champions ever! And then it was time for the long and eagerly awaited Olympic games (27th July- 12th August) and Paralympic games ( 29th August -9th September)! With people from all over Britain coming together to work/ volunteer in the games or just enjoy the games with their family and friends, as well as thousands of tourists coming to London to watch the games, the city was thriving like never before! Great Britain came a respectable third place in the Olympic tables with 29 gold medals and amazing talent being displayed across all the sports, including Jessica Enis (hepthalalon gold medallist), Mo Farah (5000m & 10,000m double gold medalist , Andy Murray (Tennis gold Medalist  and Chris Hoy ( Cyclist gold medallist). Great Britain were equally successful in the Paralympics, securing third place again in the tables, winning 34 gold medals in total. Ellie Simonds ( swimming gold medalist , Jonnie Peacock (gold medalist in the men's 100m - T44 Final), David Weir ( 4x gold medalist) and Sarah Storey ( 4x gold medalist) were just a few of the incredible athletes who inspired us all!

And now that it's all over...should we forget about it all and carry on with our daily lives as if it never happened? I truly believe that this year's summer of sport is one never to be forgotten and one which will continue to inspire us for many years to come!