- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
That manmade river is AWESOME. I think this might be - for me - the coolest thing to watch. Grranted if I were in that situation in a canoe/kayak I'd be freaking, but it's so much fun to watch them do it!
I was lucky enough to have a ticket for whitewater finals in Beijing 2008 and it was one of my favorite events. A real hoot to watch, so if you ever have an opportunity to see a world-class live competition in this sport, go for it!
The special stamp, which features an image of the golden girls smiling and waving to supporters following their historic win, will be on sale in more than 500 Post Office branches, including in Stanning's home town of Penzance, Cornwall, and Reading, Berkshire, where the pair live and train, from lunchtime tomorrow.
A fleet of 90 Royal Mail vehicles will deliver the stamps across the UK, while their feat will also be marked by a red post box being painted gold in both Penzance and Glover's hometown of Lossiemouth, Moray.
I saw them standing for their National Anthem, and my heart leaped with delight. Then later in the day, Bradley Wiggins won Britain another gold, in cycling time trials. I'm so happy for the U.K. I went to grad school there long ago during an Olympics, and it was such fun to root for their athletes. They're not a huge sports machine, but they have some sparkling sports folk, and a lot of heart. They seem to excel in water sports and of course equestrianism, and occasionally they show up with a real giant in track and field, such as Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson.
I love that the rowers are being commemorated with stamps, and with a gold mailbox in their respective home towns. At moments like this, I'm a bit sorry that this is a tribute we in America can't ever give anyone, because I think you have to be dead for five years before you get a stamp in your honor. We can do stamps for an event, featuring an anonymous figure. (That can get pretty ingenious when really necessary: for example, the iconic scene of three firefighters putting up a tattered American flag on the night of Sept. 11, 2001, was reproduced almost exactly, but the particular men weren't depicted.)
Yeah, those rollovers or whatever they call them, where the kayaker just rolls upside-down into the water and then circles right up again, scare me silly. A quiet canoe on a serene lake, that I could go for.
I hereby demote myself to a flat-bottomed rowboat. With oars.