Halcyon Nights

or

What's the big deal with sunsets?

One thing that has always puzzled me is the romanticism of sunsets, sunrise and star gazing.  I've often wondered if people genuinely were in awe of them or is it a myth propogated by Hollywood, similar to the notion that everyone will fall in love with the perfect partner and live happily ever after.

Don't get me wrong - sunsets, sunrise and the stars on a clear night can take your breath away and make you pause and take in that perfect moment.  But getting up early to catch the dawn or planning to watch the sunset has always seemed a bit excessive.

Sunset reflected in window

I had come to the conclusion that this is due to our climate.  Star gazing is all well and good but Ireland is too cold and damp to lie out all night holding hands with your lover, having deep philosophical discussions that in the sober light of day you realise equated to talking shite.  And that's if you're looking enough to pick a night sky that isn't obscured by clouds.

Notwithstanding that, it is possible to wrap up warm and appropriately to feast your gaze on the night, dusk or dawn sky.  Indeed, I have on occassion driven deep into the Wicklow mountains, sometimes even accompanied by a telescope or binoculars to view particular astronomical events like a meteor shower.

Sunset 18th August 2012, Kildare

Somehow I never managed to sit through a sunrise or sunset though.  It took a trip to Eqypt over ten years ago to really figure out why.  In Ireland, the sunset, quite simply, lasts too long.  It's not the climate after all, it's our latitude!  If you sit out to watch the sunset in this country, you could be there for an hour and a half.  Where would you find the time?  And it's even worse in parts of northern Scotland where it never quite gets dark around the summer solstice.  In Egypt, the whole thing happens in about 10 minutes.

Admittedly I've had a few good sunrise moments.  There's nothing better than wandering home of an evening, spotting the dawn approaching and lying down on a patch of grass for a while to take it in.  It's the measure of a good night out in the summer.  Somehow, it doesn't seem to happen too often these days.  Must be growing up or something...

The London Olympics 2012

or

There's feck all else on the telly

The 1st of August, start of Autumn, the Lughnasa and Tailten games, created by Lugh the Sun God in honour of his mother Tailtiú.  Mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, they were held up until 1770 (see The Book of Tara by Michael Slevin) and were briefly revived in 1924 to coincide with the Olympic Games.

2012 and the Olympics are on again, hogging all the TV channels.  It's quite a spectacle with plenty of controversy to go along with it - drugs, betting scandals and four badminton pairs diqualified for not trying hard enough!

I have to admit, I really don't see the point of some sports.  The synchronised diving is just ridiculous, as is water polo.  There is something seriously dodgy and un-justifiable about beach volleyball, and trampolining is still a sport?  How?  Was it not just a fad of the 1970s?

So far, I've been enjoying the archery, cycling and equestrian events.  In fact, I'd love to see a triathlon combining all three - a cross-country race on the horses, followed by archery and finish off with a cycling road race.  I'm really looking forward to the modern pentathlon.  I like the idea that you have to excel in a number of sports to win.  That'd be a gold medal worth having.  It also means that the outcome would presumabely be less predictable and make the games more exciting all around.

That's what I like about the equestrian and cycling events.  Anything can happen on the day and there have been a number of surprises such as Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin finishing so far down the field on the road race and Mark Cavendish being well out of the running.  And in the equestrian, you are disqualified if you fall off meaning we only had three competitors left going into the show-jumping with Michael Ryan and Camilla Speirs falling in the cross country.  The added bonus with the equestrian is that everyone, men and women compete on an equal footing.

A few other sports have alos be suggested.  An archery competition, where you have to make your own bow and fletch your own arrows before using themto shoot into a straw man/woman.  Traditional targets are so boring!  My dad suggested synchronised grass cutting.  Now, that could be fun, especially if done with a scythe!  Sarah Gannon also came up with the excellent sport of dog grooming.  Bring these in and then you could immediately get rid of the synchronised diving etc. mentioned earlier.

Other sports I haven't yet managed to see but am looking forward to include the boxing, our best chance at a medal in both the men's and women's events.  It's so exciting to have world champion Katie Taylor participating in the first ever female Olympic boxing.  Go Katie!


Annalise Murphy is also doing extremely well.  I know nothing about her or sailing but it's looking good so far.  Other I'm looking forward to seeing include David McCann in today's time-trial, Derek Burnett tomorrow in the shooting, and Martin Irvine in the track cycling on Saturday, as well as our six boxers and Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan O'Keeffe in Modern Pentathlon.

Don't forget to follow them all (as well as the Irish athlete's I've omitted) and while you at it, I highly recommend following OlympicSeat on twitter.  Poor thing, it breaks my heart!

Right I'm off to join an archery club, buy a bike, book some horse lessons and find a few clays to shoot!  Best of luck to the Irish team!  Laters!