Opening Ceremony - now we're really off!

Just seen the rather short highlights package of what looks like a phenomenal opening ceremony. The immediate question which springs to mind is how the flipping heck will London follow that? Lumme! I'm already feeling embarassed about what is to come. There was one bit in a giant printing press styleee:


One expert eloquently described it thus:

"There was a thing which looked like a giant old-fashioned printing press, with individual stamps (I guess) for different Chinese characters, laid out in a grid as if ready to print on a giant roll of parchment... anyway, these were moving up and down, making all sorts of lovely patterns for about 10 minutes or so. It must have been done with some very clever automated hydraulics. But no! At the end, the tops popped open, like a grid of wheelie bins, and a man popped out of each one... each 'bin' was operated by a man. It must have taken them ages to rehearse it. Very good. If a bit ridiculous. What are these 'bin' operators going to do now with their lives? "

I suppose on the up side we only need 26 of them in London...


Mark Foster did a splendid job carrying the flag I thought, as did the tall Chinese fella with the young earthquake survivor - coping well with the waves of dust.