This Is The 'Mo'ment

Well, it’s been another really busy, but fun filled few weeks.  Like most people living in London, I was a little bit sceptical about how the Olympics were going to affect us.  We had been warned about all the disruption to roads and airports it was going to cause, and I have to admit, I thought it was going to be a complete nightmare.  However, as the opening ceremony approached, I decided to get into the swing of things and invited a few of my friends around and we had our own celebration to welcome in the London 2012 Olympic Games.  It was a fantastic evening and we all got into the Olympic spirit, and to be honest, although I’m not a sporty person, I have to say that the spirit of the games has never left me.

A few days later, Lee, Betsy and I flew up to Aberdeen for my best friend Cozi and her partner Duncan’s wedding. Cozi is probably best known for singing ‘Baby When The Light’ with David Guetta, and we have been friends since I was 11, so it was amazing to be able to come to Scotland and share her special day with her .The venue was Drumtochty Castle, it is a beautiful setting for a wedding with the 19^th Century castle hidden away in a wild woodland Glen. Betsy kept asking where the Queen was bless her, so I had to keep telling her she was sleeping as it was too difficult to explain that this wasn’t the castle where she lives. The wedding was amazing, we danced all day and night, and with Cozi being Greek Cypriot and Duncan Scottish, we had a complete mash up of dancing styles. I have to say it was the most fun that I’ve ever had at a wedding.  Little Betsy had a ball too running around the dance floor all day with her new playmates.  It was a great time catching up with friends and a wonderful few days.

When I returned, I recorded an interview with Cheryl Cole for This Morning.  We chatted about her forthcoming nationwide tour, ‘A Million Lights’.  It’s Cheryl’s first solo tour and she was telling me that she’s feeling a little bit nervous.  It was the first time that we’d had a chance to catch up properly since we climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief in 2009, so it was lovely to have a girly catch up over tea and biscuits.  To see the interview in full, tune in to ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday, 11th September.

On Route to Interview Cheryl wearing
Olivia Rubin
Autumn / Winter Collection.

As most of us have, Lee and I have been glued to the television over the past couple of weeks, watching the Olympics.  As I said, I really got into the spirit of things and even Betsy was cheering on Team GB with us in her red, white and blue outfit. So, imagine my delight when I was invited along as a guest of B.A.

I was given two tickets and decided to take my nephew Sunny.  Sunny is only 10 years old but is already a really good swimmer.  He’s the 6^th fastest in the Junior Essex team and what could be better than such an iconic event as the Olympics to inspire him to work hard and hopefully reach his full potential. What a night we had, we saw Usain Bolt , the fastest man on earth, and the Jamaican team win the 4x100m final and break a world record. But in my opinion we saw the event of the Games, Mo Farah winning the 5000m final and winning his second Gold medal for GB.  What an atmosphere!! I can’t tell you how amazing it was.  We were out of our seats and chanting ‘GO MO!!!!!’ with every step that he ran.  The whole of the stadium cheered like a Mexican wave as he ran around the track to victory.  It was unbelievable, what a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience that Sunny and I will never forget.

 

When I woke on Sunday morning, although I had no voice from cheering, I was still on such a high!  I popped out on the coffee run and picked up a copy of The Sun as I was guest columnist.  It was great fun sharing my opinions on all things topical from ‘setting an example’ to ‘fifty shades of Grey’.  What made it even more special was that the paper was full of positivity, about how ‘great’ Britain really is, with all our success at the Olympics.  There are certain things that I keep and put them together as part of a memory book for Betsy when she is older, and this is something that I’m definitely going to include.

The closing ceremony was a wonderful evening celebrating British music, the highlight for me though was seeing the Spice Girls perform, as sadly I missed them on tour, so it was great to reminisce back to my younger days when girl power ruled. Although I was sad to say farewell to the London 2012 Olympic Games, I am so proud as a nation at what we have achieved.  In 14 days we have shown the world, not only what a wonderful city London is, and how we can produce world class athletes, but how we can come together as a country, and pull off such a spectacular and faultless event as this. 

I have always worked hard and never taken anything for granted, and this is something that I hope to instil in Betsy, but these athletes who train so hard, and have to sacrifice so much to reach they’re ultimate goal, an Olympic medal are truly an inspiration to the youth of today and to the nation. I know that seeing Mo receive his Gold medal on the podium to the sound of the National Anthem brought a tear to my eye, and is a ‘Mo’ment I’ll never forget.  London 2012, I’ll miss you, you did us PROUD!!!!!