I’ll admit, I’m a bit blown away by parts of the Olympics. I know I was a bit miserable about the whole thing a while ago  but I’m so completely into it now! It’s insane that people can run 100 metres in under 10 seconds – it takes me that long to just get off the sofa! Absolutely incredible. I’ll admit though, I don’t always root for the Brits (or the Russians, since I have a split allegiance). I saw the 15 year old Katy Ledecky nail the swimming race, even though she didn’t beat Rebecca Adlington’s record, and I was cheering her on the whole time. It must be incredible to achieve a gold medal in the Olympics at just 15!

Speaking of the Olympics, there seems to be an increasing about of controversy surrounding the ‘multiculturalism’ of the ceremony and teams in general. Obviously there was that hideous tweet by Aidan Burley (a man who attends Nazi-themed parties…) and further outrage by similarly unfortunate individuals who seem to see other nationalities or other skin colours as an infringement on their Britishness… or something. It’s such a shame that the things that made the ceremony, the country’s identity, and the Games awesome are the things that these people want to pick on. In case these esteemed journalists hadn’t noticed, there are a lot of different cultures living in Britain. It’s a melting pot. London isn’t solely inhabited by white, ‘English’,  middle-class, Anglican nuclear families, so why on earth would we want to be (mis)represented by them? Take a look around – multiculturalism isn’t a lefty political agenda, it’s just the reality here. And that’s awesome. Just look at some of our gold medal winners – Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah are hardly traditional English roses (or whatever the male equivalent is). It’s such a shame that an event that should evoke pride is turned into another reason to whine about immigrants and the ‘downfall of society’. The London riots were a year ago – look at how much the nation’s mood has changed.

In other news, I have absolutely no idea where the first half of this year went! I blinked, and suddenly it was August. This kind of thing happens each year since I left formal education, and it’s getting more and more disconcerting. I’m even wishing the next month away since we’re going on holiday in September, which probably isn’t a good way to continue. If anybody has ideas on how to slow down time a little, I’d appreciate it. Suggestions on a postcard. Free air guitar for the winner.

Even though I’m intermittently trying to write the new book, I’m getting back into painting. I’m really quite depressingly bad since it’s been so long, but I’m hoping I’ll have something semi-respectable to post up here soon!