The 2032 Olympics

are already upon us - or so it would seem. I had a properly socially distanced conversation with one of the regular dog walkers yesterday and he informed me that he had already booked his annual leave for 2032...so that he could go to the Olympics. 

Yes, he was quite serious about this. He is frustrated beyond despair that he cannot be in Tokyo right now. He had been saving his annual leave to go last year and it didn't happen. He wanted to go this year and it didn't happen. He has the next two Olympics booked, "And they had better happen!"

I know his wife despairs of all this. She is mildly interested in sport but he is passionate about it. The football, the rugby, the soccer, the cricket, the Tour de France, the this and the that are all of the utmost important to him. A day without any sport is an absolute tragedy from his point of view.  

I like his wife. She is a very patient woman. She makes the most amazing quilts - all by hand. "If I didn't do something like that while he watches his endless football I'd go spare," she told me once. So she makes quilts with the tiniest and neatest stitches and she passes them on to her church to raise funds for the homeless and for victims of domestic violence and more. She designed an Olympic quilt for last year and I know she has plans for more.

His dog, of whom I am rather fond, ignored all this and was looking over the fence at me. Normally I would give it a pat but that wasn't possible under the current rules. The dog was giving me a knowing look though. It was as if she was saying, "Look, we know he's barmy but the good thing is that there will be another quilt out of all this."

Yes, that's a good thing. I might start to think about some Olympic knitting - and the books I want to read.