Commonwealth games-----???

[tech/a]

Watching the Opening ceremony.

I dont understand,I thought all participants were/are members of the Commonwealth?

Uganda,Bangladesh,half of Africa?
Wales,Scotland,Ireland????

Help me with this.

Oh and give queeny a happy pill!

 

[sam76]

Did I see a decapitated Koala dancing during the opening?

Ray and Liz were pretty average as hosts.

 

[canny]

Watching the Opening ceremony.

I dont understand,I thought all participants were/are members of the Commonwealth?

Uganda,Bangladesh,half of Africa?
Wales,Scotland,Ireland????

Help me with this.

Oh and give queeny a happy pill!

All Commonwealth countries tech - look it up on a search engine! Good old England still has a bit to answer for!!

 

[Julia]

Tech,

"Give queenie a happy pill".

While I was being distinctly underwhelmed by the opening ceremony, I found myself feeling immensely sorry for the poor Queen who must have endured heaven only knows how many of these boring events. I would have zero tolerance of all the formalities and ceremony and, given what I know of your personality, suspect you would need more than a few happy pills to put up with what she has coped with over about 60 years of this stuff!!

So just have a little sympathy for her, the poor woman. I can just about hear the sigh of relief she will breathe when she steps back on to what I suppose will be the Royal jet on her way home again.

All the best,
Julia

 

[Fleeta]

Julia - surely one of the dumbest comments I have heard on this forum. What doesn't the Queen have to be happy about? I'll swap jobs with her any day!

As for the Commonwealth nations - I went to the Commonwealth Museum here in Bristol recently and learnt that after World War II, England handed back the colonies and invited nations to join the Commonwealth. Just because you weren't a British colony didn't mean that you couldn't join the commonwealth and so membership of the Commonwealth is much larger than the actual colonies once owned by Britain. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, British Colonies made up a quarter of the worlds population, so they certainly did own a fair bit of the world. What I found interesting was that almost every Colony of Britain went to war to proclaim their independance (think Boer War in South Africa in 1899, American War of Independence in 1770's, Pakistan splitting from India, African wars, etc.).

Lets hope the games are a success and that Australia win and I have something to get back at these stupid poms that keep reminding me of the Ashes!

 

[son of baglimit]

fleeta - just bask in the glory of PDO.

71 countries competing for glory - or the chance of a holiday.
at least its a break from mundane dramas on weeknites.

 

[surelle]

71 countries competing for glory - or the chance of a holiday.
at least its a break from mundane dramas on weeknites.

I think there will be many a drama unfold over the next 11 days - gee on the first day we already have a sexual abuse charge - sorry "alleged sexual abuse"

I hope the closing ceremony is a bit more exciting than the opening - at least we won't have to endure the Queens happy (not) face - don't get me wrong, I don't mind her, but a bit of enthusiasm wouldn't hurt....considering she hasn't been here for so long....

Enjoy the games

 

[Lachlan6]

Nice ceremony, but what the hell is with the footy captains carrying the torch across the fish. I'm sure no one from Belize or for that matter anyone competing in the games (apart from the aussies) has heard of barry hall or any of the other captains b4. hmmm very strange decision. completely stupid imo. What about real athletes. I'm a Melbournian and proud to be, but our obsession with footy has overstepped the mark.

 

[son of baglimit]

wash ya mouth out lochie - perfect choice - occurred outside the stadium, so your belize-ites didnt even know they were there....it was for the melburnians sitting on the edge of the river - and for most it IS ALL THEY CARE ABOUT - GO THE FOOTY.

 

[Knobby22]

I thought it was good to show the Bangladeshi's and Malawi people who live in unbelievable conditions how to spend $50,000,000.
I also like to think they leaned something from the duck poem.

 

[Happy]

Julia

If she is such an old poor thing she can always give batten to Charles and go on ‘deserved’ retirement.

 

[Julia]

OK, I will consider myself told off!

Just can't help thinking how tedious it would be to have to attend ceremonies all one's life and be observed for every expression on my face.

Can some of you enthusiasts for her role let me in on what you think is so desirable about her life, apart from being mega wealthy?

Julia

 

[Prospector]

Nice ceremony, but what the hell is with the footy captains carrying the torch across the fish. I'm sure no one from Belize or for that matter anyone competing in the games (apart from the aussies) has heard of barry hall or any of the other captains b4. hmmm very strange decision. completely stupid imo. What about real athletes. I'm a Melbournian and proud to be, but our obsession with footy has overstepped the mark.

I am with you there all the way! The AFL has enough of the media attention without now encroaching on the Commonwealth Games! Surely there better candidates than these people - how damn parochial are we! We were listening to talk back radio after the event - most thought they just sholdnt be there - smacked of 'Kath and Kim' stuff

And as for the Melburnians - gosh, it was the Australian tax payer paying for it not you guys!

And Julia, I thought that maybe they had broken some protocol when they sang Happy Birthday - she looked quite worried about it all and maybe you dont sing this to a monarch before it is actually her birthday? And I thought it rather abrubt they way they said her age too! Not really polite!

Actually, on reflection I thought the ceremony showed we were not as sophisticated as we think we are, and I am thinking the Sydney siders would have been laughing their heads off at this poor imitation of the Sydney 2000 ceremony.

 

[son of baglimit]

cmon julia - plenty of ammo for ya next topic - REPUBLIC - YES OR NO ?

 

[tech/a]

Queenie---retire its all ho hum.

Ceremony--Great to see the Whole city used.
Fantastic Pyrotechnics.
Delta WORLD CLASS.

Hang on was there a story line?

Looked for the most part like it was run by a theatre group from the colonies.

I'm bloody over it as for the Footy Captains bugger off MCG's booked for a while. On with the games.
With ticket sales down where's the bloody tourists?

 

[Prospector]

I guess I shouldnt be watching TV during the afternoon but the games coverage is so......BORING :yawn

 

[idribble]

It was soooo boring that I went to bed.

BTW, did they play the British National Anthem for the Queen?

 

[surelle]

in a sort of Claytons way...
they sang Happy B-day to her (she's 80 next mnth) and then turned the song into God save the queen

I also thought it lacked something, especially a smile from queenie
cheers

 

[surelle]

i'm also surprised that the greenies haven't got on the bandwagon....it was very different to see a decapitated koala bounceing his head along the stage...

 

[idribble]

Well I reckon it's pathetic that they didn't play God Save the Queen.

Shows we've still got a lot of growing up to do.

And I support us becoming a republic, and I don't like being tied to the British apron strings.

Sexist or not, those Aussie women swimmers are sooooooo sexy. And the epitomy of a 'team'.