Wednesday at the stadium and Billy Elliot

My third morning session at the stadium, and this time with my young companion in tow. It really is nicer going to these events with someone, and nice that I was able to take this lad as he can now say he attended the games in the Olympic Park. Lets face it, however well we put the games on, he is unlikely to get the chance again, at least before he is a very old man.

We were in pole (sorry for the pun) position to watch the pole vault qualifying. Nice to see Steve Lewis through, as our vaulters don't exactly have a great record on qualifying for major finals.

 We saw the beginning of the decathlon.

 We also saw Mo Farah qualify for the 5000m final (which of course he was to win to much excitement on saturday night)

 I took Kit on a circuit of the park before we headed home.

His mum meanwhile had taken the rare opportunity to visit some London art galleries without having to worry about the kids. Amusingly, I found myself giving transport directions etc by text. And she thanked me for keeping her son entertained. Since I had left him happily playing on the computer upstairs, I felt this was an easy job. I could cope with this.

The following day I had secured tickets for us all to go and see the matinee of Billy Elliot. I had got pretty good seats, but bizarrely could get better seats at a better price by buying a family ticket of two adults and two children than just three individual seats. Which of course left us a child short. Having failed to entice the only 12 year old I knew to take up the seat (and feeling that merely kidnapping a random 12 year old with the offer of a theatre seat could be misconstrued) we sadly had a vacant seat, which was a great shame as tickets are dear, and the show is spectacularly good. Can't imagine a better show to take a 13 year old lad to.

Now I am not really keen on musicals (the last one I attended I fell asleep in), but this is an exception. Its a great story line. It doesn't insist on everything being in song. And the little lad who played Billy was stunningly good. Now remember you have to act, sing and dance phenomenally well, so to get someone to do all three is a task. But he was brilliant. It also has a very natural feel to it - unlike most musicals (the language is a little industrial at times, which is great because that's how real people talk). And its very funny. So at no point were we anything short of captivated. Alison blubbed suitably at the song in which Billy's dead mother writes a letter to her young son before she dies. (The woman in front of me grabbed her kids and kissed them as if she too might conk out at any moment.) Sentimental, but not in a mawkish way. In short, it hits all the right buttons. Go see it.

And we finished off the day at my local Greek restaurant for an early evening meal, Alison and I polishing off a bottle of Cypriot wine between us, before repairing home for a night of more Olympic viewing. What could be better?