Great Britain Rocks!

Perhaps it's because I'm an ex-pat and no longer feel jaded by the day to day grind of living in England. One of the better things about living abroad is that you feel kind of detached from the realities of your own country. Politics, over-crowding, Council tax, and all the other things that we so like to moan about- don't get me started on the weather! - no longer apply. Rose tinted specs most certainly do.

Thousands of column inches have been written about the Jubilee and the Olympics. Some of them are even accurate. All I want to say is that this year I'm proud to be a Brit, albeit an absentee one. I thought the Jubilee showed the rest of the world how to throw a party with dignity and style. Who cares if it rained for the Thames Pageant. We're Brits. We can handle a drop of rain, can't we? We've had enough practise.

I was in England for a week or two before it happened and it did my jaded heart good to see all the bunting and union flags everywhere. For once people weren't afraid to express their patriotism and love for the queen without worrying about offending some minority faction.

Now the Olympics have put the UK firmly in the map. Don't know about you but I thought the opening ceremony, on the whole, was a great reflection of the history of this great nation of ours. The media loved reporting all the negatives on the run-up to the games - well, good news doesn't make headlines, does it? - but now the time has arrived it seems to me that the majority of the nation is firmly with the programme. It's great to see our young royals in the crowd, mixing with Joe Average and cheering our athletes on.

Don't know who'll come out on top of the medal table...well,actually I can guess but that's not the point. The overall winner will be the UK and how bad can that be?

Wendy