That's all folks

    Sunday, Aug. 24

    It's time for us to say, so long

    by Brad Kelly

    We started this journey with a friendly nee how, and now it is almost time to say czai jiaen.

   

It must be time to come home if we are starting to sound like Carol Burnett. Although, we have had a lot of laughs and giggles, much like Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.

    We were sitting at supper reflecting on our time here, how the days have been long but the time has passed so quickly. We hope that you have enjoyed the journey along with us, the stories, the photos and the blog.

   

The highlights have been many for us. In no particular order:

   

• The soccer game in Tianjin the first day we arrived that pitted Canada against China. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, like nothing we have experienced before. There was heat, a 3.5 hour bus ride and a day that ended at 3 a.m. The game produced Ron's favourite shot of Christine Sinclair scoring Canada's lone goal in a 1-1 tie.

   

He also consumed five bottles of water during the game because of the extreme heat, bringing an empty one home on the toilet-less bus just in case.

    • Getting lost was an experience. There were two cab rides I had to take by myself, the first at 2 a.m. after the shuttle took me to the wrong media village, or was it the fact I got on the wrong bus? Can't remember. And another from softball to basketball one night. I arrived safe and sound both times, but there is an uneasy feeling about being in the back of a cab in a foreign country and not knowing where you are going.

   

• Ron enjoyed following Priscilla Lopes-Schliep through the eye of the camera as she celebrated her bronze medal victory in the 100m hurdles. It was an exciting night to come this far and cover a medal winner from our own backyard.

   

• At the other end of the spectrum, there was the emotion displayed by Sasha Mehmedovic in judo and Whitby's own Erin McLean in softball, both in tears after their Olympic dream came to an end. Trust us: there were many more that left venues in tears than there were with medals around their neck.

   

• The exclusive photos and stories we got. 'Exclusive' because it's a word that daily papers use to lend some kind of significance or importance to their story. To us, everyone we covered was important, and there were times when we were the only ones from Canada making sure that the stories of athletes in our communities were told. It was community journalism at its best.

   

• The blog. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that our daily diary would be as popular as it was. There wasn't a day went by that we didn't get a number of comments and emails from home, family, friends and neighbours commenting on how much they enjoyed it. It was nice to know people cared.

   

• Uxbridge's Chris Begg expressed his displeasure that baseball won't be included in the 2012 Olympics. He questioned how some of the others remain, but wouldn't be specific. We however will: dressage. Caught a little bit the other night on TV and we both agreed it's riders on drunk horses the way they stumble about the ring.

    So that's it, as Carol croons softly in the background: We're so glad we had this time together. Seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say, so long.

Comments

[Jennifer]

You two did a fantastic job. Travel safely!

[Pat]

I have looked for your blog every day and thank you for allowing us to enjoy the personal stories about the Olympics and Beijing through your eyes. Wonderful pictures and stories!!