Here we are on the doorstep of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Personally, I find them to be lacking in joy, expectation, or anticipation. For some reason I am more concerned about seeing someone keel over from a stroke or myocarditis than falling on the slopes from a bad ski jump.

Hosted in the country that gives " gifts that keep giving " like covid , I wonder if the games will be more opening a Pandora's Box or a very large and unpleasant can of worms.

It was 2016 when Redhead and I fronted up to the Senior's matinee performance of a new movie called " Eddie the Eagle. " We had no idea what it was about and didn't much care. It was something we did once a month as part of our ( then ) social life. 

I assumed that it had something to do with a bird and that it might have some pleasant scenic shots to entertain me for a few hours. How wrong could I have been. 

Instead, we walked into a theatre and soon realised that it was not about an Eagle.

Or was it?

It was a story inspired by the British Olympic Ski jumper, Eddie Edwards who represented Britain in the 1988 winter Olympics in Canada.

" Doing the best with what I had "

We cheered, clapped, " oohed! " and "ahhed! " and laughed and smiled and grinned and had a marvellous time. In the theatre, others did the same. As we left, we were all talking busily with each other and saying what a thoroughly pleasant morning we had just enjoyed.

ENJOYED.

In the car on the way home, we both declared that I would not have been any good as an " Eagle " because of my dreadful fear of heights. How many people today have been jabbed because of their fear?'

How I admire people who dare to fly!

This remarkable young man dared to do something that he knew would not end in a medal. 

He had no illusions about his ability, no dreams of gold or silver or even bronze. He told the press: “In my case, there are only two kinds of hope—Bob Hope and no hope.”

“When I started competing, I was so broke that I had to tie my helmet with a piece of string,” he says. “On one jump the string snapped, and my helmet carried on farther than I did. I may have been the first ski jumper ever beaten by his gear.” 

Wearing six pairs of socks inside hand-me-down ski boots, he took off.  When he touched down, broadcasters chorused: “The Eagle has landed!”

He had no money, no coach, no equipment and no team—England had never competed in the event. Driven only by determination, he slept in his mum’s camper van, grubbed food out of garbage cans and once even camped out in a Finnish mental hospital. From shoveling snow to scrubbing floors, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to jump more. Nor was there anything that could stop him from jumping: Following one botched landing, he continued with his head tied up in a pillowcase toothache-fashion to keep a broken jaw in place. source

actual footage from the 1988 Olympics of Eddie jumping

"At these Games, some competitors have won gold, some have broken records and some of you have even soared like an eagle.”

Frank King, President of the Organizing Committee speaking at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics

Eddie the Eagle - as a man and as a movie - have one thing in common. They are both larger than life, incredibly optimistic, pragmatic and determined to entertain, thrill and delight.

While the movie uses more poetic license than it probably needed to, it still did what Eddie Edwards did in reality: it inspired and made hearts swell with pride and happiness.

6 odd years ago, Redhead and I left a movie theatre feeling happy. 

We no longer go to the theatre. We are unvaccinated. 

Some of us wonder what we can do to help those younger and more able folk who dare to jump off ski slopes, soar like eagles and fly in the face of the mandates, lockdowns, vaccine horror and deprivation of our liberties.

But this movie, " Eddie the Eagle " shows me that we perform our role by being there to cheer, clap, applaud.

OUR SUPPORT IS VITAL.

Whether we are seated in a movie theatre, behind our keyboards, or around our kitchen tables, our role is to lead the cheer squad for those who, like Eddie, are competing in the most important Olympics of our time

The Winter Olympics of Discontent.

Let's cheer for our Eagles who are soaring right now when so many of our media and politicians have tried to clip their wings - it surely is time to fly again. 

future reading:

https://eddie-the-eagle.co.uk/