Must Britain take any more? We are so unfamiliar with the feeling of national sporting success that the past surprising fortnight has tested the nation's cardiac capacity beyond reasonable limits.
Now, we have more excitement in store on Sunday, at the handover ceremony in Beijing. Not only will Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page perform a duet, but David Beckham will enter the stadium on a London bus, before staging a kickaround with children representing the 205 Olympic nations. The ceremony will also feature ballet performers from the Royal Opera House, street dancers and a routine from a disabled dance collective. Finally, Boris Johnson will receive the Olympic flag from Beijing, signalling the handover of the games and a cementing of the communal sigh of terror from our Olympics committee.
Unfortunately, China has promised another glittering display of splendour for its grand finale, disappointing London's 2012 organising committee who were hoping for a couple of party poppers and a game of musical statues.
The spanking locally-sourced cherries on the ceremony's cake must be the regional choirs around Britain, who will perform appropriately-themed songs while the handover ceremony is broadcast on thirty giant screens. Gold medal goes to lucky Derby, who get to perform a song about its fat local ram and the unfortunate cattle's subsequent slaughter. Obvious choices for our fair city might be the Kinks' 'Waterloo Sunset' or the Clash's 'London Calling', but perhaps we might need to look to our neighbours across the pond and borrow Roy Orbison's 'Running Scared'. No pressure, Ms Jowell.
Images from hkgspotter1's photostream from the Londonist stock pool
