CAN YOU FEEL VIRTUALLY REAL EXPERIENCES, I ASK?

WANDERING OFF DOWN A NEW TRACK IN SEARCH OF SOME REAL EXPERIENCES! Post No.49 (A 12 minute read) 

My pride at my late elder sister´s graduation as a mature student at 45 years of age, was quite immense. Her dedication to her task was admirable to say the least. Computers had come into our lives as adults, we did not have any experiences with all of this, for us at least, new-fangled stuff!!

She struggled with the computer related presentation of all the course work and the length of time that it all took out of class. Her studies and evening work had to combine. It was saturating for her and we had much contact during those years and she would off load on me. So many times she was ready to quit and throw in the towel.

I did my best to encourage her all the way and it was a shared pride when she finally completed the course and passed! She needed a break after qualifying and took Puppy to New York.

That gave me and my partner the ideal opportunity to go away by ourselves somewhere. I had been a long time athletics follower and we had the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin that summer. The other half liked the Berlin idea and so, off we went.

THE LOGO! MY T-SHIRT REMINDER OF THE EVENT!

Because of its recent his-story, I had never considered going to Berlin but having the tickets for the athletics, that would occupy much of our time. It was mid-August and we had left in summer clothes, somewhat later than scheduled!! We arrived minus a suitcase, it had to be the one with the jackets and cardigans in, of course!

It was a grey and windy afternoon that greeted us and having been told that our suitcase would not be coming until tomorrow afternoon, after checking into our hotel, we went in search of a warm layer of clothing! I hate going in to clothes shops, full stop. It is not about the country in particular, I hate clothes shops!!!

No, I was not overly impressed with our hotel room but it did have a roof top breakfast terrace and as the following morning dawned, it marked the beginning of a week long heat wave in Berlin which saw the temperatures rise way over 30ºC. It was hot in the sun.

I had come prepared to sit maybe in the sun for quite a long spell of time in the Olympic Stadium. I had brought a large brimmed sunhat!!! I did not need it in the stadium as we were shaded at all times but once out of the shade, on came the sunhat! I welcomed its shading of my neck, ears and cheeks! The sun has become progressively more and more intense.

That we see from our UV levels here in Spain. It did make Berlin though, an outdoor place to be. The pavements were taken up by tables/chairs and brighly coloured sunshades. The trees which lined the broad avenues were thickly boughed and shining with summer splendour.

The local residents were happily enjoying shorts, short sleeves and sandals time and outdoor living. On the river banks, an artificial sand beach had been set up with deck chairs to enjoy a sit in the sun. I found Berlin very much alive and open. The local residents were very correctly and politely spoken. I FELT very much at ease there.

Prior to our visit, I had spent some time looking at the german language and did have a useful collection of usable words and phrases which I put to very good use! I must get back to the study of german!

Breakfast on the roof top terrace and off to the stadium for our first day´s action. This was a wonderfully well organized Championships, it was! The catering options were the best that I have experienced to date in one of these large meetings! There were marquees set up in the surrounding fields with all sorts of food choices.

The vegetarians had plenty of options. Recycling was forefront of the organizational thinking. We had reusable drinking glasses. There were containers for the used whatevers all around the stadium, each of which was monitored by someone, who ensured that everything went in the right place. It was a very clean event.

Staff would pass along the rows of seating regularly, calling out their collection item. It was well thought through and the german spectators complied with an instructed automation. This was par for course already for them. We are a long way behind other European nations here in Spain when it comes to recycling and the collection of our rubbish.

I had watched so many championships on tv and thoroughly enjoyed every minute but to be in the stadium, is to FEEL the event. To see the athletes that you are so familiar with. It makes everything become 3D when you can see, hear, taste, smell and touch it. But you have to be there to FEEL that experience.

It can only be experience if you lived it first-hand, that is to say, that you ACTUALLY, not VIRTUALLY, FELT it! I quote myself from my book:

The crowd erupted as the girls fell sprawling spent on the track, getting their breath back. Nadine (Kleinert) and Valerie (Vili-Adams) resumed their lap of honour and were now joined by the heptathlon girls. They were round the far side of the track when the 100m sprinters came out to get ready for their final.

This time Usain Bolt was quiet and concentrated as he limbered up waiting to line up. There was so much noise going on, the partying on and off the track was getting more and more lively. All the girls were asked to stay where they were for now, the 100 metre final is ready to go!

As I looked at the eight finalists down on the track in front of me, I could not believe how lucky I was to be there. They were eight modern African descendents. Three African-Americans, five African-American-Caribbeans and one African-American-Caribbean-British born! I had seen so many championships on television but oh, WOW!!!!

The atmosphere you really do not get on television. You do not FEEL the electricity in the air, it is an amazing FEELING! All buzzing with the stimulus being given! Total silence fell, which after three solid hours of chanting, cheering and clapping, took a few minutes for the ensuing buzz to fade in the ears.

They were out of the blocks and over the finish line before we could blink! I knew who had won, oh, yes, but the time? I had a chronometer straight in my line of vision and I think I was the first to see it!!!! I jumped up and started shouting, "USAIN! USAIN!!!!" 

I was pointing to the chronometer. "It is a new WORLD RECORD!" I was shouting! It was made official, yes indeed, a new WORLD RECORD had been clocked up by Mr. USAIN BOLT of Jamaica! The impressive record being 9.58 seconds! Usain was all smiles. Tyson Gay from America took the silver and Jamaican team mate Asafa Powell the bronze.

The celebrations were great indeed, as these three posed and paraded slowly around the Berlin Olympia Stadion, alllowing every single one of us in the audience to get some good photos!

Seventy-three years on from the Berlin Olympic Games, here was yet another generation of modern African descended athletes lining up to be counted! This 2009 crowd was not suffering from racism or prejudice, not at all! There was total respect for all the phenomenally talented athletes who put themselves to the test in front of us all.

I FELT as though star dust was falling into my eyes and on my face. I knew that I had just witnessed a very special moment in time. Twelve years on that record still stands even though Usain himself, has come close to it as have a few other fine sprinters of modern African descent.

I was in an absolute daze when finally my partner led me out of the stadium. The tears of emotion poured down my cheeks. I never thought that I would be in for a treat like that! That privilege had come unforseen!

But for that to happen, you have to be in the right place at the right time! I FELT as though I was walking on air and no one anywhere was talking either! I think we were all slightly stunned to be honest. We could barely believe what our own eyes had just seen! Oh, to never go out of one´s back gate is to limit so greatly the access to so many different kinds of emotions and FEELINGS! End of quote.

It was an incredible array of sensations FELT during this visit and I REALLY did enjoy that trip. Sadly, the afterglow faded when coming into the new year 2010 as my beloved elder sister was diagnosed with cancer. Bad scenario, I cannot say much, too difficult! She was temporarily cured.

My partner and I went off to Rome for another athletics meeting in the summer. Once again, I had never thought to go to Rome but time had seen me digging evermore and beginning to NEED answers again. Rome seemed like a place where many secrets lay! The head of the catholic church and the birth place of catholicism, lay in Rome.

I was very pleasantly surprised with Rome and it did spark off anew my desire to learn. The food is absolutely spectacular. If you do not have a pizza in Rome, I do not think you will know what a pizza is and how good they really are! I could return to Rome just to eat a pizza!

Not long after our return, my sister took a turn for the worse, I shall say, this is too much for me! Her whole body was riddled with cancerous cells, she was dying and did not have much time left. Had it not been for my mother´s voice, I do not know that I could have/would have been able to believe those words.

Puppy and I got a one way ticket and spent the last month of my beloved, elder sister´s, his beloved mother´s life caring to her every need. I write of this in my book but will not write of it here! Coming into the autumn, we said our final farewell and another era of our lives came to an end. TOO MUCH PAIN! TOO MUCH PAIN!

Maybe the most painful part of death is that YOU have to carry on living when you no longer want to. My actual today began here, on the loss of my sister. Another door definitively closed behind me. No going back.

Life does continue, living in a numbed state as I was again now, I had little enthusiasm for anything but my partner was doing some work away from home and I would go with him and stay away and explore. And so it was that having checked out the pope´s place in Rome, we found ourselves in the same place as the pope in Santiago de Compostela, Spain!

I round off this chapter which is titled OFF DOWN ANOTHER TRACK, happily having received my first COVID-19 vaccine.

Have you been to any major sporting events? How did you find the atmosphere? Did you FEEL a participant´s magic? Have you been a participant in a major sporting event? How about Berlin and Rome, anyone know those cities?

Well, I am drawing close to the end of my first book ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN so, stay with me. Next chapter is MISPLACED FAITH!

This book is available on Amazon: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN e-book and ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Paperback

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