Keep calm and carry on

London is getting ready for the final wind up to the Olympics.  I bought the 5th grader's July ticket to Texas and it seems price gouging is already in place since it cost a bit over $1600.  I know the grandparents and cousins will be happy to see her, but DANG that is one expensive straight shot, round trip flight from Heathrow to Houston and back again.


And speaking of shots and flights... Over the weekend, I kept seeing (as well as hearing) military jets flying overhead.  When I mentioned this to the husband, he told me he read in one of the London newspapers that they would be conducting Olympic military exercises over the course of the next week.  It seems the airspace over the Olympics will be a restricted flying zone.  The military will use radar and human observers to be on the lookout for potential threats.


The best part is the surface-to-air missiles that will be placed in the Olympic zone and are said to be protected by armed police.  That's a pretty big deal because police don't carry firearms in England.  They just have to go all crazy on a criminal with their nightstick if it gets physical.  But anyhow, it's kinda creepy that live ordnance will be in the area.  I don't know that it makes me feel safer, what with armies around the globe having mishaps with friendly fire.  I think it's pretty cool that the military *could* shoot a terrorist threat out of the sky... so the burning fuselage rains down on our heads when we're watching the beach volleyball, diving or track events.  


It's a sad commentary that we'll be attending events celebrating humanity's strength, endurance and will to win in the shadow of these SAMs deployed around London during the Olympic games.  In our post 9/11 world, I guess I can appreciate a better safe than sorry plan of action for the hundreds of thousands in attendance, including our little family of four.