Is it just me, or do most events go on a bit too long? Or, as in the case of the Olympics closing ceremony, a lot too long. The Olympics themselves were simply wonderful and far too short. The last football World Cup saw 64 matches played over nearly a month. At the Olympics countless contests are played out in barely two weeks. I’ve never understood what the hurry is all about. Perhaps this is the point: it’s about leaving us wanting more. Unlike its opening and closing ceremonies about which the opposite plainly applied.
I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a church service, a theatre, or a concert venue, and said to whomever I was with: “You know what, I’d like that to have gone on a bit longer.” Indeed, rare is the event that I didn’t think could have benefited from being shorter. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way. I’m just honest enough to admit it, and unbothered about being thought a philistine. I’d like to conduct lie detector tests on punters filing out of the Royal Opera House. Were you in any sense thankful when the curtain came down? Did you want more? If you answer no and yes then your pants are on fire.
