I ventured into London yesterday amid the mixed reports of “London deserted/London heaving” and found that it was slightly busier than usual but nothing that the Tube couldn’t handle.

Whilst there I saw several contingencies from different countries, strangely all hanging around Camden High Street and the markets there.  I assume that the bargains on this road were calling to them more than the excitement in Stratford.

Olympic fever has touch many of us quite unexpectedly.  For me, it started with the Torch arriving in our local town and continued when we were at the footie in Cardiff last week.  I’ve never seen a football stadium with quite as many women and kids so it clearly couldn’t be a regular league match – there was nowhere near enough bad language either.  There was certainly sufficient alcohol and quite a bit of very bad dancing from some women in the crowd but it was incredibly good natured and fantastic to be part of the event.

Team GB looked in form and won, but the big surprise for me was that the media villain-of-the-peace Suarez was a fantastic player.  He was clearly a cut above most players on the pitch.  It was interesting that quality is so clear in sport but not necessarily everywhere else.  At the Olympics, the best wins – it is that simple, but in business life mediocre people can drift along very well rewarded for many years (think banking and many other professions).

The same is true of beauty products, the shiny box and nice bottle doesn’t mean that these are the best performers, neither does price, whereas in football, the more expensive the player, the better they are.  So, why is performance rewarded in sport and not elsewhere in the world?  Something for me to trouble my tiny brain with late at night, methinks…