Maureen and I watched the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games on July 27th.

I got all teary.

It was embarrassing.

The next day I emailed Evelyn.

Me: “I wept during the opening ceremony. I think they were tears of joy. For the cheering crowds, the watching world? Do you ever cry for America, Evelyn?”

Evelyn: “Actually, No, John. What else makes you cry?”

I had to think about that.

Me: “Susan Boyle makes me cry. I want to cry when I watch that clip, when the scornful audience stills as she starts to sing and the judges break into applause.”

Evelyn: “Tell me more. What else do you cry about?”

Me: “I cry when I think of the victory parades at the end of World War 2. Also, I remember getting teary when writing to Ms Tan about Alfred. He was down and out but he came back and built a nation.”

Evelyn: “Did you cry when your parents died?”

Me: “No, but I cried in 1995, when I visited my father’s grave on the 50th anniversary of the end of WW2, when I thought of what he had sacrificed and how I had never acknowledged it.”

Evelyn: “Honey, you have no country really. Patriotism is like a river. Sometimes the current carries you with it….carries you away from yourself.”

Me: “Do old men cry more easily?”

Evelyn: “Maybe. I don’t know. Perhaps the longing to lose yourself in the river gets more intense.”

I would like to know more about crying. Do other animals cry?

As for the Games, they were well organised and our athletes did well.

Who could not have been moved by the achievements of Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis?

Strange.  Less than a year ago I said my country meant nothing to me any more.