North, South, East, West

Among the other issues that have plagued the London Olympics organisers in the past weeks, this whimsical incident takes place: during the women’s football (soccer) match in Glasgow between North Korea and Colombia, some official mistakenly displays the South Korean flag on the big screen instead. Perhaps not so whimsical to the people on the wrong end of it, I acknowledge, and especially since the two Koreas are still officially at war.

And then US Presidential election candidate, Mitt Romney, walks right into it on his visit to London with several high profile gaffes, which London mayor Boris Johnson manages to capitalise on in front of a crowd of 60,000.

It would be funny (and nice) if London were actually galvanised to pull off the event flawlessly, though with this clanger, and a few more hours to go, I’m still holding my breath!

 

Spell-binding

Another thing not to do during Mercury retrograde: get a tattoo!

This woman went to a tattooist to commemorate her contribution to the Olympic torch relay and he put the “y” in the wrong place…

I’m glad she saw the humour (Mercury) in it and decided to keep it for its uniqueness (Uranus). Choosing to celebrate an occasion with a visual display is also a rather Leonine thing to do (note the flame and the halo on the torch).

 

Silent Spring-steen

In the light of the metaphor I used yesterday about shouting at a rock concert and not being heard, this news article today made me laugh. 

Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Hyde Park, London had the sound turned off by over-zealous bureaucrats after going over the three-hour limit. The mischievous nature of the incident is very much in the spirit of Mercury and Uranus rules electricity… :D This description totally describes a Mercury-Uranus retrograde moment…

‘It made for a slightly bizarre, anti-climactic end to what had been a fantastic show,’ said Stephen Robb, a BBC reporter who was at the event.

Incidentally, I had a quick glance at Springsteen’s chart. Retrograde Mercury is transiting over his 3rd house Mars (which will be fuming), and transiting Uranus is opposing his 5th house Libra stellium, which may be feeling even more off balance than usual…

 

Granny severs nation’s internet connection

During a retrograde in 2008, there were reports about the disruption to the internet when several undersea cables were severed.

Yesterday, it seems a 75-year-old woman in Georgia single-handedly cut off the internet to 90% of neighbouring Armenia’s network when she sliced into a cable while digging for copper to sell for scrap…

As the Moon sails through Taurus (ruler of cash and associated with copper), this incident seems like a timely reminder of how materially dependent this magical virtual world still is.

 

No, minister

A slip of the tongue resulted in a BBC Radio 4 presenter substituting a minister’s name with a rude word.

What’s really funny, and mercurial, is how the slip gets repeated by another broadcaster trying to report the story without saying the word, and proceeds to do just that.