Of course, as the flame tottered past on the last legs of its trip round the country, it was easy to connect to a sense of ideal, a romanticism, and notions of shared humanity and equality in the gaze of sporting pursuit.
An early look at the stirring giants on the medals table reminds us what is played out above this fluffy dream of course, and the first day of competition reminded us that many Olympic sports are far from equal. Many nations have tiny teams, and many of the sports are reliant on access to technology or facilities and expertise that are just not available without money. Cycling, sailing, archery, shooting, space travel...
Talking of space travel, I thought Danny Boyle's contribution was great (Branagh as Brunel/Caliban was pretty peculiar, would have preferred the words to come from Caliban or perhaps a Celt but artistic licence just about held firm), while Mr Coe-Lord veered to the less palatable side of 'faster, higher, stronger' with an uncomfortable kind of zeal about London now holding the games for a record third time, and Macca was wheeled out after the whole thing had gone flat. It tipped over into a kind of braggadocio which was a shame, and stuck out like a sore thumb against some of the more humble moments that had deferred greatness to the gathered throng of human beings and theatre. BUT, and a huge and important BUT, is that Danny Boyle represented life on these isles and told an honest story of a population that is unsure of it's identity, explores it (and escapes it) through music and storytelling and holds on however precariously to threads of social thinking that put a high value on individual rights.
In short, he reminded us that there is a lot to be proud of in what London represents and that the main aspect of that is an ability for society to recalibrate despite often getting it very wrong. As the BBC struggle to present a coherent games from their position in the corner of what still looks like an industrial park, it is still the humour of Boyle that endures over the zeal of Coe, and the London Olympics maintains a hint of irreverance. Not quite the people's games, but definitely not completely 'the Man's' either.