Tuesday 12 June 2012

Local action


Shock, horror! Something happening in our village!


OK so I'm not exactly Sporty Spice or your usual Events of National Importance cheerleader or anything but the Olympic Torch business was literally passing by the bottom of our street this morning so I volunteered to go and "help" at my daughter's school re getting the kids down to the road to watch and cheer. It was all over pretty quickly but here are some pics for those of you who might be interested. If you look closely you can see said daughter in the crowd (most likely wishing she was somewhere else - celebrating something less connected with sport...). 


First came the police. Police! We don't usually get them here much...




Then the beginning of the cavalcade...




Then came some slogans...




Here's your first chance to spot wee girlie...




And a sponsorship vehicle... don't worry if you miss this one... there are others...




Oh dear - have I cut off the logo from this sponsorship vehicle?




It's like a transport display... spot the daughter anyone?




The torch is coming eventually...




Yes, that's definitely the winning slogan...




And at last - here comes the torch!




Passing over the flame (local torch bearer info here): 







And then the other end of the police escort... and back to school for some...

23 comments:

Unknown said...

Exciting stuff! At least you got to see it locally. Here it just went to Dublin, :(

Rachel Fox said...

Yes... it's not really my kind of thing but it was SO close that I felt I had to go and look. There is a local protest too

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Angus/article/23248/i-started-laughing-and-kept-on-laughing-olympic-torch-protester-gets-a-police-visit.html

Just for balance!

x

David Henry said...

Yes... a great event for police-vehicle spotters!! I was rather amused that the London Metropolitan Police motorcyclists cruised slow and close to the spectators giving them 'drive-by high-fives'!! That was kind of nice... As to the rest of it... Well... um er... ;-)

Rachel Fox said...

I know... some say "Hooray", some say "boo!", some say "um, er..."
x

The Solitary Walker said...

That was a great piece of fly-on-the-wall, hands-on, authentic photo-reportage, Rachel, what with the heads being in the way and everything!

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, well don't forget I was meant to be supervising children... or at least helping to supervise... so I couldn't exactly push them out of the way for photos...
x

Rachel Fox said...

Also I only took the little snap camera - didn't want to bash a child on the head with the other one (by accident!)!
x

The Solitary Walker said...

No excuses needed, Rachel, as I meant the remark as a compliment!

Rachel Fox said...

Well, that's alright then!
x

Eryl said...

Rachel Fox on the ground for the Slow Lane Shuffle news. You actually manage to make it sound interesting, well done! X

Rachel Fox said...

Well, I did used to be a sort of a journalist now and again... rarely news though (too lazy, too vague). If I'd had no morals I could have been a tabloid journo of course... just couldn't have done it though.
x

The Bug said...

How exciting! Your girlie shines in any crowd - no trouble seeing her at all. I'm sorry, but there was the OTHER logo on the upper left of the vehicle so I was able to figure out the sponsor. Better luck next time trying to leave the sponsor off :)

Rachel Fox said...

I know... I only missed off the GIANT logo on the front... and anyway the colour always gives that particular sponsor away anyway. There has been much talk here of having sponsors like that (i.e. all the unhealthy products telling us to be healthy and do sports..). And yet on it goes...

Reading this today that touched on sugars and sugary drinks...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat

x

hope said...

I'm not the world's biggest sports fan either but it seems when the Olympics are going on, the world plays nicely with others for a couple of weeks. :)

Nice shots!

Marion McCready said...

just think, you be able to tell your great grandchildren about the time you saw the olympic torch! :)

Rachel Fox said...

Yes... that great tradition (the torch relay) started in Germany in 1936...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Flame

Does that spoil things? I keep hearing a slightly altered Monty Python... what did the Nazis ever do for us...?

x

Mark said...

From Wikipedia

On June 30, 1936,[15] the first torch-flame was kindled in Olympia, Greece, in the ruins of the Temple of Hera, by 15 robed "virgins," using a concave mirror focusing the sun's rays, all under the supervision of a "high priestess." It was carried to the Acropolis in Athens for a special invocation, and then relayed along the 3,422-kilometer distance to the Olympic stadium in Berlin by an equal number of young Aryan-looking runners, each of whom took the flame a single kilometer.

This kind of leaves a sour taste......

Rachel Fox said...

Too much logo-related soft drink perhaps?

And yet if you read some of the stories re the torch bearers on the website it's hard to whine about what was undoubtedly a great day for a lot of people. Bad can be turned good.

Shame that the government are making things worse for some of those very same people on a daily basis with cuts and so on. And that money spent on hype means less money on need.

Round and round we go...

x

A Cuban In London said...

You cut the logo out! You'll probably be hunted down by the Olympic Commitee and be made to repent for your sins. :-)

Great photos. Glad to see you and the kids had a good time.

Greetings from London.

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, and being in a sporty frame of mind the girl and I went and saw "Fast Girls" today at the cinema. No huge surprises in it but an enjoyable runabout and good performances. Apparently director/writer/actor Noel Clarke wasn't even allowed to mention the Olympics or 2012! Brands gone mad...
x

Selma said...

I really like that they do this with the Olmpic torch. It instils such a sense of comunity and anticipation. How exciting!!

Rachel Fox said...

Certainly there were a lot of very happy photos in the local papers. London is far from here (in many senses) and the more they can do to make the Olympics seem relevant to people here the more it will be watched, for sure.
x

Rachel Fox said...

Couple of comments ago I said Clarke directed "Fast Girls"... not so - it was directed by Regan Hall.
Sorry!