Olympic flame progress thread.
Discussion
I have changed my mind, I thought the whole Olympics thing was going to be a half assed cock up and not be very good, I am admitting now, here that I may have been a little wrong.
I have just come back in from watching the torch pass through Penzance, Wifey, little girl and I got up and went out in the early morning sunshine to watch the procession pass through the main street.
First impressions were good, the council cleaned the whole place up really well, no litter, swept gutters and tidied up the planters etc, a good Police prescence to deter idiots and sensible traffic restictions in place to prevent the nissan micra brigade double parking in the main street to watch the parade while drinking a flask of soup.
Lots more people than I expected turned out to have a good look at it all, helped no doubt by the sunshine and lack of the usual rain.
The first burst of activity was the parade of BMW motorbikes, then a parade of big Coca-cola, Lloyds bank and Samsung buses, and then some more Police. This first burst of corporate dazzling was quite far in front of the main event as it were, I was concerned that the Logo-fest side of things would be part of the actual torch relay but it was a good 5 minutes in front, meaning that the actual torch was a show on its own.
The torch section was ok, it's bit like a flaming cone of chips but what can you do with a Torch to make it different from other torches ? Someone was jogging with it, some more folk were scampering about around it and everyone cheered as it went by. It was not the anticlimax I thought it might be but was not "YEAH, LOOK AT ME" and in you face like it could have been, nicely understated.
What i am saying is I was actually impressed with the organisation, the way the torch and companies were separated, and the general ambience of the event itself, it force Cornwall Council to up their game for a bit and the town was the busiest I have seen it for years, shops open, people around and a good atmosphere.
If the rest of the country gets it as right as Cornwall got it in Penzance these Games might well be a bit of a pride boost for Britain.
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
I have just come back in from watching the torch pass through Penzance, Wifey, little girl and I got up and went out in the early morning sunshine to watch the procession pass through the main street.
First impressions were good, the council cleaned the whole place up really well, no litter, swept gutters and tidied up the planters etc, a good Police prescence to deter idiots and sensible traffic restictions in place to prevent the nissan micra brigade double parking in the main street to watch the parade while drinking a flask of soup.
Lots more people than I expected turned out to have a good look at it all, helped no doubt by the sunshine and lack of the usual rain.
The first burst of activity was the parade of BMW motorbikes, then a parade of big Coca-cola, Lloyds bank and Samsung buses, and then some more Police. This first burst of corporate dazzling was quite far in front of the main event as it were, I was concerned that the Logo-fest side of things would be part of the actual torch relay but it was a good 5 minutes in front, meaning that the actual torch was a show on its own.
The torch section was ok, it's bit like a flaming cone of chips but what can you do with a Torch to make it different from other torches ? Someone was jogging with it, some more folk were scampering about around it and everyone cheered as it went by. It was not the anticlimax I thought it might be but was not "YEAH, LOOK AT ME" and in you face like it could have been, nicely understated.
What i am saying is I was actually impressed with the organisation, the way the torch and companies were separated, and the general ambience of the event itself, it force Cornwall Council to up their game for a bit and the town was the busiest I have seen it for years, shops open, people around and a good atmosphere.
If the rest of the country gets it as right as Cornwall got it in Penzance these Games might well be a bit of a pride boost for Britain.
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
Edited by Getragdogleg on Saturday 19th May 09:55
singlecoil said:
Getragdogleg said:
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
I can think of better ways to spend the money.I think its thrown a lot of money around the town and this will happen all over the UK, wages paid, money spent and passed about.
furtive said:
Did anyone else see the poor bloke who got rugby tackled into the undergrowth by one of the over-zealous police out-runners when bearer 003 had the torch?
Actually, this could be rather fun.The Olympricks vs. Everyone Else.
One side tries to carry the torch from Cornwall to London via every last sodding A-road in the country in a huge police-guarded travelling smugfest, and the other side tries to nick it and take it straight back to Cornwall.
The ensuing Benny Hill style antics could go on for months, the torch never reaches London, the rest of the whole ghastly jamboree is eventually cancelled, sanity is finally restored. Job done.
Getragdogleg said:
singlecoil said:
Getragdogleg said:
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
I can think of better ways to spend the money.I think its thrown a lot of money around the town and this will happen all over the UK, wages paid, money spent and passed about.
singlecoil said:
Getragdogleg said:
singlecoil said:
Getragdogleg said:
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
I can think of better ways to spend the money.I think its thrown a lot of money around the town and this will happen all over the UK, wages paid, money spent and passed about.
Normally it goes to some hipster wonks who want to do a programme on climate change in the badlands of bracknell or something.
As a side effect of this Olympic jazz my home town was busy, the shops selling stuff they normally would not have had the footfall for.
Getragdogleg said:
As a side effect of this Olympic jazz my home town was busy, the shops selling stuff they normally would not have had the footfall for.
As always, there will be winners and losers with any large disturbance to normal routines. Ask some of businesses that will be adversely affected by the transport restrictions in the area of the Olympic stadium how they feel about it. It's was even under discussion in a recent thread on the PH Business forum.And all so the world can find out who can run the quickest round a piece of track on a particular day.
To be honest there are probably 10 other threads on PH about how crap the Olympics are and how it's a huge waste of money, this one was intended to be a thread about how it went when it passes through your town or close to you.
I get that there is a agree/disagree thing going on with the whole thing but the main point I made still stands, Penzance actually did bloody good job of it when they could have made a dogs dinner of it like everything else they do.
I get that there is a agree/disagree thing going on with the whole thing but the main point I made still stands, Penzance actually did bloody good job of it when they could have made a dogs dinner of it like everything else they do.
Getragdogleg said:
To be honest there are probably 10 other threads on PH about how crap the Olympics are and how it's a huge waste of money, this one was intended to be a thread about how it went when it passes through your town or close to you.
I get that there is a agree/disagree thing going on with the whole thing but the main point I made still stands, Penzance actually did bloody good job of it when they could have made a dogs dinner of it like everything else they do.
Well said.I get that there is a agree/disagree thing going on with the whole thing but the main point I made still stands, Penzance actually did bloody good job of it when they could have made a dogs dinner of it like everything else they do.
I don't exactly agree with the Olympics, but I'm looking forward to the day when they pass through my town. Looks like there'll be a really nice atmosphere.
Can't we just keep the negatives to another thread and leave this one for the stories of people who have gone to see the torch in person...?
For reasons I cannot divulge (not that interesting - I don't work for an Import/Export company at Vauxhall or anythng. But if I did I'd have to say that wouldn't I?) I had the torch on my person in the Spring of last year. It's quite an impressive toy, really. It's much heavier than you might imagine and felt very nicely engineered. I'm sure it will be a very proud moment for each of the chosen torch bearers.
Enjoy the parade if you get to see it. You'll probably not see such an event in your town ever again.
Enjoy the parade if you get to see it. You'll probably not see such an event in your town ever again.
CoolC said:
Can someone link to the route and schedule please (I'm on my phone which is useless at searching)?
I understand the route comes very close to us, but I don't know where or when. Ta
You could try thisI understand the route comes very close to us, but I don't know where or when. Ta
http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay
CoolC said:
Can someone link to the route and schedule please (I'm on my phone which is useless at searching)?
I understand the route comes very close to us, but I don't know where or when. Ta
Whereabouts are you?I understand the route comes very close to us, but I don't know where or when. Ta
Thisissouthdevon has a minute by minute schedule of it's journey through Torquay tomorrow. My Dad lives there and will be watching from his window that overlooks Cory Parade 5 mins before and after the 16.42 scheduled time
Getragdogleg said:
singlecoil said:
Getragdogleg said:
Nice one GB, you got it right this time.
I can think of better ways to spend the money.I think its thrown a lot of money around the town and this will happen all over the UK, wages paid, money spent and passed about.
I bet Penzance Council has seen the light now - metaphorically as well as literally - and henceforth will keep the streets paved with rose petals etc. as you describe.
I bet it'll be the same in places like Brixton or wherever - a speedy spruce up ready for the TV cameras and then, "Hey,it's better like this, lets keep the place clean, orderly and crime free!" Hurrah, a new England, thanks Olympics. Umpty Billion very well spent...
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