Olympic Torch in Cowley, Oxford

The Olympic torch for London 2012 came through Oxford yesterday, and hundreds took to the streets to see it.  Since the signs had been up for a few weeks in advance reminding me of the event, it also reminded me of when to walk into work. Incidentally, here’s 3 really useful coincidences:

  1. The time I finished work happened to be when it was coming through my part of town.
  2. My office is on the route the torch is carried.
  3. The route from my office to home happened to be the route of the torch.

In short, I was definitely going to see it and whilst I’m only a little interested in the Olympic games I figured since I was going to be in the right time and place, I’d take a camera to document it. After all, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing to see and the “right” thing to do.

I waited for about 20 minutes. Then it happened.

Lots of London’s Metropolitan Police came through in cars and on motorbikes to clear the way (a strange sight in the Thames Valley area) , then came the sponsors in huge colourful & loud party buses handing things out (to only one side of the road – not mine) and trying to excite the crowds,  then came the actual Olympic bus carrying the various torchbearers of the next segments, and finally the runner himself, flanked by super fit Met Police runners. Almost instantly followed by a flurry of road-reopening & tidying behind them. For me it only lasted about 10 seconds, and the event seemed to be more than a little bit dominated by the sponsors…

The convoy and torch ultimately ended up at Oxford’s South Park where a free, but entry by ticket-only, party was put on to celebrate its arrival.