Light at the end of the tunnel

We embraced the start of the Olympic Games on Friday evening when the torch relay arrived on the Wirral. It came through the Mersey tunnel into Birkenhead Park at about 6pm and was carried by various runners with compelling reasons to make the short trip from one end of their section to the other. The standard celeb was sporty Spice, Melanie Chisholm, who carried the torch on part of the 'Race for Life' route. Here she is partly obscured by the torch, no bad thing eh!!

This is not the first time we have been in the company of the Olympic torch, as we were in Atlanta for the 1996 Games, and spent several hours in Buckhead on the outskirts of the City, the day before the event started. I must admit the controls in America were very lax, and the poor runner had to eventually be bundled into a van to complete his leg of the journey. We were on that trip with Dave Jones, sadly now the subject of the sad entry I wrote last month, and I recall we were very brazen in 'acquiring' a Olympic torch relay banner form outside one of the bars. It went on the wall in Twickenham RFC but has long since been lost to redevelopment.

I have had a very mixed relationship with the London Olympics. I have tried on numerous occasions to get interviews for salaried positions with them, and failed miserably. I am particularly grumpy as they have always advocated the uniqueness of the event and that people with previous experience would be well placed to assist.

I was also disillusioned at the whole ticketing situation and have now resigned myself to watching on TV. I am still available at short notice for seriously boozy corporate invites but I can't see it myself.

We were fortunate to be in the Olympic stadium in Atlanta when Carl Lewis won the last of his 9 Olympics Gold medals when he retained the long jump title. It was, however, eclipsed by Michael Johnson winning the 400m in his golden running shoes, which he then threw into the crowd.  I wonder where they are now?