This Olympic torch thing

[citoyen]

I think you're all a bunch of miserable, pathetic, moaning whingers.

I shall be exercising my democratic right to hold a street party in honour of Her Maj this weekend.

Never mind the fact that I live on a busy 40mph trunk road. This is the Diamond Jubilee, dammit. If people think being able to drive to Canterbury is more important than celebrating this major patriotic landmark, they should bloody well be locked up in the Tower.

d.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Excellent idea, it makes a party for the ravens too. 

[gordon taylor]

A torch that was used in Gnosall yesterday, with a happy me, in work today!!

[David Martin]

Just discovered that wee Kev is a torchbearer in Dundee.. Might turn out to watch it then.

[Andrew]

I think you're all a bunch of miserable, pathetic, moaning whingers.

Fair cop guv'nor. Guilty as charged.

[Kim]

Doesn't this just prove that with the right marketing, you can get people to buy absolutely anything?

I think McDonald's have prior art on that concept.

[Bledlow]

The lighting ceremony?  Did you see any of that hokum?  Good grief, it's like we were back in Festival of Britain times, with a pompous pageant, and Greek maidens dressed in bedsheets.  Of course, this ancient ceremony dates all the way back to...oooh...a couple of months ago, when someone came up with it while sitting on the bog, and scribbled some notes on a spare scrap of newspaper.

Maidens? Maidens? Wish on, dear fellow.

IIRC that ancient ceremony is as old as the torch relay itself, dating back to the dim & distant 20th century: 1936, to be precise. It has probably changed over the years, as the relay (which originally did consist of a chain of runners all the way from Olympia to Berlin) has.

[AndyK]

I think you're all a bunch of miserable, pathetic, moaning whingers.

I love the Olympic spirit and all sorts of communal jollity. I think it's great that even in these not-the-greatest-economic-times we can splash out for Olympics and Jubilees. Gawd bless your laurel-wreathed brow, Mam! Though I do think it's a bit tough on Brenda that she has to be torched just because she's 60.

I like the competition, I despise the hypocrisy of major sponsors being McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Cadbury. (Cadbury's latest ad campaign is 'Find a golden olympic ticket in the wrapping of one of our chocolate bars', so they are encouraging obesity in the name of a world sporting event created to celebrate the pinnacle of physical and athletic prowess.)

[andyoxon]

Here the route is 300m from our house at 7.30am, so we''l be there to watch... 

[citoyen]

(Cadbury's latest ad campaign is 'Find a golden olympic ticket in the wrapping of one of our chocolate bars', so they are encouraging obesity in the name of a world sporting event created to celebrate the pinnacle of physical and athletic prowess.)

Presumably they've only been allowed to do so because LOCOG and/or IOC have sold their soul to the highest bidder the licensing rights to them.

d.

[gordon taylor]

FWIW, here's my blog about the torch relay

 

Lovely.

[docsquid]

FWIW, here's my blog about the torch relay

That's a lovely blog.  There's a lot to be cyincal about, but there is a wonderful aspect to all of this too, and your blog captured it.

[barakta]

A friend of mine who lives in Stafford was informed she had to move her car from her own driveway as it was on the route, or face a £120 fine??  That seemed rather odd to me!

WTF.  I think my response would have been to emblazon my house with anti Olympic propaganda and tell whomever to "fuck off" about moving my car with a "Bring it! If you DARE!".

Hell if I lived on an Olympic torch route I would probably do the anti Olympic poster as a point of principle of my right to protest!

[Bledlow]

I like the competition, I despise the hypocrisy of major sponsors being McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Cadbury. (Cadbury's latest ad campaign is 'Find a golden olympic ticket in the wrapping of one of our chocolate bars',

. . . and win a tour of our factory & meet its workforce of oompa-loompas . .

[Kim]

Basil's your man if you want to meet oompa-loompas...

Or are they olympa-loompas, in honour of the sacred event?

[Andrew]

they are encouraging obesity in the name of a world sporting event created to celebrate the pinnacle of physical and athletic prowess.

as a part of a balanced diet of course

Nutella (thems what makes chocolate spread) advertise that a good breakfast for a child is a glass of orange juice, a bowl of milk and two slices of bread and chocolate spread. I do wonder what nutritionists would make of that?

[citoyen]

I do wonder what nutritionists would make of that?

An article in the Daily Mail, probably. Dietitians, on the other hand...



d.

[citoyen]

tell whomever to "fuck off" about moving my car with a "Bring it! If you DARE!".

Typical self-centred motorist response. Tch.

d.

[mattc]

One of the Oxford sections is
"Torch not visible to the public"

WTF does that mean?!?

[Arch]

One of the Oxford sections is
"Torch not visible to the public"

WTF does that mean?!?

Presumably that's a bit where it's being carried in the van.

[Biggsy]

I don't find it hypocritical that the sponsors are fast food merchants.  Fast food is compatible what the Olympics is mainly about: sitting on the sofa watching telly.  What I do find hypocritical (or at least full of conflict) are the simultaneous complaints about the commercialisation and the cost to the public.  The former is lessening the latter.

[AndyK]

tell whomever to "fuck off" about moving my car with a "Bring it! If you DARE!".

Typical self-centred motorist response. Tch.

d.

Not really. They were requested to remove their car from their driveway or be fined. I would probably respond the same way, 'It's my property parked on my property, so fuck-off.'

[mattc]

One of the Oxford sections is
"Torch not visible to the public"

WTF does that mean?!?

Presumably that's a bit where it's being carried in the van.

Quite possibly; the maps shows "transfer sections" (dashed lines) which I presumed to be the non-human powered legs. It seems odd to show a precise street-level route the van will take.

So some van sections are covert, some are a parade? 

[citoyen]

tell whomever to "fuck off" about moving my car with a "Bring it! If you DARE!".

Typical self-centred motorist response. Tch.

d.

Not really. They were requested to remove their car from their driveway or be fined. I would probably respond the same way, 'It's my property parked on my property, so fuck-off.'

Sorry, I left the winky-smiley off that post because I thought it was obviously meant to be a joke.

Truth is, I would feel exactly the same.

d.

[citoyen]

What I do find hypocritical (or at least full of conflict) are the simultaneous complaints about the commercialisation and the cost to the public.  The former is lessening the latter.

Ha! You really think so? So all these private companies aren't making a huge fuck-off profit out of the games? And those tax breaks they're getting are entirely fair too?

The really great news is that we get to pay for the games whether we go or not.

d.