Thursday 26 July 2012

Red, White and Blue

Smitonius:

Having survived the Jubilee celebrations, when her Majesty was inescapable wherever you turned... well, her image, as the closest I got to her see her was this magnificent Jelly Beans portrait in John Lewis (Stratford):



I hasten to add, although no royalist, I could not fail to celebrate her glorious reign because the pub I went for Sunday lunch that long jubilee weekend was serving this in her honour. For Queen and Country I will eat a decent desert:


Now, of course, we await the Olympics. Given that I live, as the crow flies (well, a bus ride away), not that far from the olympic stadium some signs are inescapable: special Olympic traffic, Olympic bunting (official only, as local shop owners have been told to remove anything that does not comply), and even the torch. On Saturday, the torch relay skimmed past the bottom of my street in Hackney so I could not resist nipping out to see it. I must say, although the torch does look like a cheese grater (as is often said) and it is awfully 1980s bling gold, the guy carrying it looked very pleased. We all made suitable noises, took photographs and clapped as he jogged into the distance:



I forgot the torch was running around in town again today, so on my way to work was surprised to see one of the mascots in Highbury Fields for a special post-torch event (Wenlock or Mandeville? I can but shrug, as I haven't learnt to differentiate one from the other).


This will be the closest I get to the event, as I did not apply for tickets, but did any of you?

3 comments:

broken biro said...

I had a feel of one the other day (a torch, not a queen) and it's very like a cheese grater... hold on too tightly and you'd come through the other side as tiny little chips.

I was feeling pretty negative about it all but then I watched the highlights of the torch relay the other night and found it quite moving... and yesterday I just wished I was in London... even started thinking about looking for tickets - the Paralympics maybe?

Marcheline said...

All I want is a bottle of the Jubilee Fairy Washing Up Soap. Is that too much to ask?

Fran Hill said...

I wonder how you're surviving the Olympics. I hear that many people are just avoiding London - sensible folks if they're not into sport. Well done for being so patriotic in eating that pudding. It has to be done, doesn't it?