What did you do when the Olympic Torch passed by?

[LadyArowana]

Did an Olympic torch pass by? I didnt even notice.
I was probably picking my nose and wiping it in the curtians at the time.

Well that's a relief, so much better than the news headline "Olympic torch sparks thatch fire" :lol:

 

[biffvernon]

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, whose job it is to know, said on Radio 4 World at One "The sponsors are paying half the cost of hosting the Olympic Games, about a billion pounds."

So there we have it, from the government minister in charge, the Olympics are only costing two billion and the sponsors are paying half of it.

And, as somebody once said, "I'm a banana".

 

[philpjuk100]

It looked like Bob Diamond carrying the torch but it was somebody from miles away I had never heard of.phil.

For security reasons nobody ran in their own area, generaly community torch bearers ran in an adjacent area.

 

[AMc]

Cost of "hosting" vs. "cost of building and hosting"? You can tell the truth and still mislead.

Interesting comments this morning from Harry Shearer (Mr Burns etc.) on 6music this morning. I haven't fact checked this...
The LA Olympic bid was uncontested after the Montreal one went bust and the USA boycott of Moscow meant no one wanted it.
The bid was permitted by the US govt. on the condition that no taxes were spent - as a result the sponsors were allowed in and the rest is history.
He also pointed out that the people everyone is coming to see don't get paid for their "performance" whereas everyone else (bar some of the stewards I suspect) are in it for the money.

The milk has already been spilt so I see no point in crying over it now, I'll try and enjoy the show and cheer on the poor exploited Team GB.

The tax battle is still worth fighting - my name is on that petition.

 

[Penners]

much better than the news headline "Olympic torch sparks thatch fire"

Or - as in the picture above - "Olympic Torch Sparks Catastrophic Bunting Fire".

 

[LadyArowana]

much better than the news headline "Olympic torch sparks thatch fire"

Or - as in the picture above - "Olympic Torch Sparks Catastrophic Bunting Fire".

:lol: :lol: :lol: 'Elf 'n safety nightmare !

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Cost of "hosting" vs. "cost of building and hosting"? You can tell the truth and still mislead.

Interesting comments this morning from Harry Shearer (Mr Burns etc.) on 6music this morning. I haven't fact checked this...
The LA Olympic bid was uncontested after the Montreal one went bust and the USA boycott of Moscow meant no one wanted it.
The bid was permitted by the US govt. on the condition that no taxes were spent - as a result the sponsors were allowed in and the rest is history.
He also pointed out that the people everyone is coming to see don't get paid for their "performance" whereas everyone else (bar some of the stewards I suspect) are in it for the money.

The milk has already been spilt so I see no point in crying over it now, I'll try and enjoy the show and cheer on the poor exploited Team GB.

The tax battle is still worth fighting - my name is on that petition.

Steady on now AMc - a common sense approach like that won't play well. Some folk like to be upset, angry or indignant - it's almost an olympic sport! :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

Some folk like to be upset, angry or indignant - it's almost an olympic sport! :wink:

Does this one get a medal?

Ten reasons why I don't like what the Olympics has come to represent.
1. Front line troops in London
2. Missiles on council flats
3. MacDonalds - feeding people crap and ravaging the rainforests
3. Dow Chemical - who murdered the Vietnamese with agent orange which is also responsible for 4,800,000 deformed children alive there today.
4. Allowing the Saudis to send only two competitors to represent the women of Saudi Arabia
5. The mistreatment of jobseekers and those forced into workfare and being expected to sleep under London bridge by dangling a carrot of a job in security with G4s
6. G4s and all the other blatantly corrupt schemes handed out to Lord Coe's pals
7. All the other tax-avoiding scumbag corporations who only 'sponsor' the Olympics in return for tax dodges and to sell their crap loaded with aspartame or produced in sweatshops
8. The lame promises of a 'legacy'
9. The olympic torch, the corporate flunkeys who carried it for money, and the treatment of this child for getting 'too close' to it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18756050
10. Lord Coe

Please enjoy what you will but don't expect me to join you in the fervour. Good day to you.

But this is a more thoughtful critique: http://inhabitat.com/6-ways-in-which-london-2012-has-failed-to-be-the-green-olympics/london-olympic-park-construction/

 

[FamilyWiggs]

No biff - it doesn't deserve a medal. You do. For being seemingly incapable of seeing good in anything, and appearing only to be happy when being glum and pulling something, anything, to pieces. Further discussion with someone with so jaundiced a view of the world is, I'm afraid, futile. :roll:

Cheer up for a second, there is a whole world of human spirit and endeavour out there, which is frankly, uplifting. Despite the inevitably commercial nature of part of the games (which most of us have been balanced enough to accept is, in part, a necessary evil of a real-world existence), there are many shining examples of humanity in the games, or any other part of our amazing 2012 summer you care to consider. I commend it to you. I really do. :lol:

Pax.

 

[Flyfisher]

I don't suppose this will dispel any of the Bah! Humbug surrounding the Olympics but it's a small insight into the enthusiasm generated by those who are competing, in this case a kayaking acquaintance of FF junior.

(look away now Biff :wink: )

http://vimeo.com/46286163

 

[Penners]

this is a more thoughtful critique

This isn't - but I defy you not to enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDFMKjhLRw

 

[biffvernon]

No biff - it doesn't deserve a medal. You do. For being seemingly incapable of seeing good in anything, and appearing only to be happy when being glum and pulling something, anything, to pieces.

The trouble with all that is that it is just not true. Just because I point out the bad things does not mean that I don't appreciate the good. But there are plenty of people speaking up for the good stuff so that cause does not need my support.

Still, if you want some good news, how about the arrival of the all woman team of archers from Bhutan. I was listening to one of them on the radio this morning. An inspiration and an example of exactly the Olympian Spirit we should be searching for. They are unlikely to win a medal but that is the least important part of it.

 

[biffvernon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDFMKjhLRw

Brilliant.

And here's more good news - a footballer saying something sensible: http://www.greenintelligence.org.uk/article/gary-neville-calls-green-sport-revolution

 

[Flyfisher]

Surely the 'greenest' thing to do would be to encourage all sports fans to just stay at home and watch the TV coverage rather than travel all over the country (or world) in pursuit of their chosen game. Not much fun perhaps - but what 'green' initiative is?

 

[robgil]

Why dont they just use an X Box and compete over the internet, its 2012 for christs sake, they need to get with it.

 

[Lime]

A comment on Facebook sums it all up for me:

Just saw the Olympic Torch in St Albans, was amazing! The crowd started cheering at everything including a poor guy just trying to cross the road...

Group hysteria is the real thing and some are likin' it.

 

[AMc]

In Acle we cheered the scheduled bus to Gt. Yarmouth. It was fun and funny.

 

[Flyfisher]

Group hysteria is the real thing and some are likin' it.

Not confined to the Olympics though, is it? Much the same thing happens at Wembley, WImbledon, Twickenham, political party conferences - indeed anywhere or anything that attracts a large following. I dare say bus tours to NT properties generate similar hysterics. :wink:

 

[Gervase]

Well, apparently the torch relay passed by at around eight this morning, while I was walking the dog. He insouciantly curled one out while I enjoyed the stillness; each of us oblivious to the hoopla that was apparently going on just a few streets away. As a result we both found the whole torch malarkey rather underwhelming. The hysteria came later when Toby spotted a squirrel.

 

[Penners]

I dare say bus tours to NT properties generate similar hysterics.

Oi, Sonny Jim! It'll come to you one day, you know!

:wink: