So, where did I get to? Oh we were off to The Jersey Boys. Dinner was fab in the Soho Pizza place. Then we headed over to The Prince Edward Theatre. The show was going great until "pop" there was load bang like a light bulb bursting right in the middle of a song. The stage lighting went off and the main lights came on, the microphones were all gone and the actors just looked at each other and then calmly walked off! We all looked at each other and started saying "was that meant, is it the interval". Then a nice wee woman came out and started trying to shout at us that there had been a power cut and that the health and safety dudes wanted to check everything before they carried on. Fifteen minutes later and the cast came back on, picked up where they left off and the show went on. In the end an excellent show and highly recommended. The audience were rocking by the end.
We then decided to take the tube back to The Tower and we walked miles. We wanted to take pics of the Olympic rings on the tower bridge with lights on. So from the Pier we were able to get right down under the bridge and take some fab photos. Then Alistair decided he wanted to walk over it. My feet were sore by this point, and having claimed this bridge in the VLM I knew it was a bit of hike. But off we set! It was stunning to see the Olympic rings from underneath.
Then he decided, in his enthusiasm, that we should go right over and walk along the other side of the embankment to the next bridge and back again.
It was lovely, and we now have about a million pictures of the Olympic rings from both sides of the river. By the time we got back my feet were absolutely killing me and I was starting to NEED a cup of tea. Now, the thing about London, which I had never noticed before, was that there are no late night wee supermarkets - plenty of small Sainsburys but no late night openings. So having used all the milk and tea bags in our room I was well and truly stuck with no tea. Not a happy bunny. When we got back to our very posh hotel, we realised we could get tea at the very nice relaxing lounge. So settled in a comfy sofa, a bit tired, but very happy, we quietly sat and watched Mo Farah win his second goal (being repeated at regular intervals right up to 1am!). Time for bed, we've got a marathon in the morning.
Up early, had a bit of a lie in as we had already decided that the £21 per person breakfast in the hotel was not really for us and had found a Weatherspoons doing a full English for £4.99. Not that we are skinflints but it is only bacon, egg and toast!!! At 9am the crowd was slowly beginning to build but we were right at the turn around point at the Tower so we were confident that we could get out in time to get a ring side seat. It was still touch and go though, we sort of forgot about the fact we had to run along to the nearest open underpass to get to the other side of the road! aagghh! We hurried and got ourselves a nice spot, under trees at All Hallows church right at the railing. We met a lovely lady from Hong Kong who offered us a Union Jack to put on the railing next to her flag. We tied the two together and put them on the railing. We had our own wee flags to wave.
Alistair decided at 9.30am that he was bored already (only 2 hours to go Ali!) and was heading for a paper. So I had to try and keep his space which was not easy with spaces at the railing at a premium. He was on his way back and this man jumped into the space. I mumbled that I was keeping the space and he said that was fine but was there room for him to squeeze in? We decided there was and he introduced himself as Michael. He was an interesting sort! He had theeee most colourful tight lycra vest and equally tight colourful patterned lycra shorts.
He had a little teddy bear with him which was being sent around the world to different events to different events to promote a campaign against hate crime. He had a unique ankle bracelet, oh wait, I think you call it a tag!!!!! We had great fun later on trying to guess what he got that for! My guess, campaigning against gay rights and it going wrong. He did say he had been on a World Pride march in America and had marched in Britain at Gay Pride marches. Anyway, what a laugh we had with him. He then spotted someone he knew and hot footed it after him. In his space came a lovely girl from Croydon, called Emma, who we had a great laugh with all through the race.
11.30am and the helicopters appeared in the sky and the Samba band along from us struck up their rhythm. Within seconds the lead runners appeared. Talk about graceful. They just looked like they were floating along rather than running. The cheers were huge. After a bit the first Team GB runner came past - Scott Overall.
The cheering went up a notch at that point and if there had been a roof it would have truly have blown off. Shortly after Lee Merrian passed and he was duly given the same honours.
The cheering went up a notch at that point and if there had been a roof it would have truly have blown off. Shortly after Lee Merrian passed and he was duly given the same honours. At this point they all looked like they were doing okay. There was only two groups on the first lap. So they were passed quite quickly. By the second lap they were beginning to string out and Kiprotich was leading.
Scott at this point was still ahead of Lee but was beginning to look weary. Lee appeared quite quickly behind. The crowd were keeping up their side, the cheering went on the whole time there were runners on the road. And in between time there were plenty of mexican waves and the Vounteers were keeping us entertained by having Usain Bolt stylee races, with the obligatory lightening bolts by the winner. By the final lap the field was quite strung out and a different Kiprotich was leading.
Very exciting. Then Lee Merrian appeared! Where was Scott? He came past quite a bit later looking absolutely knackered, but he smiled and waved as the wall of noise followed him around the turning point. It took quite a while for all the runners to pass. The runner from Lichtenstein was really enjoying himself and showboating to the crowd. The loudest cheer of the day was reserved for the final runner from Lesoto. He was smiling all the way. I saw him at the finish line on the recording when I got home, and I do believe he probably had that wall of sound his whole way back! He was a true hero. He looked slow compared to the last runners but still pulled out a well below 3 hour marathon (amazing! inspiring!).
We had been in touch with Garfield during the race but we were just separated by too many people and too big a distance to be able to actually meet up. There were also Fetchies at Leadenhall but once we got those spaces next to the railing we were not leaving it for anything.
We had a lovely lunch sitting on the steps at The Tower of London and soaked up the different nationalities. It was a brilliant atmosphere. Then we went back to our hotel picked up our bags and headed back to the centre to go to see Big Ben, London Eye etc. We wandered around for ages, had a seat at the Jubilee Park at County Hall, had ice cream and then had a walk around St James Park towards Buckingham Palace.
We saw the end of the Changing of the Guard. At that point we had to head back to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick Express back to Gatwick.
Absolutely knackered but happy, we had our tea at the airport. By the time the plane was ready for boarding I was about sleeping. Just as I was about to have a wee dose, this nice lady sat beside me and said "have you been to the Olympics?" well that was my nap! She had been to watch the Ladies Pentathlon (her daughter had just missed out on being picked for the team) and the girl who came second was her daughter's training partner and pal!). She gabbed the whole way home. She was very nice.
So that was that. Our Olympic Adventure! And I loved every minute of it.
don't worry, be happy
No comments:
Post a Comment