This is a Journal entry by Deek

Olympic 2012

Post 1

Deek

The 2012 Olympics started in the Kingston area this morning with the passing of the Olympic Torch.

The Deke houshold walked up to the start of this morning's route at Hook, near Chessington. We are about one of the furthest flung boroughs but qualify as a 'London Borough'. The torch is going to wend it's way through Kingston and Richmond later.

Several thousand people lined the route and it was like a carnival atmosphere, even at 8.22 am.

Magic

Deke smiley - biggrin


Olympic 2012

Post 2

aka Bel - A87832164

Glad you enjoyed it. smiley - smiley


Olympic 2012

Post 3

Galaxy Babe - eclectic editor

smiley - ok

Carnival atmosphere is how I would have described the relay through Cleethorpes too, smiley - magic


Olympic 2012

Post 4

Deek

Mrs D had managed to obtain a pair of tickets for the Olympic Archery being held at Lords Cricket Ground. They were for today's (Tuesday) afternoon session beginning at 3 pm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63531735@N05/sets/72157630845218460/

Archery is one of those sports that I've dabbled in, a bit, and half promised myself that I'd take up seriously one day, but just never got around to. So, it's a sport I've got a smattering of knowledge about, but haven't really followed.

The tickets also included rail travel for the London area and underground. We set off in good time taking the 12:30 train up to Waterloo and on the underground to St John's Wood near Lords. At Waterloo the whole Olympic theme was heavily present. There were at least fifty 'helpers' on the station, all in their distinctive uniform, guiding people to their destinations and handing out maps, leaflets and ice-creams to all and sundry. St Johns was only five stops up the line and Lords a short walk further on, still being guided all the way by helpers with pink foam-rubber 'glad-hands' . The security was airline like, with bags being X-rayed and personally having to pass through a metal-detector portal, which I set off . But the whole thing was slickly done and the helpers were friendly and always ready to help with directions.

We got to our seats easily in time and the stands were filled by 3 pm, there were certainly no wasted seats on this session. As the stands filled the whole place came alive. There was a live commentary being carried on and rock/pop music between the rounds which along with the large screens really made a 'humming' atmosphere. The competitions on offer were eight of the men and women's individual elimination rounds at 75 meters. Unfortunately no 'Brit' was slated to be taking part that day.

Really the shooting was excellent. Most of the arrows were dropping into the nine-point rings, but with many 'bull's-eye' ten points, which each resulted in loud clapping and cheering. Then there would be loud 'aaah's as the odd arrow went astray into the five-six ring, usually at a crucial point in the match. Two matches went to a 'shoot-off', where each contestant shoots one arrow and the highest score wins the match. If the score on that one arrow is the same, then the arrow closest to the centre of the target wins.

The final woman's match, between France and Japan turned out to be a real cliff-hanger. The score in the first round was won by one point by the Japanese lady. The second round went the other way making the match even and went to a shoot off. Each put their arrow in almost exactly the same position of the nine ring. It took the judges close to five minutes with measuring callipers to award the match to the French competitor.

At close of play we were among the last few out of the ground and I expected to have to wait quite some time to get into the tube station. The Underground staff and helpers were really pulling out all the stops to get the crowds away, in fact there was no delay and we were on the tube as soon as we got to a platform, but it was rammed full. And, as luck would have it, the train at Waterloo was ready to go as we arrived. We managed to get back home, from Lords, in under an hour. All in all, the tube and Olympic staff couldn't have been more helpful.

Thanks to all of you for helping to make it an unforgettable experience.




Olympic 2012

Post 5

There is only one thing worse than being Gosho, and that is not being Gosho

What a fantastic day out smiley - bigeyes And at Lord's too smiley - biggrin Did you get to hear any of Aggers' commentary? He was talking about it during the luncheon interval of the first day's play up at Headingley.


Olympic 2012

Post 6

Deek

Yeah it was great.

We had a running commentary from a guy who was calling out the scores of the individual shots. He was also acting as a sort of 'cheerleader' and to exhort individuals to 'switch off the flash'. He made quite a difference to the ambiance.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't Aggers. smiley - biggrin

I just hope it's as good at Eton-Dorney next week.





Olympic 2012

Post 7

Deek

Team GB passed the 20 gold medal mark today.smiley - smiley

When I were a boy, if we got four or five we thought ourselves fortunate.

smiley - biggrinDeke


Olympic 2012

Post 8

Deek

Eton-Dorney: Friday 10 August 2012

We had managed to get tickets for the canoeing events at Eton-Dorney. It was for the 200 meter sprint events. It started at 9.30 am which meant an early get-go for the 6.00 am train from our local station to Waterloo. Once more the rail tickets were included as part of the ticket price. My son had also managed to get tickets for his family so we were all able to travel up together. The connections went perfectly and a shuttle bus took us from Eton Waterside to Windsor Racecourse, leaving a short walk to the security check-in. Although there were 30,000 people there that day we cleared the checks in less than five minutes... no waiting . We were in sufficient time to fill water bottles, get coffee and bacon/egg rolls and pick up a couple of souvenirs before finding our way to our seats about half way up the stands.

We were well placed level with about the mid point of the 200 meter course and we had a big screen opposite us to be able to see the finish line. All the races were heats and included Jon Schofield and Liam Heath in the K2. Ed Mckeever in the K1, who set an Olympic record and Jess Walker in the women’s K1, who all qualified for the finals the following day. The events ticked through precisely on time despite a couple of false starts. The commentary from the wise-cracking commentator along with the interspaced music and the crowd’s ‘Bongo-Cam’ (don’t ask), kept the whole thing moving with a real party air.

As the day wore on it got hotter and we were glad of the litres of water and the souvenir hat I’d brought in, but it was over too soon. We stayed for a while afterwards getting re-hydrated and watching other events on the big screen and letting the crowd get away ahead of us.

All in all it was a cracking day out.


Olympic 2012

Post 9

Deek

We finally rounded off our Olympic visitations with a trip to the Olympic Park yesterday. (4 Sept).

Last week we found that tickets for the Park were available as another bunch had dribbled out of the sales office and onto the website. These were during the Paralympics and we were able to snaffle a pair for the park only, but everything else was a complete sell-out, so no visit inside the Athletics Stadium for me.

We trod the now well-worn path to Waterloo and made the connection to Stratford on the Jubilee line. It took just over an hour all told with a short walk into the Park itself. I'm not sure what I expected but the scale of things was enormous, I hadn't realised just how much ground it all covered.

What an experience! Having only seen views of the place on TV I wasn't prepared for the size of the venues, or just how big that 'Orbit' sculpture is. That was really impressive close up. As the sessions at the various venues turned out the place was absolutely heaving and the atmosphere was electric. I've never before seen so many people having such a great time all together. We spent an hour on the grass bank watching the 5-a-side football. The gardens were unfortunately past their best but were still very pleasant to walk around, especially by the river.

It was a great party atmosphere and the weather was perfect, hot and sunny from when we arrived to leaving at around 4pm. One of the things we had promised ourselves was a Big-Mac at the 'largest MacDonalds in the world. Of course everyone else was doing the same thing but it still only took about twenty minutes to get served and seated. We took ours to the tables outside.

I have to say that of all the Olympic events we've attended I really couldn't fault the organisation in any way. Also the trains. There were at least six platforms at Stratford and probably as many again at West Ham. The Stratford ones were in constant use with a full train arriving, passengers unloaded, new passengers embarked and despatched within about ten minutes on each of the platforms. No hassle, we just walked on and went.

Another right cracking day out!


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