Something exciting happened today! (very pic-heavy)
Prep the night before:
1.
Told ya!
The picture shows raw bacon on a grill pan.
2.
Bacon and cheese sandwiches (yes, I cooked the bacon!).
The picture also shows a big knife and a bottle of ketchup.
3.
Got my sandwiches wrapped in silver foil, with a napkin around them.
Grabbed a drink and my flag -- my flag?? -- (and my camera) and I'm ready to go!
Today:
4.
I got up really early. This is after waking every hour during the night because I was so worried about missing it!
The picture shows the alarm on my phone ringing at 6.21am this morning.
5.
Joggers, hoodie, trainers and a pony tail.
Is anything else expected at that time of the morning?
A mirror-photo of myself.
6.
What's that?
A whiteboard on which I have written, 'Gone to find us a good spot! Come join me! [Got my phone.] love Katie xxx'
7.
Some morning sky for your viewing pleasure.
There are leafy branches framing the sky on either side of the picture. The tops of houses are just visible at the bottom of the frame.
The sky was cloudy all over, and fairly pale, so I don't know how clearly it's come across. But still, morning sky.
8.
There's more traffic around than usual at this time of the morning.
9.
A lot of pedestrians, too. Also with flags.
10.
And police!
11.
Lots of police.
At this point, the low-battery sign in my camera flashed. I switched to the back-up of my phone camera. I did check it last night, honest Guv, but I thought it would last longer than that.
Know what it is yet?
12.
My flag waving in the breeze.
Mum and Tony turned up at this point.
They didn't want any sandwiches.
Then there was a bit of an interlude.
13.
A police motorbike drives past, and It Begins!
14.
Is that a clue?
15.
An open-topped bus with cheerleaders on the top pumps out music at 7.30am. Literally the entire
side of that bus was one giant speaker! I pity anyone nearby who had stayed in bed...
16.
A Cocacola double decker drives past with more cheerleaders and the party atmosphere beginning.
17.
A woman in a green top comes past doing tricks with a string of green ribbons.
Then, some people gave these green ribbons out to the crowd.
18.
Me with my mug and my flag during a lull in the proceedings.
(I tried numerous times during the big wait before anything began to get this shot myself, and they were all rubbish.)
19.
Rumours went like wildfire among the crowd that we were in the wrong place and that we'd miss it here, hence the mass exodus. We spoke to a police officer and they said that we wouldn't, that it would come right past where we were standing and they didn't know why the crowd was moving.
Have you guessed yet??
20.
My mum, waving a green ribbon. Don't tell her I showed you all her pretty picture!
21.
A person runs by carrying a stuffed mascot of some kind.
22.
Something's coming!
23.
Nearly here...
24.
IT'S THE OLYMPIC TORCH!!!!
25.
Going on it's way again...
26.
Lots of people milling about.
27.
The illuminated notice (usually for traffic updates) reads,
'BEST WISHES TO THE OLYMPIC TORCH FROM THE PEOPLE OF STOKE ON TRENT.'
(Light flashed off this so much that it was hard to get a decent photo.)
***
It was actually really emotional watching it go past. That was surprising, but good,
because otherwise it could have been anti-climatic.
I wanted to mill around and hug strangers and stuff, but by this time it was ten to eight
and people wanted to get to work and such.
I'm not sure if we'll see it in London or not, because the event we're going to is not in the main Olympic Stadium.
But I'm glad I've seen it here.
Here are all the photos of the actual torch itself, including some that are just more of the same:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
The man with the hat is my stepfather, and yes, that's Mum's arm in the air, cheering as the guy ran past her, just before he ran past me. Hope you enjoyed watching :-)