Manky Monkey Motors

As I'm trying to be a photographer, I thought I really ought to turn out and take some pics of the Olympic torch being carried through our town. So I did.

I thought it was unfortunate that all the huge promotional vehicles rendered the torchbearer rather insignificant - not helped by the chav-type white tracksuit they wear.

Still, I suppose it's some sort of history and I duly recorded it.

The end.

My sentiments entirely Bobbi. The Olympics, fine, but this "Torch" nonsense, fairly modern invention that it is, well, I ask you.......................

I was disillusioned as well. When it came through Buxton they shut the roads then coaches came to th outskirts of the centre. Everyone got out of the coaches including those riding push bikes then they paraded through and got back on coaches th other side.

If they are going to do it they should be running/walking all the way, make it an Olympic feat not a farce.

It came through Basingstoke, Hampshire on Wednesday. I'm a Postie there & deliver to the area they passed through. It caused chaos for us, with roads shut all morning & crowd barriers on the pavements. All the surrounding residential roads were full of parked cars & there were buses coming & going from the park & ride scheme they set up too. The people were stood 10 deep along the route with many there for several hours to get the best spots. The local schools gave the kids the day off to watch it, (bet they didn't all go though).
So a whole day messed up. 2 minutes & it was all over. I didn't see it, but the general consensus from those that did was -is that it?
I know it's a bit of history & won't be seen again for many years, but what a lot of hype for nothing.

YouTube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0uVjRQ1gYw)

The One Show on BBC1 did a piece about the torch bearers from the 1948 games last week. They ran a similar relay but ran all the way, from Dover to London I think. The show reunited half a dozen of the runners. Apparently they were picked from local athletic clubs & had never met before the relay &, having passed the flame onto the next runner, never met again. Bizarrely, the first chap they talked to ran the section from Merrow to Guildford -almost past our front door.
They all still had their 1948 torches. I didn't realise each runner has their own -over 3,000 torches this time around. It's the flame that's relayed, not the torch.

But even the torch only becomes their own if they pay for it!

how many tins of gas lighter fuel have they used  ::) ::)

how much ££  bet its a good investment  to sell on ebay,,,,,

So who gets the money?

Think it goes to LOCOG - the organisation that's running the Olympics.

I assumed it'd go to charity.
Not a sports fan at all, so wont be watching the coverage anyway, but even if I were, the constant barrage of hype, plus every consumer product in the country, from car sales to loo rolls, suddenly sprouting a Union Jack & claiming to be "backing Britain", would put me off watching it.

Absolutely.

it passed within 4 miles of our house  :o :o :o  i missed it  ::) ::)

I work in north London, basically the whole Olympic thing is diabolical, apart from the traffic problems we will have which is well publicised there are certain affects that don’t get publicised.

So allegedly:-

Local scaffolding company has laid off 75 people because they are not allowed to work certain areas while this fiasco goes on.

Local utility (road menders) company lay off 63 as they are not allowed to work certain areas.

Parcel company has to pass its deliveries in specific areas to another (us company) and pay them to deliver @ 4 times their normal charge. 

Yeah, the Olympics seem to be a bit of a curse don't they. We're constantly told what an honour it is to host them, yet they've almost bankrupted half the countries that've hosted them in the past. Just seems to be politicians hoping to grab some prestige from having them here. How come we have to suffer cuts to every service imaginable, but can find billions for this?
Now G4S, the security company given the contract to provide security guards, have failed to enlist enough people, with up to 50% of those employed not turning up for their shifts. So the British Army's been called in to provide 17,000 men. And 6 domestic tower blocks in central London have suddenly found they've gained ground to air missile capabilities, with missile launchers sited on their roofs.
Sorry, if you're looking forward to it all, but personally I think it's a colossal waste of money.  >:(

Here here.

Like so many other sporting events, it`s all about the money.

Long gone are the days when it was about amateur sportsmen and women competing for their counties to be the best in their chosen fields.

The torch? passing of the flame from mount olympia? Ha the thing went out before the torch had gone 100 yards. And the flame is extinguished at the end of every leg of its journey anyway.

My interest level with it all remains at non existant, the olympics means nothing to me or anyone I know.
There may be a sense of something big happening in London, but the rest of the country wont notice any difference.

We will!  Sailing events at Weymouth will make our traffic problems even worse!

Bah humbug!

jobs bollockesed,

what effect will the tv coverage have on the soap operas
mrs k is hell to live with if she don't get her daily dose of corrie and enders and I do like a bit of emmerdale , reminds me of home

my view is stuff the olympics its gonna cause more problems with traffic. they're shutting off 1 lane on egham bypass for 10 hours a day for 2 months. there's a sign up saying to expect delays for 5 days during july, so whats happening for the rest of the 2 months from this monday. its gonna cause chaos in london and other areas for people trying to get to work. how many jobs will be lost through work drying up, how many people will take time off coz of the time taking to get into work.
i wont benefit from the olympics, i can't see the government telling me that i'm gonna pay less tax, more likely more tax. they're not gonna reduce the tax on fuel, my utility bills aint gonna come down.

i've started a stuff the olympics page on facebook to see what people think

I am not a sports fan (excepting motorsports) either and there are a lot of downsides and I agree with all that's been said BUT

There are some advantages like they have opened up he canals round he stadium, there as been a lot of jobs created and it will boost income from tourism.

Money would be better into essential services though and why are we paying a private security firm if we have armed services personnel available? The 500 million would have kept a few servicemen and women in a job instead of utting them all

as tax payers, we have paid dear for those jobs,75% of which have gone to immigrants (so most of the money disappears outa the country)
   tourism will be only for a few months,
what will happen to the canals after, will they be upkept? unlikely,
not convinced the Olympics is anything but a money winner for the overpaid company bosses, and a loss for anyone else

I heard an interesting piece on Radio 4 the other day regarding how the cost`s of the olympics has affected the countries it`s been to.
The Los Angeles Olympic games in 1970 something (the one where the rocket man landed to start it all), was all done by private funding. The US government held a referendum (I`d never heard of this before) and the answer was a resounding Yes we want the games, but no we don`t want government money being used for it.
The organisers then set about wooing big business and figuring out ways to attract sponsors. Needless to say it was a resounding success, those games made a profit, and the People of Los Angeles are still benefitting from it today because they set up a charitable trust to make use of the profits from the games. The charity does sports programmes for underprivilaged kids and schools sports programmes. It can be done, I just wonder why no one thinks of it when their turn comes.

As a little poste script to this, a little story I remember from the time. The organisers of the Los Angeles Olympics opened up the torch relay to any business or organisation that would pay $2000 to run a leg of the relay. One "organisation" paid their money up front, they got their spot and when they turned up to do their leg the organisers s**t a brick and the press went mad for it. The organisation? they entered under the title of HAMCU..................you got it yet?............................that`s right Hells Angels MC United States. The President of the Los Angeles chapter was a fitness fanatic and regular jogger, he ran with a white vest displaying the HA deaths head. I remember watching it on the box at the time. ;D ;D ;D ;D

 ;) the worlocks,, could have done lincolnshire then ;) ;)

I read somewhere that the boost to tourism isn't that great cos although people will come for the Olympics, as many will stay away cos they don't want the hassle!

Hi all,
Took my grandsons to Lymington in the New Forest to see the torch today. It was due at 11:10ish. We got there at 8:00 and parked on the quay. At that time, no traffic and plenty of spaces to park. The boys did some crabbing for 2 hours then we joined the crowds. And then the heavens opened. I gave up on my brolly after a bit. Forget the wet t shirt competition, I could have entered the one for wet everything. Even a £5 in my back pocket was pulped!

Anyway, like BikerGran said, the truck just in front of the "torch kiss" totally screwed up the view of everyone on one side of the road, which of course was our side. We were all shouting for him to move forward but the sod did not budge and by the time he did, we only caught a brief flash of the new torch bearer.

My eldest managed to go right up to him just before he started off and saw the "kiss" and was in the frame for the official video/cameraman.

I am glad I took the boys though. There was a good buzz between the crowds with the torrential rain making us even more determined to make it an occasion.

Is it worth all the money being spent? NO. Will it be a success? I hope so but I have my doubts. I am particularly dreading the opening ceremony. I read it celebrates what has made GB,including beating Germany in the war! If so, that is sooo wrong and very cringe making.

Perhaps the whole thing will be cancelled due to bad weather...

JJ  :)

(http://i.imgur.com/lP10U.jpg?1)

My daughter said that her attitude was very much like ours but it made a difference having children with her - they don't know about all the stuff that irritates us, they just feel the excitement, and Rose said it's contagious!

Im not a sports fan ,apart from anything petrolhead based,but do admire the strength of some of the athletes,eg the guys on the 'rings' and pummel horse etc. I thought that sport was all about the amateur side of  things,but all this hype is putting me off completely.Our money is paying for all this cr*p ! sorry to be bah humbug!

well maybe,,just maybe,, by the start of the olympic  games i may be having fun-n-games myself ,, :D :D :D sorting out the ,,new,,house ,, as we should have moved by then,, ::) ::)

i,t,ll be a sporting achievement getting the wardrobe up the stairs   :D :D

Well if you don't get it up there,You'll probably be in for the high jump :D ;D