1 June 2012
I'm loving all the hullabaloo surrounding the relay type thing.
We had it pass through our area the other day. You'd think it was pretty simple- geezer running with a big gold cornet gizmo, a few members of the non working public taking time off from 'job seeking' to clap the winner of the office raffle as he waddles along the road and A couple of bobbies stood around making sure nobody claps too loudly. Easy!
Not quite.
Every bobby in my area had their rest day cancelled and I'm led to believe over 600 people were involved in planning the 'event' and policing it on the day.
That is a heck of a lot of public money being spent to make sure coca cola and tesco get their publicity.
If I try to get more bodies in to hit crack houses at dawn I'm stuffed as we don't have enough on duty yet we can provide several hundred to line a road whilst johnny fatboy gets one step closer to a coronary.
I wouldn't mind if the relay was steeped in ancient history. It's not.
It was invented by a chap called Carl Diem in 1936 because his employer, adolph, decided that the ancient Greeks were the forerunner to his aryan nation and he wanted a symbolic passing of the flame from Greece to Berlin.
It's a shame the torch relay lasts so long because I may run out of spite even before my stay in London for the real Olympics!
Olympic Torch Relay • Opuss № I