Olympic Torch

You are probably all fed up with it, but I make no apologies for blipping the Olympic Torch as it came through our village; this was followed by a carnival and fete. There was a little sunshine and a lot of rain, torrential at times. I took a lot of pictures of the torchbearer, but decided this one showed the conditions best; looking large you can see the rain.

Originally the torch was to be carried by Helen Patterson, An oncology doctor at Addenbrookes hospital; unfortunately she lost her fight with cancer in April 2012. There were three people nominated on the web site to carry the torch, but in the end it was Ashley Dear, aged 14 from Baldock, Hertfordshire. He was the torch bearer at the start, which I watched with my family; it then changed hands to Jamie Oliver and as far as I know he carried it the rest of the way through the village.

The torch was delayed, not because it had not arrived, but due to the rain. In the end they had to run it in torrential rain, but as always the Great British public were out in force, some with umbrellas, many without; the supporters of the torch were giving out green plastic raincoats today, not flags or sweets.

I took 219 photographs of the day, many of the villagers as well as at least one of every float and all the stalls at the fete. I had on a Barber coat and still got soaked three times. Many of my pictures will go on Flickr, once they have been sorted and edited. I was also asked to supply some for our local village magazine and also some of the local school children on their float for the school's website.