If there are people in Britain tracking the day-to-day progress of the Olympic Torch, I’m not amongst them. I’m interested in an abstract cartographical way by the claim that it passes within 3km of 95% of the population (and I’ve plucked those figures from the air, but you get the idea) but timing my life to be standing waving on its progress was not on my calendar radar.
Avoiding parental responsibilities though is hard. Middle Daughter plays violin in the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra, and naturally their concerts are in bold red type on the calendar. An invitation to CLYO to play on the steps of Leeds Town Hall at 6.15am today to see the Olympic Torch head south meant Himself and I would not miss the Procession of the Decade after all.
It was an excellent programme. The rousing themes from Chariots of Fire (twice), Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Lost World from Jurassic Park had the audience suitably roused despite the biting wind and cold of a midsummer morning, and we eagerly awaited our first sight of the Torch.
Suddenly, a white track-suited figure emerged from behind Cuthbert Brodrick’s famed neo-classical pillars, and held aloft the Torch.
As one, the masses raised their arms and mobile devices in the now familiar salute of the 21st century.
All striving to capture an unlit torch.
Like you, I’ve paid no attention to this peculiar peregrination – and then someone told me that it’s going right past our gate in the middle of the afternoon, so I suppose I’ll feel obliged to witness it, if only to have my cynicism justified!