Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

Putting aside the distasteful origins of the Olympic torch relay for a moment, today's voyage of the flame down the Thames was, at the very least, a good opportunity for a look at the new Royal Barge Gloriana. So I picked up a camera and wandered down the road to the footpath by the new flats near the mouth of the Wandle to take a few snaps.

The Olympic flotilla was small enough that it was easy to see the barge as it came down the Putney reach of the river, past Hurlingham, and as it turned up to pass under Wandsworth Bridge. The large cauldron at the bows of the barge had been extinguished, and the torch was being held by a young woman, as it rowed down-river with the tide, all gold and yellow, flags fluttering in the summer breeze.









So nice of them to name the barge after one of my favourite Michael Moorcock novels.

Putney, London
July 2012

Yesterday what was possibly the biggest and most complex of the 2012 London Olympics test events came through Putney, in the shape of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic race.

I decided to wander down to the High Street to watch the race on its return to London.

There was a reasonable crowd around, with the whole street blocked off to allow the race to come through at speed. They'd have cycled the best part of 120km or so by the time they came back, so I was expecting a spread out field.

I was wrong.

First came the helicopters...



Then a stream of motorbikes and cars preceded the field, rushing down the road with full blues and twos. Then came the sound of cheers from around the corner on the Upper Richmond Road, before the peloton arrived at full tilt, pouring down the rise outside Putney station.



The peloton, still tight after 120km or so.



Muscles straining the cyclists kept up their pace.



They rushed past, filling the road in a wave of bodies and bicycles.



And then they were gone, off to the Mall and the final sprint that would separate them out.