It's an Olympic double-whammy! (But only just!)

The London Olympics officially open in a few of days, but a couple of weeks ago I stole a bit of a march on them on a rather wet Sunday in Letchworth, scissor fans!

The Olympic Torch has been carried around the British Isles for at least a month and its overdue appearance in my current place of residence was met with baited breath. I fair old skipped to the bottom of Station Road to meet up with my mate Sam and his kids and as we waited for the various sponsors trucks to pass we were spied from across the road by opening-fan Sarah who was tickled pink later that day when she emailed me this little photo with the title "is it opening time?"

Here's Sam holding the brolly, Jake and Sofia holding the ribbon. Yours Truly looks on  like the ribbon king he is! This kind of guerilla-style photography has not been seen since the very first opening, snippy monkeys!

It certainly was! Before we had time to shout "Modern pentathlon" the police bikes had passed and there he was! the torch bearer! Well it was a close-run thing but we just about unofficially opened him - and in the nick of time, you Olympic snippers!

A very tricky opening to orchestrate but we got it! Or did we?

Disaster! Sam was so excited about getting the ribbon in he forgot the Olympic Flame itself! The spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship didn't quite make it into the photo! Curses! But hang on maybe the spirit of Olympus flows through us all! I was struck by a cunning plan! I remembered the lines of people on the streets on my way to Station Road and if I wasn't mistaken - the torch was going to go up into town, pass the cinema, double back on itself, head down Gernon road and, and...

...Go down my street! Well we would certainly have broken the four minute mile if we'd kept up that run back to where I'd come from and at one point I thought the kids might fall off the pace. They kept up (with a bit of help from Sam) and before we knew it, POW! There was the torch again, this time being carried rather more sedately, if truth be told...

If you head up the left hand side of the lamp post to the right of the picture you can just see the flame!

See? here it is in close up! And there's Sam's daughter Sofia taking everything VERY seriously indeed!

We thus managed to unofficially open the Olympic torch not once, but twice! Is that a new Olympic Unofficial Opening Record? It is as far as I'm concerned! If the Team GB perform as well as we did, the gold medals are in the bag! Sadly I didn't see Roger Bannister, Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes or Daley Thompson on the way round but I'm sure they were there in spirit.

Two other things before I leave you, opening fans. When I told my friend Howard what happened he exclaimed "My God! Unofficial Openings are faster than the speed of fire!". We might well be, Howard, we might well be but one thing's for sure - I never miss an opportunity to recreate an iconic situation and today was no exception, because while we were waiting for the Olympic Torch to arrive initially, I procured a bottle of cola, and ceremoniously ran towards Sam and the kids. The photo is caught here for posterity. Check back soon for more Unofficial Opening!