Monday, July 21, 2008

We've Been Torched!

The Olympic Torch Relay came through Bedrock today. It passed about 100 meters from where I live, but I didn't get to see it due to tall trees being in the way. Only the priviledged "with tickets" (that cannot be purchased, but have to be gotten through "relationships" and C-Party connections) got to see it in person. But I got to watch it on TV. This whole part of town was barricaded off to keep the common people from seeing the Olympic torch relay. Below you can see a photo of one of the barricades. People didn't seem to mind that they couldn't see the actual relay, they just wanted to be part of the excitement. On this same street where this photo was taken, there were 4 or 5 police barricades before one could get to the main location for the torch relay. I happen to live on the other side of this particular barricade, which is why I could roam freely; I couldn't get past the one on the other side though. Basically, I was trapped between the barriers all afternoon from 1 - 7 p.m. (well, I stayed home most of that time). Crowd control is good in any circumstance, but if anything terrorist-related to the relay happened, local security chiefs would be suddenly jobless, so they took their responsibility very seriously. I watched it on TV, and had my windows open to hear the actual crowd noise. A funny thing happened. The very split second the commentator on TV announced to the crowd that the Bedrock Torch Relay was "officially over," the skies opened up and there was a humongous DOWNPOUR. Within two minutes the roads were so flooded no one could get down them. It's funny that the rain held off for the entire relay, to the very second!












No comments: