Derelict

Our site today was next door to what the locals call "the biggest pigeon loft in town" An abandoned church in the city centre. Boarded up several years ago, the grade II listed building was once a big part of the local community before being sold to developers who now can't afford to do anything with the land.

Ironic sponsors

There are many companies that are the "official ......" of the Olympics, but the most ironic two are McDonalds and Coke. Are Team GB really munching Big Macs and downing pints of soft drinks in the build up?

Gymkhana

A bit of a first for me today. We decided to take part in the Hants & Berks Motorclubs Gymkhana. A cheap and cheerful entrance into the world of motorsport, next stop F1! Its basically an untimed event where you have to travel round a series of tests designed to score your ability to manoeuvre your car through gates and get as close as possible to various points. For a first go I managed an average 65 penalty points in the morning session, by the afternoon I had got into it and dropped that to just 15. The winner scored -3 as he was able to park on the cone and throw hoops over stakes.....he was also half my age!

Chalking it up

After a morning at the local green fair we came home for a well earned rest, laying on the sofa watching yet more Olympics before heading into the garden for a play. Lily was let loose with some chalk on the patio and I created a patriotic slab as well as an air-cooled masterpiece.

Olympic lights

A bit of a cheat here. On the spur of the moment late on Thursday, we made are way up to Windsor. With Eton Dorney and the rowing not far away they were celebrating the achievements both past and present with a massive slide show. Projected onto the three towers of the Lower Ward of the castle it didn't start until almost 10pm. We bundled a sleepy Lily into the car and drove up to the rowing lakes for a look round before parking in the town and joining the hundreds of revellers as the show began. The images filled the tower walls and changed every few seconds for about 10 minutes before repeating. Having watched it for a while we slowly headed home, rolling into bed not long before midnight.

 

Few days late

We never managed to get Olympics tickets, despite bidding for loads in a couple of the rounds nothing came our way. I was a bit disappointed as it would have been great to get to a venue and say we had been there when the greatest sporting event came to London. I've been trying to make up for it by watching as much as I can on TV and popping by some of the sites before or after the events. Today I was in Surrey and was close enough to drive part of the route used by the various road cycling.

Welsh Olympics

A trip to the capital of Wales shows that its not just London thats getting into the Olympic spirit.Outside City Hall in Cardiff I spotted this massive set of rings. We escaped the city just before it was locked down for the football at the Millennium Stadium.