The torchbearer

Maggie Glastonbury was the
 first torch bearer of the day.

I was up early this morning (around 5:30 am) to check out the olympic torch relay take off from its stop at Bristol and onwards to Cheltenham, a place famous for its races. The lighting of the torch from "the mother flame" began at college green, right behind my place so easy access (and hence me waking up so darn early!)
I didn't expect that many people to turn up so early in the morning, but boy was I wrong. There were loads of families and university students all lined up on the green, vying for a glimpse of something they'd probably not get to see for a good while in person.

My University represented
itself today as well...in the form
of a hot air balloon.

The first torch bearer of the day was Maggie Glastonbury. A Bristolian with a passion for running, she's raises money for prostate cancer in men and has raised just under 5 grand in the past 3 years. She was in good spirits and really jubilant to see the hundreds that had turned up to support her...or just take a photograph.

While I moaned initially about waking up so early to see the torch run past me for just 2 seconds, I later felt priviledged to have been able to witness the whole scenario. It's a story I can tell my kids "the day I saw the torch in Bristol" (it'll be a very, very short and uninteresting story).