Let the Games begin!

With the Olympic Games starting today, the whole world will be watching London. In today's blog post, Laura and Andy talk about the rising excitement and anticipation in the capital over the last few days.

Laura sees the flame come to sunny Tooting

On a blazing hot (for Britain) Monday evening I took a stroll down Tooting High Street, in south west London, to witness the Olympic torch being carried to Tooting Common…  For those of you who don’t know Tooting, it’s an area which can be somewhat frenetic, so it was great to see the many residents, and shopkeepers whose premises line the High Street, taking a break from their day to witness this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.  Seeing the torch itself was a little underwhelming for me if I’m honest but the atmosphere of Tooting – with pretty much everyone having a smile on their face – is something that will stay with me.

My friend Laila took some cool pics which I think capture the vibe really well. 

Earlier that day the torch had also wended its way through my very own area, Merton Abbey, but sadly I was still at work at that time.  But you can check out Time and Leisure magazine’s pictures here.

Andy sees the flame come to The London School of English

I've been really impressed with the torch relay over the past few weeks.  The sheer number of people who have taken time out to go and see the flame, come rain or shine, has been very impressive.  Every day on the news we'd see the images: a torch bearer - sometimes famous, more often not - dressed in a white tracksuit jogging along waving at the crowds, all the time flanked by the security team dressed in grey.  It has become a very familiar sight, and yesterday I saw it for myself.

We were very lucky here at our London schools as the Olympic torch route came right past our Holland Park school and went very close to our Westcroft Square centre.  Many students and staff took time out of their day to go and cheer it on.  Luke even managed to get his picture taken holding the torch!

Today the torch makes its final journey along the River Thames through London from west to east, before finally arriving at The Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony tonight.

I'll be glued to the TV like many millions around the UK and the world.  The games have finally arrived.  Now let's enjoy every moment.

Thanks for reading.

By Laura and Andy

Glossary

stroll - (v.) to walk in a relaxed way

frenetic - (adj.) busy and stressful

premises - (unc.n.) the land and buildings of a business

underwhelming - (adj.) less exciting than expected

vibe - (n.) atmosphere.  Quite informal.

wend - (v.) to go in a certain direction.  (Grammar history fact:  The word ‘went’, as in the past simple of ‘go’ was originally the past simple of the verb to ‘wend’.)

sheer - (adj.) used to express surprise at the size or amount of sth

to take time out - (idiom) to create time to do sth different

come rain or shine - (idiom) in any weather

flanked - (adj.) to be surrounded by sth/sby

glued to sth - (idiom) if you are glued to sth, you can't stop watching it as it is very interesting