Maidstone has a lot of things going for it. It is the county town of Kent (although I am pretty sure that Medway doesn't believe it, nor the thousands who throng Canterbury, but that is a different story), it has two wonderful museums (albeit one has just had a monstrous makeover), it has decent shopping places, and it has some fine history. Just in case you ask me what sort of history, I can tell you that Sir Thomas Wyatt (he who allegedly had an affair with Anne Boleyn and was sent to the Tower) was born in Allington Castle; Benjamin Disraeli was MP for Maidstone before becoming Prime Minister and the essayist and critic William Hazlitt (just look him up if you don't know who he is!) was born in Maidstone and now has a theatre named after him. So, you can see that we (please note the use of the royal "we") come highly recommended.
On Thursday and Friday we had the privilege of having the Olympic Torch in town (well just outside it on Thursday night when it stopped off at the beautiful Leeds Castle), but Friday morning it was ready to leave Mote Park and head right through the town centre before sailing away along the River Medway on the way to Gillingham.
I consider myself fortunate that I am a morning person, and regularly get up at half past five or earlier, simply because the Torch was leaving Mote Park at just gone half past six! I did dilly, dally and dither as to whether I would actually walk into town (five minutes away if I stroll!) to see this spectacle, or merely let it pass me by. Curiosity and a sense of occasion got the better of me, and thus I decided to go and see this historic event that would probably never happen again in my lifetime (at least not in Maidstone anyway).
It was strange to see so many ordinary folk heading into town at such an early hour. The car parks were full (Maidstone Borough Council must be rubbing their hands with glee) and myriads of old and young were moving en masse into the High Street and all roads leading to it.
I positioned myself at the top of the High Street, ready to be there for the long haul, but was happy to see that a lot of things were going on in the half an hour or so that we had to wait before even knowing that the Torch had left Mote Park. Firstly we were all excited by a couple of men on short stilts. But these were not just any old stilts, these had bendy legs! Honestly that is the only way I can describe them. Like the prosthetic limbs the athletes are using but with stilts attached. I have never seen anything like it and probably never will again, but those two guys were amazing at ramping up the crowd with their whistles and the goodies that they were giving to the children. Whilst they were busy doing their bit, Titan the Robot was around to keep us all entertained. Titan is massively huge (please forgive the bad use of English here - but I promise you he was definitely BIG), probably standing at around eight feet tall or more (I am only guessing and my guessing isn't usually that accurate). He was controlled by a man sitting on the buggy in which Titan sits on the back of, and this man was dressed like one of the Men In Black, complete with sunglasses (don't forget it was only six in the morning but at least it wasn't raining!). Even though I knew the movements were all operated by the MIB (Man in Black for the uninitiated into all things spooky) and all the spoken words were all pre-recorded etc., etc., I was fascinated and enraptured. Titan was really cute in a bizarre sort of way! He sang love songs to the ladies, made rude noises to the children (not so nice!) and sprayed everyone in his way with "tears" when singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head". I loved him and so did nearly everyone else, although a couple of the smaller children found him a little bit frightening and hid behind their parents.
After Titan had finished his act, the crowd began to get restless as news reached us that the Torch was finally on its way and would be going right past in about five minutes. I would like to say that there was a silence that you could cut with a knife, but I would be lying. Instead the excitement that was bubbling under seemed to increase as the first of a very long line of police outriders on motorcycles came past. They gloried in all the attention and slowed down to give "high fives" to all and sundry. I have to say that most of the high fives turned into "low fours" as they just brushed outstretched hands in passing, but nevertheless, the idea was a sound one and gave the police a lot of good public relation exercises which paid off handsomely. Next to been seen making their way along the road were the advertising buses. I am not even going to go down this route (just another one of my hobby horses to mull over), but suffice to say that because they were very big, and most people being very small in comparison, you couldn't actually see the torch bearer until he was right on top of us. However, after the buses came the Torch. And that was that! I saw the Torch being carried by a young man (I have absolutely no idea who he was or why he had been chosen to carry the said Torch) in a white track suit for probably less than five seconds before he was hidden from view by the rest of the advertising buses and cars that came along in its wake. Now I promised that I wasn't going to say anything, but I just have to; anyone would think that thousands of people had gathered to see the advertising sponsors rather than the Torch. But I was disappointed and excited at the same time and I am sure that others must have thought the same.
The buzz was certainly there, and as an occasion I am glad that I did make the effort to go and see it, but to be honest I could have got a better view by watching it on television. I certainly saw lots of great photos from my facebook friends too, so I am sure I would not have missed out too much.
So that was it. I got up early, went and stood and waited, saw the Olympic Torch being carried and then I went home! I did try to find my friend who had brought two of her grand children down to see it, but they had disappeared further down the High Street towards the river.
One thing that I thought was very entrepreneurial was that a couple of places had decided to open up early to cash in from the crowds all milling about with little to do (and their children all clamouring for breakfast before heading off for their last day of school). It worked a treat as the coffee shop had a queue and I am sure the pasty shop did a good trade for breakfast. I have to say that a couple of the bigger burger places (they know who they are!) didn't open, which was a surprise - I thought everyone just thought about money nowadays (rather than service) and that would have been a good opportunity.
So hear endeth my little story about the Olympic Torch coming through Maidstone. I hope you have enjoyed it and please come back soon to check out what else I have got a bee in my bonnet about. Not sure what it is yet - I did think of another topic, but promptly forgot what the great idea was! Moral of that story is to always write down my ideas - even if they turn out to be rubbish - because my memory is failing me in rather spectacular fashion. I think it is called old age.....
I positioned myself at the top of the High Street, ready to be there for the long haul, but was happy to see that a lot of things were going on in the half an hour or so that we had to wait before even knowing that the Torch had left Mote Park. Firstly we were all excited by a couple of men on short stilts. But these were not just any old stilts, these had bendy legs! Honestly that is the only way I can describe them. Like the prosthetic limbs the athletes are using but with stilts attached. I have never seen anything like it and probably never will again, but those two guys were amazing at ramping up the crowd with their whistles and the goodies that they were giving to the children. Whilst they were busy doing their bit, Titan the Robot was around to keep us all entertained. Titan is massively huge (please forgive the bad use of English here - but I promise you he was definitely BIG), probably standing at around eight feet tall or more (I am only guessing and my guessing isn't usually that accurate). He was controlled by a man sitting on the buggy in which Titan sits on the back of, and this man was dressed like one of the Men In Black, complete with sunglasses (don't forget it was only six in the morning but at least it wasn't raining!). Even though I knew the movements were all operated by the MIB (Man in Black for the uninitiated into all things spooky) and all the spoken words were all pre-recorded etc., etc., I was fascinated and enraptured. Titan was really cute in a bizarre sort of way! He sang love songs to the ladies, made rude noises to the children (not so nice!) and sprayed everyone in his way with "tears" when singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head". I loved him and so did nearly everyone else, although a couple of the smaller children found him a little bit frightening and hid behind their parents.
After Titan had finished his act, the crowd began to get restless as news reached us that the Torch was finally on its way and would be going right past in about five minutes. I would like to say that there was a silence that you could cut with a knife, but I would be lying. Instead the excitement that was bubbling under seemed to increase as the first of a very long line of police outriders on motorcycles came past. They gloried in all the attention and slowed down to give "high fives" to all and sundry. I have to say that most of the high fives turned into "low fours" as they just brushed outstretched hands in passing, but nevertheless, the idea was a sound one and gave the police a lot of good public relation exercises which paid off handsomely. Next to been seen making their way along the road were the advertising buses. I am not even going to go down this route (just another one of my hobby horses to mull over), but suffice to say that because they were very big, and most people being very small in comparison, you couldn't actually see the torch bearer until he was right on top of us. However, after the buses came the Torch. And that was that! I saw the Torch being carried by a young man (I have absolutely no idea who he was or why he had been chosen to carry the said Torch) in a white track suit for probably less than five seconds before he was hidden from view by the rest of the advertising buses and cars that came along in its wake. Now I promised that I wasn't going to say anything, but I just have to; anyone would think that thousands of people had gathered to see the advertising sponsors rather than the Torch. But I was disappointed and excited at the same time and I am sure that others must have thought the same.
The buzz was certainly there, and as an occasion I am glad that I did make the effort to go and see it, but to be honest I could have got a better view by watching it on television. I certainly saw lots of great photos from my facebook friends too, so I am sure I would not have missed out too much.
So that was it. I got up early, went and stood and waited, saw the Olympic Torch being carried and then I went home! I did try to find my friend who had brought two of her grand children down to see it, but they had disappeared further down the High Street towards the river.
One thing that I thought was very entrepreneurial was that a couple of places had decided to open up early to cash in from the crowds all milling about with little to do (and their children all clamouring for breakfast before heading off for their last day of school). It worked a treat as the coffee shop had a queue and I am sure the pasty shop did a good trade for breakfast. I have to say that a couple of the bigger burger places (they know who they are!) didn't open, which was a surprise - I thought everyone just thought about money nowadays (rather than service) and that would have been a good opportunity.
So hear endeth my little story about the Olympic Torch coming through Maidstone. I hope you have enjoyed it and please come back soon to check out what else I have got a bee in my bonnet about. Not sure what it is yet - I did think of another topic, but promptly forgot what the great idea was! Moral of that story is to always write down my ideas - even if they turn out to be rubbish - because my memory is failing me in rather spectacular fashion. I think it is called old age.....
Now, Susan, you will know who I am!
ReplyDeleteBut in answer to your street disorderliness - or indeed orderliness - apparently it is something to do with some innate sense that we share with ants! Scientists have studied how crowds move and the instances of people actually bumping into each other are infinitesimally small compared to what one might expect. So crowd movement is largely the same as ants scurrying hither and thither in their nests and to bird-flocks sweeping back and forth across the sky. Apparently, if one watches these latter creatures long enough, one finds that they DO occasionally bump into each other but at about the same rate as we humans in a crowd. Of course this is not exactly an answer....:)