The torch

I worked from home yesterday. The olympic torch was here in ChengDu, and the route it took through the city went by our office and they had closed that area off. In order to be able to go to the areas to view the procession of the torch you had to apply for permission, and I was told that if you are a foreigner or an ethnic minority not to even bother applying.

Actually, with all of the olympic torch ceremonies in the past I only remember one... that was when Mohammad Ali lit the torch back in 1996. That was rather surprising since he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome years earlier. Pretty cool.

Update:

Now the torch is off to Beijing and is someone else's problem...

Beijing locals heated as Olympic torch enters city in The Australian

The crowds of families who had woken their children before 5am for the historic event were pushed out and replaced by bused-in groups of Communist Party members, loyal workers and model students dressed in the uniforms of the torch relay's sponsors, Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Bank of China.