The excitement mounts - contrasting styles of the London Olympics

The last time I saw my mother before her sudden death was the day we learned that London had won the 2012 Olympics. She told me about her experiences as a teenage volunteer at the 1948 London Olympics. Below is a picture of the Olympic scarf she gave me. The style reflects an optimistic, colourful and exuberant time when the War was still a recent memory, London was being slowly rebuilt after the Blitz and a new age beckoned. The scarf underneath is the 2012 scarf.

The excitement of the 1948 Olympics contrasts with the commercial machine that is the modern London Games. The sponsors of the modern Olympics have made it a very different event. The amateur innocence of a past Olympics has long gone.

However, London is really looking forward to it. As I write this the sky overhead is humming with helicopters as the flame passes along the River Thames near where I live (photographs below). I am lucky to be going to the Opening Ceremony and have tickets to see athletics and track and road cycling in both Olympics and Paralympics.

These pictures were taken earlier this morning as the flame was lit for its final journey along the Thames on the Gloriana to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony tonight.