Night Lights

Don't worry, Nottingham's Council House hasn't been taken over by witches or aliens, it's a shot from the fireworks tonight, as the Christmas lights were switched on, and the festive season has officially begun in the city.

Paralympic swimmers Charlotte Henshaw and Ollie Hynd who won medals in Rio pressed the red button, overseen of course by Robin Hood, Santa Claus and the Lord Mayor. Then a five minute firework display began, which was enjoyed by the thousands who had packed into the Old Market Square for the event.

The city council has purchased a lot of new decorations, which is great, as the previous ones had been on show for at least three years running.

I shall have a look at them another night when there isn't so many people about.

Christmas Is-a Coming

There was a party atmosphere in the Old Market Square tonight, as the Christmas lights were being switched on. And for once we had a famous local person to do it.

Richard Whitehead won a gold medal in this years Paralympics for the 200 metre sprint. He gave a little speech about him being a local lad and thanking everyone for their support this year, before pushing the plunger. There was also a firework display and some street entertainment to amuse the throng of people that had turned up. Such as below, with some of the Toy Story characters

I wasn't sure if the show would go ahead, as we have had a deluge of rain all day long. I was planning to come in by bus, as I wanted to use my D3s, and Gail was coming in too, but there was a warning on the radio that there was gridlock on the roads due to some roadworks that had overrun and an accident that had just occurred. So I had to decide whether it was better to get a little bit wet cycling in, or be very late, coming in by public transport. I took the decision to cycle, so brought my OMD instead. Gail also decided to stay at home. So I had clearly made the right one.

A Roaring Success

Well summer looks like it has finally arrived here in Nottingham, as it have been sunny nearly all week now, and may even last into the weekend.

So with all that sun, you may need a new pair of shades. And to tie in with the Jubilee celebrations and Olympics, you might like to sport these snazzy pair of Union Jack sunglasses.

They certainly look cool on the cuddly lion.

Didn't Your Mother Ever Tell You Not To Go Near A Naked Flame?

This is the moment that a flicker of the Olympic flame was collected for its onward journey, before the flame is extinguished in the golden cauldron.

I didn't realise that the two people who were undertaking the task were the police. I was so far away from the stage, that I had my lens at its full 270mm. Looking at the shirts they are wearing, you can clearly see 'Metropolitan Police' emblazoned on their T shirts. I zoomed in on iPhoto and the name of the male officer is Rhys Peters, and he is a sergeant.

I'm not entirely sure why this bit of the celebration had to be done by cops. It's not as though anyone is going to steal the flame! Unless they were worried that a pyromaniac might get the job and start setting fire to the stage.

Anyway the flame started on it's way to Derby this morning. It left around 8am from the statue of Robin Hood, which is near the castle. This is far too early for me. So I let the rest of the population of Nottingham wave it goodbye.

Some Ice, Some Stars And A Flame

The Olympic Torch reached Nottingham today, after travelling from Athens 41 days ago.

It had come from Lincoln, and after staying the night tonight, the convoy will be heading to Derby, before reaching London next month.

It arrived in the county during the late afternoon and made it's way to the Ice Arena, where famous local skaters Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean did a turn on the ice with it. They made history in 1984, when they got straight sixes for their interpretation of Ravel's Bolero.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of tickets for the show from a friend. Gail unfortunately couldn't make it, as she had a prior engagement, and it was also difficult to get into town, as the local authority had closed many roads across the city centre.

It didn't go to waste though, as I bumped into a pal, and fellow photographer of mine. So I invited him along. The arena was packed as you can imagine. But we managed to get some decent seats to take some shots. We both had good telephoto lenses on our Nikons, which also helped.

After the show was over, we went outside and followed the torch to the Old Market Square. It was also rammed full of people, and so we missed some of the action. But we did see them put out the flame. We also met up with another Flickrmate and wandered off to the castle, to see what was happening there.

A couple of bands were playing. and low and behold, another two photo buddies appeared. It was almost like a Nottingham Flickr group convention!

Here's one of the many shots that I took of Chris and Jayne skating with the torch.