About 8 am I decided to head out towards the relay. Not quite sure of what I’d encounter I parked well back from Limestone and walked down towards the War Memorial. I had expected crowds and possibly a bit of argy bargy but the only people I saw from Cowper st to Anzac Parade was a brave mother and child holding a Free Tibet sign, the large noisy group of Chinese who swamped them – good naturedly from what I saw and a couple of other people with cameras waiting for action. Signs were hung in front yards reminding crowds that peace was the aim here. But there wasn’t that many to read them.
I arrived at the War Memorial to hear an announcement that the relay was delayed slightly. The crowds were a little thicker there. A few dogs on leads, children on school holidays rocking the ‘bike-rack’ fencing waiting for the main event. The police arrived – almost 1 blue uniform for every 3 people in the crowd. Then the flat bed trucks – complete with loud crappy music and dancing girls pulled round the round about at the bottom of Anzac parade and it was on. My first sight of the torch was feet running behind a truck. There really wasn’t that much to see. The actually main part was a bit of fizzer. But I had achieved my aim of taking photos in a public place – something I hadn’t really done before.
I was a bit suprised at the lack of crowds. Maybe it was the fear of aggressive groups arguing over human rights. Maybe it was the school holidays and all of canberra was down the coast.
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