Yes it’s true. As the 24-hour news stations so tediously put it, Breaking News!!! The Olympic Torch will visit out faire towne on 14th July which is Day 57 of the journey during the Bournemouth to Southampton leg. The list of towns for the day is Bournemouth, Boscombe, Christchurch, Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Lymington, Totland, Yarmouth, Carisbrooke, Newport, East Cowes, Southampton. I have a sneaking suspicion that at some point Lymington will be the starting point for the crossing to the Island where apparently it will take time out to go on the chair lift at the Needles. I can only hope that it won’t have to face the same queues as ordinary punters. I’ve been there and can testify as to how busy it can get in July.
It was announced earlier today that The Torch would travel to within ten miles of 90% of the population during its roughly 8000 mile journey. You have to wonder how they do it, I suspect dark arts, or at least Google Maps. Actually at times they seem to be the same thing. Wonder if Google will sponsor it. They could put a camera in The Torch and update a whole bunch of their spy camera Street View images at the same time. I’ve been expecting a knock on the door any time with them offering untold amounts of dosh for my insightful marketing ideas for a while now. Strange it hasn’t happened yet though…
Anyways, for more information than you probably care for on the subject, the Blessed Beeb have the dope on it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15572381
But if you’re looking for info on whether it’s going to come down your road, don’t hold your breath. At least not unless you can hold it until ‘later in 2012′ which is when the detailed map comes out.