The Queen Of Sheffield

Having failed to purchase a single Olympic 2012 ticket I couldn’t help but show a sense of determination or insanity and head out at the crack of dawn on the  day of the Olympic parade to cheer home Team GB. Armed with running fitness magazine, a freshly charged camera and a few snacks (no drinks as I didn’t want to drink away, get the urge for a loo break and hop from one leg to the other not wanting to lose my place at the front of the barrier) I was out my front door at 04:30 and plotted up outside St Pauls Cathedral by 06:00 ready to shout and cheer at #ourgreatestteam.

 

By the time a few other people arrived to along the route to become my new neighbours it wasn’t long before we started to talk about our favourite moment of the Olympics and confirm what we had been told within the media as to which number float our favourite athlete’s would be standing on. “Mo Farrah will be on number 1, Super Jess would be on float number 2 and so on…

I managed to pass the time by and before I knew it the parade had started and with camera in hand time I leaned on the barrier ready, ready to snap away capturing pictures of our nation’s new heroes……. This was where lady luck took over. Yes the floats were passing by but as I stood on the right hand side of the road, Team GB members tried to greet the crowd by moving from both sides of the float. To my dismay Float 2 passed by with Jessica standing on the far side of the float and out of camera view. I absolutely rolled my eyes to the heavens as I … could.. not…believe it!!

Sir Chris Hoy

Mo Farah

Victoria Pendleton

Greg Rutherford

Tom Daley

Louis Smith

Alistair Brownlee

 

OK this one missed athlete out of a team of many but i managed to take pictures of some of the remaining TeamGB members (only a handful for your viewing) but it was great to see Jessica announce she was releasing an autobiography. I wonder if she’ll do a book signing at the time of its release? Well what do you know November 9^th 13:00 at Waterstone’s, Canary wharf…. I looked to the sky and said praise the lord! Time to book the day off work! to be told… NO! I can’t have the day off as no one can cover my shift……. WTF!! Perhaps you don’t understand… This isn’t some piss poor excuse I really would like to meet the Jessica Ennis. She’s here on my doorstep (again) and my boss is telling me I can’t have the day off?? As you can imagine I was sooooo pissed off!! The only agreement I could come too was take half a day and go back into work after I got my book signed because no way! Am I missing this appointment!

As far as I was concerned this was an Olympic Parade round 2, this book signing is going tobe popular. I made the same plans as before. 1) Fully charged camera 2) A copy of running fitness magazine 3) snacks for the morning. No drinks! 4) Drop the girls off to school then head on up to Canary Wharf (Yeah Baby). So with my bag packed the night before I got ready early Friday morning with a smile on my face. I even splashed on my favourite aftershave, headed out on the school run, kicking my daughters over the line of the school gates before heading to London.

 I arrived at Waterstone’s at 09:00 and dreaded turning the corning to the queuing area wondering how many people were there before me. I was handed ticket number forty one and was informed of a list of do’s and don’ts. At this point I met “Nikki” an athletics fan, track competitor, running encyclopaedia of knowledge who helped make the time go by ever so quickly. Her only downside was the fact she was a Gooner!!  (Booo)

With the morning going by the queue behind grew slowly but by the time Jess arrived… *cough* Late… the queue stretched back out of sight but at a guess over two hundred people. In front the media had arrived with their gigantic camera’s and lens’s and lunchtime called and many city folk came out for their lunch and know doubt suddenly decided to take an extended lunch break.

As the queue moved forward Waterstone’s staff again made the rules clear. No touching Jessica, Have your book open and ready for her to sign, No extended requests to whoever no pictures posing next to her, yadda, yadda, yadda. Nkiki then asked what am I going to say to her?... …… Damn It, you know what? I really don’t know? I love you… no,no, no too stalkerish. Well done for winning gold. Tsk she’s probably heard that a million times. I started to panic now but should I have worried? Hell no this is Jessica! A genuine person who was damn easy to talk too like we’ve been friends for years. My book was dedicated to my girls and she asked if they were interested in athletics and I was pleased to say that they were. I wanted to ask so many more questions but, conscious of Waterstone’s restrictions they placed on queuing fans, it was time to move aside for the next person to have their precious book signed too.

Just ever so slightly chuffed, with my book now signed I safely tucked it in my ruck sack I took a quick look around glaring off anyone who thinks they might take a chance and nick this now priceless book off me. I then proceeded to push my way to the front of the roped off area and to practice my photography clicking away trying to capture for my own photography portfolio Jessica again bringing a smile to hundreds of people within this shopping area.

    

Do I stand firmly in the corner of Team Ennis? I sure do! Will I be voting for her in this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the year? I sure will…. Has she a chance in winning??… (sucks in air….shaking head) I’m not fully confident about that. …. Probably not a book makers front runner to do so. The great people from “Sheffield” reminded us that they alone won more Olympic 2012 gold medals than the whole of “Australia” managed to do! (Which is quite funny considering they dislike us Poms) However I am very proud to say…. I have actually met one of their Olympic Champions.

All Hail Queen Jessica Ennis.