Gold

I had to queue up to take a photo of the gold pillar box (mail box) on Hanover Street. The paint seemed hardly dry - as I waited a man who was being photographed clasping the box was anxiously examining his shirt for gold paint as he moved away, exclaiming "the paint still smells wet!"

The boxes are traditionally red, but in the Olympic fever that has at last gripped the nation for real the Royal Mail is painting a box gold in the home town of each GB gold medalist. So here is the Sir Chris Hoy pillar box in Edinburgh. If you're not on Planet Olympics at the moment, Sir Chris has just won his 5th Olympic gold medal in cycling. We hear a lot about him in our family - he attended George Watson's College, my children's school, where his name crops up any time there's a mention of 'achievement', 'endeavour', 'commitment', 'aspiration'... the list goes on! He wasn't particularly a cyclist at school - he rowed and played rugby for the school, and rowed for Scotland as a junior . He did take part in the Cycling Project, 450 miles around the North West Highlands, where school legend has it he was always in the lead.




The build-up to the Games has been slow here in Scotland. The most I could find last week were these Olympics touches in my local Tesco, of all things. A team GB cover on the security scanners, with a background of toilet paper and baked beans - perhaps a theme all of its own.





And a cardboard cut-out of the London Olympic skyline. This photo isnotable for the expression on the face of the Tesco employee - an expression well known to photo bloggers everywhere.





For a not-very-sporty person I'm now well into the Olympic spirit. So many fantastic performances, including the American swimmers and gymnasts.