Pumping up for the Olympics: Flame and Freebies

When I heard the Olympic torch was coming through our little city of Belcarra I was quite surprised. Turns out they squeezed us in the 5am slot. Haha. It was a struggle to drag my butt out of bed in the wee hours that no man should have to endure. My family and I climbed in the car and drove down the street half a block. Why walk when you can drive right? Turns out the entire city turned out to cheer on the start of the Olympics.... all 150 of us. But seriously. Belcarra has under 800 residents, so I’m estimating nearly a quarter of everyone came out for the festivities. And what wondrous festivities they were. It was great: lights were flashing, girls were dancing on vehicles driving by, music was playing, people were handing out free Cokes and free Canada flags, everyone was cheering. A good time was had by all. It was totally worth getting up at 5am for. OK everyone, lets go back to bed. Oh wait. That was just the sponsors? Damn. Another seven minutes goes by of numerous amounts of police force on motorbikes, police force inside vehicles, and what seemed like fool proof amounts of riot control. I literally think the security outnumbered the citizens in Belcarra standing by. After all the flashing lights and free stuff from the sponsors, I hate to say it, but the woman carrying the torch was borderline anticlimactic. She walked up to the crowd, smiled, had a few photos taken, and then the whole crew packed up and drove away. But don’t worry, the mayor of Belcarra came out with good news: there would be free coffee and hot chocolate at the town hall. So naturally, I moved on to the next venue that promised free stuff and stocked up. Turns out drinking free coffee at 5am when you plan on going back to bed after isn’t worth the freebee.