Party time for Surrey roads

The Surrey roads closed and a party atmosphere spread across communities last weekend.

With many main roads fenced off for the Olympic Road Cycling, we just had to walk or cycle and it was great!  We awoke to silence, no distant traffic noise. A very relaxed atmosphere fell over the area with people sauntering down the middle of normally busy main roads, it felt more like a holiday village than a busy suburban town.

There was no need to rush as we couldn't go anywhere! I think perhaps every town should be allowed to close selected roads once a year, it would promote calm and goodwill to the neighbourhood.

The reason for the road closure was all very exciting and excitable crowds formed all the way along the route.  I think we must have seen more police motorbikes than the cyclists!  The police were in playful mood, high fiving the crowd, stopping for photos and joining in with the Mexican waves, whilst making sure we were all happy and safe.

The only trouble with this type of event, it is all over so quickly, they just swish past, but we did manage to get a photo of Bradley Higgins and Mark Cavendish early in the day.

Later in the afternoon, we turned out again to see them pass at the 220 km stage, I think the most important cheering is for the stragglers who have fallen behind the pack.  They need extra encouragement to keep them going.

Unfortunately, Sunday brought utterly dreadful weather for our Olympic Party but we all dressed up in waterproofs and braved the thunderstorm to cheer the ladies as they battled through the hail stones.  By the time we had walked home, we were delighted to catch sight of beautiful Lizzie Armitstead powering up the Mall to win her silver medal.  She looked so cool and calm after her 140 km cycle ride, I would have been tomato red, flustered and ready to explode!

Photo:  PA

This was my creative culinary contribution to the excitement of the Olympic spirit!  LOCOG please don't get angry with my less than perfect copy of the rings.  By the way, it is an elderflower and lime cheesecake on a ginger biscuit base and is utterly DELICIOUS!