Life at the Asa Wolverton House: Paris...15 minutes of Fame

How exciting it was to know the that the request to stay in our Carriage House was actually the Olympic Torch Runner. I had to refrain from running up a huge phone bill as Lincoln was politely asking questions as to the accommodation that he required for the evening of December 21. "Are you close to Yeo Street?" he asked. Why yes I said. Actually I continued to say that if he where energetic, he could ware his hip waders, walk across the river, scale the retaining wall and be at Yeo in a matter of 3 minutes.

My family certainly understands how silly I can be, but this stranger must think me to be a bit odd. This was one guest I was hoping to give a bit more attention to. After all, he was the chosen one to have the honour to run with the Olympic Torch through our Town of Paris.

Up until this point in time, I was so nieve about the routine, protocol and ceremonial functions of the runner. I did not realize that it was only a 300 metre distance for each runner. I also didnt realize that there would be several runners in each town. Paris had seven runners and Lincoln was one.

Lincoln did not live in Paris which I thought to be a bit odd, however he was chosen from a contest that his company had. He is employed with Bell Canada. Im not even sure if there were any other Torch Runners that were from Paris.

I headed out at 7:00 to make sure that I didnt miss the excitement in our community. It was a 15 minute walk to the destination where I would watch my Carriage House guest "pass the flame". As I briskly walked down the road and across the Nith River Bridge, I could see hundreds of people crowding together on the sidewalks of our downtown district. The town cryer was there as well as a yoga instructor trying to gather together people to have morning exercising to keep warm while waiting for the runners to pass by with the ever flaming torch.

I stopped to take my first picture. It was the town cryer, "Oyee, Oyee, Oyee....etc". I took a picture of the Yoga Lady too. Thats when the camera died...DIED! and I wasnt even at my destination yet. As I passed familiar faces, I asked if they could share pictures and have them emailed to me. I continued my journey across the Grand River Bridge.

I am sure of one thing, and that is that even without pictures, I was one of the few proud Parisians that stood in the cold at 7:30 am at Yeo Street to cheer one of our Canadian runners. There was a small parade of special buses, one that carried all the Runners, one that represented Coca Cola and the third one that represented The Royal Bank of Canada. Flags were passed out along the route. Unfortunately, I didn't get one. Didnt matter.

I was standing with the runner's wife and children and Mrs. Runner was kind enough to send me these pictures so I could share them with my friends and family. I's also excited to say that I held the torch before and after it was lit. It's a surreal feeling now. Hard to imagine that this flame exchange had been happening for months from around the world. How many people would ever have the chance to say that they too held the infamous torch?

As the flame was exchanged at that moment on Yeo street and no pictures to record the activity, at least not for me, at least Mrs. Runner captured the moment and we all cheered. The torch ran off to the next destination....and I walked home.

I was glad to reach home as it was very, very cold. I also discovered on my route home, that everyone I talked to about exchanging pictures, actually had their cameras die too. It was just too cold for most batteries that morning.

As I entered the front hall, Canada AM was on the TV and to my surprise Mr. Weather Man was announcing the location of the Torch Run. "it is now passing through Welland". WHAT! "no, no, sorry, it's , it's, its's. Brantford". And with that news, I immediately called the TV station....the phone line was jammed!