London Olympics 2012 10 years on - revisiting photos from the time.
'That day in 2005' was 6 July 2005, the day before the 7/7 bombings. Jacques Rogge (who died only last year) was the Belgian head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Mario Pescante is a former member. The two places we ate at in Kingly Court - Fornata and Carmina & Lancelot are now gone.
Diary entry from 26 July 2012:
Where did 7 years go? From that day in 2005 when Jacques Rogge uttered those two syllables 'Lon-Don' to much excitement I remember from us all gathered round the TV screens at work - to this evening, having just received a mailshot from London 2012 headed 'One more sleep'. Un-fecking-believable.
And I finally got the flame on camera - here in Regent Street, with Mario Pescante, some IOC bigwig, handing over to an unknown woman. Total Olympic fever.
Was in town to meet Janet and Sian. Janet, over from the states, was keen to see the torch, so we headed towards the crowds lining the street. There was a false alarm when a group of Hare Krishnas bounded down the street banging their drums, but eventually the real thing arrived and we were lucky to be at a changeover point.
We headed to Carnaby Street and ate in Fornata in Kingly Street. Billed as Italian tapas, it served dishes the size you'd find in Italy a lot anyway - smaller portions of antipasti, pasta and separate meat/fish dishes. Very acceptable - as was the bizarre Carmina & Lancelot we ended up in for tea and cake - billed as a bespoke cafe/hairdressing salon. They did a mean lemon meringue pie and a great cup of tea.
