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London diary 24 July, 2012

Sports Reporter From London
The culture of sports betting is rampant in England. A quick trip to the closest William Hill today outlined the range of items that an individual could bet on if he so chooses. There are the obvious contenders like "Who will win the most gold medals?" or “Who will win the 100m sprint?" and for now, the most popular, "Who will light the Olympic flame?"
For the record, USA, Usain Bolt and Steven Redgrave are the favourites for those three categories. But then there are the odd categories as well, a personal favourite being "How many gold medals will Ireland win?" If you were wondering zero, is the favourite in that category. There is the definitive weather related bets with “Chances of rain everyday during the Olympics" worth a gander. And then there is also the ridiculous with" Chances the McDonald's in the Village will run out of Big Mac's" or the even more risque "Chances that the Village will run out of condoms.” There are odds of 7/2 on that one if you were wondering.
Bus doing push-ups!
At first glance it looks like a photoshop job or one of those newly popular cool 3D street art canvases. But it is the real thing, very much so. It's a 1957, six-ton, double-decker London bus with two huge arms that enables it to do push-ups, yes push-ups. For extra effect, it also groans with exertion. The brainchild of Czech artist David Cerny, the innovative art installation is called The London Booster (2012). Cerny hopes it will keep exercising throughout the Olympic Games and for the record it can do a better push-up than me.
Cricket in the opening ceremony
On Monday, Danny Boyle wowed the lucky watching few with a preview of what to expect from Friday's opening ceremony. The full-fledged rehearsal attended by some selected members was met with largely positive reviews even though most apparendy found the lack of water fountains particularly galling. More to the point though, Boyle’s pledge of 'save the surprise' hit a nerve and within a few hours was among the top trending topic on Twitter. But we do know certain things, like for instance that Boyle’s ceremony tided, the Isle ofWonder, will include rain (real or fake), real sheep, real horses, real cows and real cricket. Village cricket, but cricket nonetheless. For now, that is as close as our favourite sport is getting to the Olympics.
Gold post boxes
If the promise of just Olympic gold was not good enough for competitors, Britain's Royal Mail has promised that Team GB's Olympic and Paralympic champions will be rewarded with a post box to match the colour of their medals. The Royal Mail will transform one post box from red to gold in the home town of each gold medallist. The boxes - which will remain in use for posting letters - will stay gold for several months.
Forwhom Big Bentoils
In an uncharacteristic departure from tradition, the iconic Big Ben is to chime non-stop for three minutes to help ring in the London2012 Olympics.
Special permission had to be gained for the hour bell at the Palace of Westminster to be allowed to toll out of its regular sequence.
It will strike more than 42 times between 8.12am and 8.15am on July 27 to herald the beginning of the first day of Games. It will be the first time Big Ben has been rung outside its regular schedule since February 15 1952, when it tolled every minute for 56 strokes from 9.30am for the funeral of King George VI.
The chiming for London 2012 will be a live performance as everything will have to be done by hand.