It seems an age ago that London pipped Paris to host the 2012 Olympic Games. What then felt like a distant pipe dream is now creeping tantalisingly close, with the fabled Olympic flame all but lit.
Since Trafalgar Square erupted with euphoria on learning of London's triumph on Wednesday 6 July 2005, it's fair to say a lot has happened. London has been through two mayors Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson and may yet have a third before the Games begin; Tony Blair, the then-Prime Minister who allegedly "danced a jig" on hearing the result, has long gone; even Pat from EastEnders has moved on to pastures new.
"This is our moment," said Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, after winning the hardest race of his career. Years of eager preparation now in the past, London's real Olympic moment is coming right up and the world awaits what could be the best Olympics ever.