London Marathon 2019 - Balloons

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  • BalloonBoyUK
    Banned
    • Dec 2018
    • 500

    London Marathon 2019 - Balloons

    Just to let those of you who live in or can get access to London easily, that the London Marathon takes place on Sunday 28th April 2019. Plenty of chances to get balloons, if you ask nicely, and are prepared to be super patient.

    Even the giant Mile Markers (helium-filled arches, made up of cheap, unbranded, 3ft rounds) all need to come down over the 26 mile course, at some point during the day, and will usually just be popped.

    So, those of you who want the chance to take home some, need to get ready! I'd recommend taking a small pair of nail scissors, some small metal keyring clips, and some cash (in coins and notes, for donations, "bribes", and "greasing the palms" of people) to utilise. They tend to come in quite handy, and will help save your fingers from being shredded/cut, as some companies use fishing-line/filament wire which is painful to wrap around your fingers when holding an arch.

    Mile Markers can be "bought" for between £5-£10 each. Smaller amounts for the various charities on the day, will help if you want to try and ask for their balloons (which usually have to be popped also).

    Oh, and allow plenty of time, if you need to catch a train home! Leaving the Capital on Marathon Day, can take two hours or more, due to the sheer volume of travellers, tourists, spectators and runners.

    Just don't do what I did one year, and get an entire arch, and then have to deflate most of it, because I couldn't get it on the train home! (Most modern train carriages will be okay, but if your company/network happens to use an older style train, with narrower doors and corridors on it, as mine did this one time, then it totally buggers-up the whole day of collecting balloons to bring them home.)

    Good Luck to you all, and if you have any success, do let us all know.
  • Nopops4me
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2015
    • 519

    #2
    Re: London Marathon 2019 - Balloons

    So BalloonBoyUk, what stash of balloons did you come away with on Sunday?

    Comment

    • craggy2012
      Senior Member
      • Jan 2012
      • 824

      #3
      Re: London Marathon 2019 - Balloons

      Getting balloons home on public transport......


      I can remember a few years back going to watch Black Sabbath at Birmingham’s Genting arena (that’s the old NEC- and always will be to me at International) and during their encore dropped a mass of Black n Purple 3 ft rounds down onto the crowd. Most got popped as you could imagine but a few made it out of the venue alive and whilst waiting for my train home afterwards I spied a woman carefully manhandling a purple balloon across on the platform. Her train pulled in (the last north bound of the day) which was rammed on arrival let alone squeezing a few hundred concert goers on board but the train departed n their on her own on the platform was the same woman still cradling this purple 3ft round as obviously there was no way she could have got that on board without it bursting or being popped. I’ve often wondered if she ever made it home with it on the night bus after?

      Comment

      • BalloonBoyUK
        Banned
        • Dec 2018
        • 500

        #4
        Re: London Marathon 2019 - Balloons

        Originally posted by Nopops4me
        So BalloonBoyUk, what stash of balloons did you come away with on Sunday?
        Alas, none. But to be fair I didn't attend the Marathon this year, as I'd have had no way of getting any balloons home safely/easily. (I live a couple of hundred of miles away, so would have had to use trains - and balloons on trains don't mix well, when it's Marathon Day in London! )

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