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Didn't it all go rather well?
The transport arrangements specifically (more below) but generally it was superb, wasn't it? I remember posts here from 2005-2008 where a large number opined that the task was impossible, the venues would never be completed on time and various events would need to be outsourced to France. Indeed, unless my memory is failing me a narrow majority predicted some kind of disaster. The budgets, inevitably, were and are full of smoke and mirrors, with some pretty horrific gross sums being bandied around that conveniently ignore present and future tangible benefits, let alone the intangible. So very much like the question of our EU membership then, but with added happiness and without a camp song contest to endure. Given the hundreds of millions watching worldwide, there will surely be a large number who add London/Britain to their 'bucket lists' off the back of what they've seen. They may not visit this year or next, but visit they will, and surely that's a big win - investing to maintain London's aura and reputation as one of the top five world cities. And of course, at a commercial level we have demonstrated we can deliver, in all respects, and there must be great value in a reputation as a reliable counter-party when contracts are let. But all of this is impossible to quantify. The venues and park looked wonderful without exception, and I was reminded - during the road cycling - of the beauty of the Surrey Hills. Turning to transport, this appears to have been impeccably executed. Rather ignoring general guidance I continued with my daily commute up from East Coastway to zone 1, and loadings were fairly typical for the school holidays but with Olympic-going family groups replacing civil servants and others working from home. The volunteers (and transport employees) manning every station and almost every significant road junction did a great job, and the atmosphere was like nothing we have seen before or are likely to see again, regrettably. (Contrary to my preconceptions of what would happen, Southern actually tightened up enforcement of First Class, with RPIs checking tickets between London and East Croydon on three days of the eight I travelled, and throwing out a group for having Standard tickets, or for being visibly French, or both. Had they sold lots of FC Olypmic tickets and wished to avoid complaints?) On the roads, my bus trips (Ludgate Circus to London Bridge, generally) were barely impacted, and expectation management allowed the capital to work around the ORN. Regarding the ORN, Stagecoach had pulled in vehicles from far afield to service the media and other participants, with some Fife buses seen plus a few from Eastbourne not on the usual run to 'Willingdon - Trees' that I'm familiar with. I did note that many of these buses seemed to have only two or three pax on board which seemed a bit of a waste, although perhaps some were basically 'ECS' runs, and had been busy in the other direction. Would October be a good time to buy a lightly used BMW 320d? Generally the ORN was getting more use than I expected, but no ZILs to be spotted. I gather from t'internet and Twitter that many TOCs went to some lengths to ensure last trains/connections were delayed to accommodate over-running events, and locally my branch connection at Lewes was held on a couple of occasions where in other circumstances it would have been waved away. A third class 460 (007) was re-deployed on GatEx to enable doubling-up of 442 worked services. Will there ever be enough serviceable 442s to see-off the 460s permanently from the Brighton mainline? I avoided the Tube as far as possible but didn't hear any horror stories, even from the Jubilee line which I had thought would prove a weak link, as it does for most of the year. I read this morning (Sunday Times) that the Aussies actually had more state funding in place for their Olympic team than we did, which casts new glory on our spectacular medal achievements. And well done John Major for the National Lottery and the support that has bought for our teams - another proposition that was ridiculed by the sceptics at the time, of course. The newspaper also reminded me that the advice of civil servants to Tessa Jowell back in 2002 was not to put in a bid. Can we imagine any circumstances in which the civil service (upper echelons) would favour doing anything that might involve a bit of risk or some extra work? Well, he gets a very bad press although I've always admired him (much better than both successors), so well done to Tony Blair (and Dame Tessa) for over-ruling the do-nothing 'management of decline' merchants and mounting a successful bid that started it all. One of my biggest regrets is that I persuaded myself that short term issues at work and home would make volunteering too much of a challenge. Looking back at what others have done over the last few weeks, from the strange magic of the Torch Relay to the army (and the real army....) of smartly dressed helpers all over London, I realise how pathetic that was and is, and that I too was amongst the do-nothing brigade. And aside from the great joy at our national success, I suppose that's the lesson I'll take away from London 2012. I'm sure there are many on here who did volunteer, or who worked long hours in planning the transport arrangements, so well done to you all - it was brilliant. Chris |
Didn't it all go rather well?
"Chris Read" wrote in message
... The transport arrangements specifically (more below) but generally it was superb, wasn't it? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree. We did get exceptionally lucky with the weather though. The one blot was the awful "empty seats". The IOC need to sort this out (IMHO National Associations should "use them or lose them", in following games, as "on the day" is impractical), but with a (what I suspect is an increasing) trend to award major events to developing countries that are difficult for long distance tourists to attend we are going to see stadia filled by giving tickets away (Beijing style) than from genuine local demand. tim |
Didn't it all go rather well?
Turning to transport, this appears to have been impeccably executed.
Rather ignoring general guidance I continued with my daily commute up from East Coastway to zone 1, and loadings were fairly typical for the school holidays but with Olympic-going family groups replacing civil servants and others working from home. The volunteers (and transport employees) manning every station and almost every significant road junction did a great job, and the atmosphere was like nothing we have seen before or are likely to see again, regrettably. I saw a picture taken by an old mate at Kings Cross tube station (not sure which line), he said at 0800 on the first Monday morning, and the platform was empty. I had 12 days in Weymouth, and so far as I could tell the transport down there was fine (others have commented on the rail service). Fleets of buses were available for moving people around, if anything it was overkill, but imagine the screams had it been the other way around. Adrian -- To Reply : replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies. |
Seemingly it did go well. I avoided the whole thing like the plague
and so I am going by what is being declared on the radio by various commentators who have forgotten the difference between a journalist and a cheer leader. As an arch sceptic I am relieved and slightly surprised. I thought the transport system would not be able to cope. There seems little doubt that fewer people came than expected and this must have helped matters. The downside which no-one is mentioning is that as fewer people came, the financial loss will be even bigger than feared. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
Turning to transport,
I have zero interest in any egg and spoon racing no matter what type of milk bottle tops are won by each land; I would have preferred to have fled the country for the entire period, but was not allowed to do so as I was required to maintain running certain transport assets through the Stratford area. Because of that, I had to commute into London every day to normal sites [i.e. not Stratford]. since I can work flexi time I used peak shoulder and off peak trains whereever, and avoid normal commuter peaks and egg and spoon created peaks. On Thameslink, apart from the first Monday morning, every FCC train was much fuller than usual. For some reason the first Monday was near deserted - this was the day the media made much of this and they painted a false picture for the rest of the period. On all other days morning and evening, off peak trains where I could reasonably have expected a 319 bay to myself almost all seats were occupied, on peak shoulder trains where the norm is people sat 2+1 in the 3+2 layout trains were full and standing. All of Farringdon, SPILL *and* West Hampstead were very busy, queues to enter and queues to exit; those at WHP to exit Thameslink caused me to twice miss "connections" on Overground that in the past 2 years have always made (except when FCC is late). Off peak 378s on Overground were also standing room where normally you'd fin a seat if you walked through. Hammersmith & City Hammersmith branch, north side of Circle, and Met.City south of Finchley Road full and standing most days, found crush loads every day. Bakler Street was a nightmare crush and queues just getting off EB Circle to NB Met or SB Jubilee to WB Bakerloo every day I had to use that route, and I made sure I avoided the peak Wembley Park events. Did not myself have to use Paddington only pass through it but platforms crush and train loading east of there horrendous all trips. So my experiences then, apart from just one morning, were not of empty trains but full trains where part empty ones are the norm, crowded trains where part full trains were the norm, and all 4 interchanges used normally crowded slow and extending overall journey time. -- Nick |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message , at 18:32:48 on Sun, 12 Aug
2012, tim..... remarked: The one blot was the awful "empty seats". There were lots of empty seats visible towards the end of the Closing Ceremony. Was that people leaving to catch the last train home, or was it like that all the way through? -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In article , Roland Perry
scribeth thus In message , at 18:32:48 on Sun, 12 Aug 2012, tim..... remarked: The one blot was the awful "empty seats". There were lots of empty seats visible towards the end of the Closing Ceremony. Was that people leaving to catch the last train home, or was it like that all the way through? For various reasons I wasn't able to see the end on TV but it would indeed be very surprising if there were deliberate empty seats. If I'd have been able to get a seat, thats assuming that they weren't out of this world priced, I'd have gone and I'm not that interested in sport but seeing it was for a lot a once in a lifetime event?.. Still London you did very well with it came to it in fact It seems that we're having an end of party blues today and I'd never though I'd say this but I reckon we'll miss it now its over!". It's overall been very enjoyable:).... -- Tony Sayer |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:25:52 -0700 (PDT)
D7666 wrote: So my experiences then, apart from just one morning, were not of empty trains but full trains where part empty ones are the norm, crowded trains where part full trains were the norm, and all 4 interchanges used normally crowded slow and extending overall journey time. And thats ignoring 2 major failures of the central line during the fortnight and that constant huge tailbacks on the A12 and A13 during the morning rush thanks to the utterly pointless rephasing of the lights on those routes. Which no doubt won't be changed back until after the paralympics me-too farce is over. B2003 |
Didn't it all go rather well?
"tony sayer" wrote in message ...
In article , Roland Perry scribeth thus In message , at 18:32:48 on Sun, 12 Aug 2012, tim..... remarked: The one blot was the awful "empty seats". There were lots of empty seats visible towards the end of the Closing Ceremony. Was that people leaving to catch the last train home, or was it like that all the way through? For various reasons I wasn't able to see the end on TV but it would indeed be very surprising if there were deliberate empty seats. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apart from the tiny percentage of people who, for whatever reason [1], can't make it on the day having bought a ticket. The main reason for the empty seats is that a large percentage are given away free to sponsors and national (as in "other nations") Olympic and sports organisations. Of course, if you are offered a free seat you don't think too hard about how you might use it, so you say yes even if you do have no real use for it. Like I said in my first post. These people should be told "once having taken it, you use it or you done get offered it again" (for all future games). tim [1] the like stupid pillock who drove 200 miles to opening ceremony to find that they had left their tickets at home - ouch |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On 2012\08\13 09:58, tim..... wrote:
The main reason for the empty seats is that a large percentage are given away free to sponsors and national (as in "other nations") Olympic and sports organisations. Of course, if you are offered a free seat you don't think too hard about how you might use it, so you say yes even if you do have no real use for it. Like I said in my first post. These people should be told "once having taken it, you use it or you done get offered it again" (for all future games). I met one of the "Olympic Family" who had use of the free BMW "taxis"... his reason for being one of the lucky few was that he used to work for the IOC until 12 years ago. Nice enough guy, but it's appalling that the road network of an entire city was completely buggered up just to let people who used to work for the IOC in the last millennium whizz about. In particular, all four routes south from the Trafalgar Square area have been shut to cars and taxis from 6am to midnight every day, meaning anyone trying to get from the west end to most of south London faces an impenetrable two-mile east-west scar in London's road network from Hyde Park Corner to the eastern end of Aldwych. To help visualise this, you can't cross the blue line in this map in a southward direction (apart from a few unimportant culs-de-sac) that don't help you get to south London). http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=...via=1&t=m&z=14 I wonder what Lord Nelson thinks as he looks down from his column at what is being wreaked upon the British by our own government just to help foreigners whizz about our capital. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On 2012\08\13 10:51, Basil Jet wrote:
I met one of the "Olympic Family" who had use of the free BMW "taxis"... his reason for being one of the lucky few was that he used to work for the IOC until 12 years ago. Nice enough guy, but it's appalling that the road network of an entire city was completely buggered up just to let people who used to work for the IOC in the last millennium whizz about. In particular, all four routes south from the Trafalgar Square area have been shut to cars and taxis from 6am to midnight every day, meaning anyone trying to get from the west end to most of south London faces an impenetrable two-mile east-west scar in London's road network from Hyde Park Corner to the eastern end of Aldwych. To help visualise this, you can't cross the blue line in this map in a southward direction (apart from a few unimportant culs-de-sac) that don't help you get to south London). http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=...via=1&t=m&z=14 I wonder what Lord Nelson thinks as he looks down from his column at what is being wreaked upon the British by our own government just to help foreigners whizz about our capital. I forgot to add that every right turn out of Wapping has been banned and all U-turn locations in The Highway have been blocked, meaning a car or taxi journey from Glamis Road to Limehouse Station has to go via Tower Gateway, so a 0.6 mile journey has become 3 miles. These bans went in nearly a week before the Olympics started. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
"Robin9" wrote in message ...
Seemingly it did go well. I avoided the whole thing like the plague and so I am going by what being declared on the radio by various commentators who have forgotten the difference between a journalist and a cheer leader. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And why shouldn't they? It's only for UK consumption, other counties send their own commentators to report the games to their country. And tough titties on anyone in the UK who isn't supporting Team GB (I do hate that name!), other counties' media don't make concessions to foreigners, why should we? tim |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:24:08 +0100, Robin9
wrote: Seemingly it did go well. I avoided the whole thing like the plague and so I am going by what being declared on the radio by various commentators who have forgotten the difference between a journalist and a cheer leader. As an arch sceptic I am relieved and slightly surprised. I thought the transport system would not be able to cope. There seems little doubt that fewer people came than expected and this must have helped matters. The downside which no-one is mentioning is that as fewer people came, the financial loss will be even bigger than feared. Actually, I think that the 'empty streets' complaints really relate only to the beginning of the Olympics. Once it became clear that the warnings had been exaggerated, more normal Londoners returned. But, in any case, the return from the Games won't be measured by retail footfall over 17 days. Also, the majority of the costs were spent in the UK. For example, the construction industry was probably rather glad to have all the extra work in an otherwise very lean period. And the British architects of the rather splendid venues can confidently expect more foreign commissions (including designing the Rio Olympic park). |
Didn't it all go rather well?
Also, the majority of the costs were spent in the UK. For example, the
construction industry was probably rather glad to have all the extra work in an otherwise very lean period. While I believe 98% of contracts in the Park were let to UK firms, that does not mean the money stayed in the UK. First, many international use UK subsidiaries, especially when bidding for public sector work. Second, I live, and have lived, near the Olympic Park since well before London's winning lie in 2005 and can assure you very many workers were not from the UK and were taking or sending money abroad. And the British architects of the rather splendid venues can confidently expect more foreign commissions (including designing the Rio Olympic park). Possibly yes - for the few buyers who want a vanity project and don't mind about budget and over-runs. But I suggest the much greater volumes of bread-and-butter buyers will not be interested in, for example, copying the aquatics cent see eg the comments from Sir Robin Wales. I suspect the velodrome might do better - if they can sort out cheaply the leaking roof. -- Robin reply to address is (meant to be) valid |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:13:21 +0100, "Robin" wrote:
Also, the majority of the costs were spent in the UK. For example, the construction industry was probably rather glad to have all the extra work in an otherwise very lean period. While I believe 98% of contracts in the Park were let to UK firms, that does not mean the money stayed in the UK. First, many international use UK subsidiaries, especially when bidding for public sector work. Second, I live, and have lived, near the Olympic Park since well before London's winning lie in 2005 and can assure you very many workers were not from the UK and were taking or sending money abroad. Well, I suppose that's going to be true of any building project, but the fact remains that it's our most depressed industry and needs the work (perhaps the Olympics work helped keep some companies afloat). It might have been Polish builders this time round, but it would have been Irish in the past. And the British architects of the rather splendid venues can confidently expect more foreign commissions (including designing the Rio Olympic park). Possibly yes - for the few buyers who want a vanity project and don't mind about budget and over-runs. But I suggest the much greater volumes of bread-and-butter buyers will not be interested in, for example, copying the aquatics cent see eg the comments from Sir Robin Wales. I suspect the velodrome might do better - if they can sort out cheaply the leaking roof. Ah, a leaking roof: the guarantee of an architectural award! And the projects were actually ahead of schedule and within the (realistic) budget (as opposed to the original finger-in-the-air guess). As for the swimming pool, Zaha Hadid's firm already gets plenty of foreign commissions, but had hitherto lacked a flagship UK project, so this project should boost the foreign work. Well done the Welsh steel firm that was able to construct that amazing tripod of a roof! It's just a pity that the building had to be disfigured by the ugly winged extensions during the Games themselves; it'll look a lot better when reduced to its final form. I'd also suspect that Heatherwick Studio will win rather a lot more work after that amazing multi-petal cauldron. I'd highly recommend the V&A exhibition of his work (which, to get back in context, includes the NB4L): http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibit...erwick-studio/ |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Aug 13, 11:00*am, Basil Jet wrote:
On 2012\08\13 10:51, Basil Jet wrote: I met one of the "Olympic Family" who had use of the free BMW "taxis".... his reason for being one of the lucky few was that he used to work for the IOC until 12 years ago. Nice enough guy, but it's appalling that the road network of an entire city was completely buggered up just to let people who used to work for the IOC in the last millennium whizz about. In particular, all four routes south from the Trafalgar Square area have been shut to cars and taxis from 6am to midnight every day, meaning anyone trying to get from the west end to most of south London faces an impenetrable two-mile east-west scar in London's road network from Hyde Park Corner to the eastern end of Aldwych. To help visualise this, you can't cross the blue line in this map in a southward direction (apart from a few unimportant culs-de-sac) that don't help you get to south London). http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=...54108,-0.13827... I wonder what Lord Nelson thinks as he looks down from his column at what is being wreaked upon the British by our own government just to help foreigners whizz about our capital. I forgot to add that every right turn out of Wapping has been banned and all U-turn locations in The Highway have been blocked, meaning a car or taxi journey from Glamis Road to Limehouse Station has to go via Tower Gateway, so a 0.6 mile journey has become 3 miles. These bans went in nearly a week before the Olympics started.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Does anybody know why it was necessary to close the car parks at the Stratford Centre and Westfield Stratford City for so long? They were closed for several weeks before the Games started, and Stratford City bus station is closed for about three months, ancluding the period between the two sets of games. I agree that transport generall seemed to go very well, with few problems. Gongratulations to those involved. I have to admit that I was expecting chaos, but I was wrong. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Aug 13, 10:43*am, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:26:41 +0100, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 18:32:48 on Sun, 12 Aug 2012, tim..... remarked: The one blot was the awful "empty seats". There were lots of empty seats visible towards the end of the Closing Ceremony. Was that people leaving to catch the last train home, or was it like that all the way through? Given the BBC were assuming it would be finished by 2315 and it actually finished about midnight I am not entirely surprised some people were nervous about last trains given ti was Sunday service. There was a TfL Travel Alert to advise Tube, DLR and Overground services would run later with times of last departures. I didn't see an equivalent notice from National Rail. -- Paul C I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:55:05 -0700 (PDT), Stephen Furley
wrote: Does anybody know why it was necessary to close the car parks at the Stratford Centre and Westfield Stratford City for so long? They were closed for several weeks before the Games started, and Stratford City bus station is closed for about three months, ancluding the period between the two sets of games. I agree that transport generall seemed to go very well, with few problems. Gongratulations to those involved. I have to admit that I was expecting chaos, but I was wrong. I'm guessing that the car parks are being used by the workers and builders at the Olympics site? Maybe there's stuff stored there, too? I was more optimistic than you about the transport, having heard something about the amount of work that had gone into planning for them (well done, TfL!). But, nevertheless, it went better than anyone had expected, and I think that includes Heathrow as well as the trains and buses. The temporary departure terminal was described on the radio this morning, and sounds rather fun (decked out as a London park), rather than the grim temporary structure on a staff car park I'd expected. When even Heathrow over-performs, that's quite something! One permanent improvement to the Tube might be that they've learned how to be a lot slicker at fixing things that break down. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message
, at 05:55:05 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: Does anybody know why it was necessary to close the car parks at the Stratford Centre and Westfield Stratford City for so long? Car bombs I expect. -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message , at 13:31:10 on
Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: the fact remains that it's our most depressed industry and needs the work (perhaps the Olympics work helped keep some companies afloat). Odd then, that the construction of Crossrail was apparently delayed deliberately to after the Olympics, because trying to do it before would have over-stretched the construction industry. -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:58:33 -0700 (PDT), Stephen Furley
wrote: On Aug 13, 10:43*am, Paul Corfield wrote: On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:26:41 +0100, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 18:32:48 on Sun, 12 Aug 2012, tim..... remarked: The one blot was the awful "empty seats". There were lots of empty seats visible towards the end of the Closing Ceremony. Was that people leaving to catch the last train home, or was it like that all the way through? Given the BBC were assuming it would be finished by 2315 and it actually finished about midnight I am not entirely surprised some people were nervous about last trains given ti was Sunday service. There was a TfL Travel Alert to advise Tube, DLR and Overground services would run later with times of last departures. I didn't see an equivalent notice from National Rail. -- Paul C I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. Yes, it over-ran quite a bit, just like the opening. Apparently the main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated -- they were gazing around the stadium and taking pictures while dawdling along, instead of the brisk jog that the organisers had perhaps expected of athletes. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message
, at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all. -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message , at 14:20:46 on
Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: Apparently the main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated No-one involved in the ceremony seemed to have any ID showing. Did they have some sort of screening that assumed that once people were judged safe to be inside the perimeter, you could trust them to behave themselves where they went afterwards? -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:16:08 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote: In message , at 13:31:10 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: the fact remains that it's our most depressed industry and needs the work (perhaps the Olympics work helped keep some companies afloat). Odd then, that the construction of Crossrail was apparently delayed deliberately to after the Olympics, because trying to do it before would have over-stretched the construction industry. Quite -- we need one major project at a time, not zero or two. That's probably why HS2 is planned for after Crossrail. Incidentally, the paucity of other work probably kept the Olympic construction costs down and reduced the risks of strikes. But this was nevertheless a very well-managed project, quite unlike, say, Wembley Stadium. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:25:26 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote: In message , at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all. Very likely. They probably thought they could beat the crowds by leaving early, and could still see the fireworks from the station. Maybe they wanted to miss the speeches, too? |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:27:23 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote: In message , at 14:20:46 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: Apparently the main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated No-one involved in the ceremony seemed to have any ID showing. Did they have some sort of screening that assumed that once people were judged safe to be inside the perimeter, you could trust them to behave themselves where they went afterwards? I thought some did have badges showing? After the mysterious 'woman in red' mix-up in the opening ceremony, they probably did want to keep others segregated from the athletes. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/I...an-3744279.php |
Didn't it all go rather well?
"Recliner" wrote in message
... On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:25:26 +0100, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all. Very likely. They probably thought they could beat the crowds by leaving early, and could still see the fireworks from the station. Maybe they wanted to miss the speeches, too? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why would anyone want to miss Boris? (I didn't actually watch it, I'm just assuming that he made one) |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:16:08 +0100
Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 13:31:10 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: the fact remains that it's our most depressed industry and needs the work (perhaps the Olympics work helped keep some companies afloat). Odd then, that the construction of Crossrail was apparently delayed deliberately to after the Olympics, because trying to do it before would have over-stretched the construction industry. There's only so many flights from poland each day so they obviously couldn't get enough labour. After all, you can't expect those poor hard up construction companies to actually pay decent wages to british workers can you. Far better to get Oleg in on minimum wage sharing a house with 5 others. B2003 |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:59:47 +0100, "tim....."
wrote: "Recliner" wrote in message .. . On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:25:26 +0100, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all. Very likely. They probably thought they could beat the crowds by leaving early, and could still see the fireworks from the station. Maybe they wanted to miss the speeches, too? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why would anyone want to miss Boris? (I didn't actually watch it, I'm just assuming that he made one) I don't recall Boris making a speech at the ceremony. He'd have been more fun than Jacques Rogge and Seb Coe, who did make speeches. However, Boris has written quite a good piece for his main employer (in salary terms): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/c...the-world.html |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In message , at 14:56:31 on
Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked: No-one involved in the ceremony seemed to have any ID showing. Did they have some sort of screening that assumed that once people were judged safe to be inside the perimeter, you could trust them to behave themselves where they went afterwards? I thought some did have badges showing? I couldn't see any. After the mysterious 'woman in red' mix-up in the opening ceremony, they probably did want to keep others segregated from the athletes. That's why I asked (and also the general issue of people doing what they've been rehearsed to do, rather than going off on their own). ps Anyone else think Posh Spice looked less than excited about the whole thing? -- Roland Perry |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On 13/08/2012 14:20, Recliner wrote:
Yes, it over-ran quite a bit, just like the opening. Apparently the main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated -- they were gazing around the stadium and taking pictures while dawdling along, instead of the brisk jog that the organisers had perhaps expected of athletes. Foreigners in London who move slowly in large groups and pause to take photos of everything. Who would ever predict that such a thing might happen? -- Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK |
Didn't it all go rather well?
In particular, all four routes south from the Trafalgar Square area have been shut to cars and taxis from 6am to midnight every day, meaning anyone trying to get from the west end to most of south London faces an impenetrable two-mile east-west scar in London's road network from Hyde Park Corner to the eastern end of Aldwych. Quite a lot of this kind of stuff, to great detail, is laid down in the T+Cs set by the IOC. The only opportunity to argue the toss is when bidding, which is a bit risky and not to be recommended when you are still trying to win the bid. Once the successful bid has been announced everything becomes contractual and you're stuck with it. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
The main reason for the empty seats is that a large percentage are given away free to sponsors and national (as in "other nations") Olympic and sports organisations. The various sporting associations are allocated seats so their officials (mostly volunteers) and competitors can get to see some of the Olympics as well. Obviously, at the start of the games, many of those are still busy with their own events but, as the games progress and many of the early events are concluded, they can find time to take in the rest of the games and the problem of empty seats is then lessened. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
That's why I asked (and also the general issue of people doing what they've been rehearsed to do, rather than going off on their own). ps Anyone else think Posh Spice looked less than excited about the whole thing? Those of us blessed with miserable faces are usually OK and smiling on the inside. She certainly did not seem too comfortable stuck on top of that car, which was hardly hanging around, with only a handrail and a pair of nine inch heels to hang on to - hanging on for grim death more like. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
Well, he gets a very bad press although I've always admired him (much better than both successors), so well done to Tony Blair (and Dame Tessa) for over-ruling the do-nothing 'management of decline' merchants and mounting a successful bid that started it all. Blair was indeed OK. Unfortunately that grotesque undemocratic fiefdom that is the union baron Labour party, that he was hamstrung with, insisted on Gordon Moron Brown as back seat driver to totally f**k up everything he touched. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
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Didn't it all go rather well?
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Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:27:01 -0500,
wrote: In article , (Roland Perry) wrote: In message , at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley remarked: I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may have finished a minute or two earlier. The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all. One of the aerial shots before the end showed crowds moving outside the stadium, tending to confirm that. It also looked to me like many of the athletes had departed as well. Although they were 'kettled' in their respective flag segments by the lightbulb bowler volunteers, I assume they were allowed to slip out when there wasn't any traffic on the 'road'. |
Didn't it all go rather well?
On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:48:45 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote: On 13/08/2012 14:20, Recliner wrote: Yes, it over-ran quite a bit, just like the opening. Apparently the main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated -- they were gazing around the stadium and taking pictures while dawdling along, instead of the brisk jog that the organisers had perhaps expected of athletes. Foreigners in London who move slowly in large groups and pause to take photos of everything. Who would ever predict that such a thing might happen? I know -- shocking, isn't it? |
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