Olympic Torch Relay

Originally I had promised that I would go to see the Olympic Torch Relay on Saturday with my neighbour when we heard it was passing through at the weekend, but when I heard it was going to be here at 0730 in the morning was less enthralled. There is only one 730 in my Saturdays and that wasn't it. But all was not lost as we live on the borders of two Boroughs and the Torch relay would be back to the west of us on Monday morning. Today! I don't know if it was the fact I had slept enough over the weekend or the warm night that had me awaken so early. I think it's more likely that I was excited about the torch this time and this time I had to be up early for work anyway. Looking up the route on Sunday evening it seemed it would literally run right past the end of our street. So maybe it was the excitement that had me awake at 5:00AM. I wasn't going to miss it this time. Quite amazingly, Dusan was actually on a day shift today and had to be up early for work but I am never sure if he really means it when he says wake him in time. But I think it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he got up an hour after me and in time to make it down to street before the relay arrived. It was 07:20 as we finally made our way hurriedly down to the intersection rushing slightly so as to not miss a thing. You couldn't have asked for a more perfect morning. The Sky was Blue without a single cloud in the sky, the sun was shining down and although the hour was early it was already hot in the sunshine. Immediately you noticed a heavy police presence in readiness to close the roads and ensure noone was in the way of the runners and eager local residents already stood lining the streets either side of the road. It reminded me the atmosphere awaiting for the Disney Parade to begin. A mixture of excitement and anticipation. Five Police Moterbikes pulled up into the intersection signalling that they were about to close the roads and in the distance you could hear music gradually increasing in volume, even thought it was only 0730AM. Three floats preceded the relay and we all happily snapped photographs and cheered as they passed enjoying the carnival atmosphere. Then the roads were cleared once more and then standing in the middle of the road, holding an un-light torch was Doreen Lawrence, the mother of poor murdered Stephen Lawrence so many years ago and has fought tirelessly to ensure justice for her son. Realising it was Mrs Lawrence running made it even more special, as she would carry the torch past her sons memorial which is just up the road. Seeing her standing there just covered me in Goosebumps as the press surrounded her for a quick interview. The whole meaning of what the Olympics represents, people from all around the world united by the things we have in common. Sport. I had a real "World Peace" moment and you could tell that while it was a fun atmosphere there were quite a lot of other emotions flying through the air and while you wanted to cheer and woop and laugh a small part made you want to melt and cry. A few moments latter you could see the Relay runner coming towards us and then he and Mrs Lawrence light traded the flame and the entire street cheered in unison. What an amazing feeling of being united with our neighbours as a nation and as each day passes I feel more and more excited about the Games. With the perfect weather instore for the best part of the week you can't help but feel the excitement will rise steadily until Friday when it all starts and we all cheer as a nation to welcome the entire world to our wonderful city! For once I started the week on a Monday morning on an absolute high and not sure anything could ever feel like that for a 7:30 Monday morning again! Have a happy healthy games,wherever your watching them!

London Olympics 2012 Countdown

With just 17 days to go until the Opening ceremony the venues are finished, the bunting is up, the cities beautification programme has been completed and the officials say "We are ready" for the influx of people and to the let the games begin. The one thing that clearly seemed lacking was the excitemnt of the people that actually live in London. I can remember when in 2005 the announcement was made as to who would host the 2012 games and momentarily I was filled with an incredible excitement. That boost was soon shattered by the terrible events that occurred in London on July 7th. Then there was the Olympic Logo for this years games which was truly dreadful. The madness that they will have "Olympic Officials Only" lanes on the already packed London roads network and the anticipation of in excess of 1 Million extra visitors expected during the 6 week period. For most Londoners it will their daily commute that becomes the biggest bind, when an already overcrowded network has to find a way to squeeze in all those extra visitors. Will it work? Time will tell. Meanwhile the whole ticket ballot process was actually quite complicated and you literally had to bid for tickets you would like. Millions applied and got nothing while others applied and got several sets. So aside from the initial rush of joy at winning the games for London, like many, I lost my interest when we failed to get any tickets. Suddenly 2 months ago they decide that there are thousands of tickets still available and that people that had applied unsuccessfully previously would be given priority. You could bid for just one event in this round. I set an Outlook reminder for 15 minutes before the set sale time and urgently raced through the screens trying to see if I could get anything. Perhaps Mens Volleyball could be nice? One of the bigger venues maybe? The website was slow but enabled you to proceed to the screens you needed in readiness to hit that all important "Buy" button at the given time. Then, like any booking system, I displayed the "Please wait" display, expecting any second a time out or website crash. I actually had to wait 17 minutes in total, all the time a countdown timer saying "you will be served in 17 minutes".... 16, 15...14...13......4...3....2...1. When the screen finally flickered and said showed me my confirmation that I was now the proud owner of Mens Diving Semi Finals I couldn't quite believe it. We were going to the games after all and not just going but we had tickets to see our first choice event! Suddenly I was excited again! Yesterday I came home and had a recorded delivery package at Concierge. The Tickets had arrived and came with a Travelcard for Zones 1 to 9 on the day of the event. The excitement was back and with now only a few weeks to go guess the only thing we have to endure now is the overcrowded trains, buses and tubes and for now I am a very happy man and looking forward to watching the Diving in the Olympic Park. Hmmmm men in Trunks!

Boris Island Vs High Speed 2 (HS2)

Is it just me that thinks it’s complete madness that the Government would be willing to spend some £32 Billion on building a high speed rail link from London to Birmingham and eventually, many years later, on to further North in Scotland when for not much money more they could build the 4 runway super Airport that London so desperately needs in the Thames Estuary. Firstly, the UK as a whole needs a new hub airport where you can provide links between long haul and short haul flights and to open up additional routes to most importantly the emerging markets and the BRIC countries. China is opening dozens of new airports with potential new routes and here we are piddling away with our countries main hub airport running at 99.8% capacity! What’s that all about? As the United States prepare to celebrate their countries independence today I start to think no wonder the founding fathers finally flipped their lids and threw all of the tea into the Boston Harbour and started the process that led to the good old US of A being an independent country. It so often feels like elections pass every 4 to 5 years and no matter who wins we are stuck with the same old, stuck in the mud attitude of those days of the Boston Tea Party, where they can’t organise a simple drink up in a brewery. One party authorises a new Runway, another gets in and cancels it! Meanwhile, months, years, decades pass and the country that was pioneer in building great railways is being left behind in the airport stakes! Berlin’s new International Airport is scheduled to open in 2013 adding an additional 27 million passengers per year and we are still stuck with an airport built on the wrong side of London, where noone wants any expansion and yet they all want to fly from there when they need it and yet the same issue at Gatwick and Stansted. (I have yet to see how on earth they can claim that London Southend is anywhere near London!). Typical NIMBYs, wanting them built but not in their back yard. Let’s just suppose that HS2 gets the green light and is built. I can already get to Birmingham in a fast 90 minutes. The fares are reasonable enough and buy in advance and you can often get a first class for less than an economy seat on the day. But HS2! Well for the benefit of knocking a few minutes off your journey tim you will be forced to pay a premium. I imagine, if historical pricing is anything to go by it will be significantly more expensive and what new nett money will it bring our country? None! Where as an airport to new countries, new cities will potentially bring more business, more tourists and increase GDP! Surely the airport will bring Billions more in revenue for our country as a whole and therefore reduce the deficit further. I can appreciate that nobody wants a runway at the end of their garden but at the same time, I, like millions of other Londoners are woken every morning at 530AM by 747s circling endlessly around London waiting for a landing slot. All of which could be solved if we simply built Boris Island. Of course, its never as simple as just what to build and where. We have all the politics of loosing voters in areas not happy about the new runway or new airport. High Speed links are essential to improving any economy but I can not see the domestic need of a high speed link to an area under 90 minutes away presently. Furthermore, would I pay a premium to use it? I don’t believe so. Currently they are constructing London’s Cross Rail project, a High Speed link that will go from Heathrow to Canary Wharf and beyond into Essex. But unlike other projects in the past, the new line will not be part of the London Underground Network. You will not be allowed to use it as part of your annual travel card but at a premium. Now I ask you, if you have to get to LHR for your holiday and your flight leaves at say 10PM. Do you pay £20 each to go one way on Cross Rail or rather let it take slightly longer and go for free on your Oyster? If the recession has taught us all one thing, it’s the knack of being thrift and saving money wherever you can. Much like I can’t see people paying a huge premium to use crossrail, I can’t see them paying to use HS2 and we could end up with another white elephant like the Millenium Dome on our hands. But the circumstances are different when it comes to airports. We all live for our annual summer holiday. They have become part of a national obsession. For businesses needing to travel to sign contracts, they need to fly there to do the deal and it’s these essential international links that we need more than anything Of course you already know how I feel about the lack of airport growth, it’s just a shame we can’t have some people in power that do something about it instead of these ConDems who can’t do anything for fear of tipping the apple cart!