Olympics

Arkady · July 2012

People who are sceptical of the regeneration aspects should see this:<br><br>http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2012/jul/27/olympic-regeneration-legacy-stratford<br>;

yagamuffin · July 2012

<div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">So we've lost a nature reserve, allotments, interesting architecture, cycle paths. Yes a few of those photos show improvements but to my eye most show something lost.</font></div>

applehead · July 2012

I was at the dress rehearsal on Wednesday night and the show put on by thousands of people (including loads of kids and teens) was fantastic. Very theatrical - showcasing outstanding talented creative british people who are all working their magic. <br><br>Its gunna be great from now to the end of the paras and to all the moaners just go away and be quiet (unlikely) ...<br>ITS HERE NOW so deal with it. <br>and to every one else have a great evening.<br>

vetski · July 2012

Progress will always mean something lost, though, won't it? Iron Age Brits presumably felt much the same about Romanisation, but stasis is what kills an area. Heard a bit of a sneak preview of the opening ceremony from a friend - really looking forward to it (and saying nothing of what I've heard)!

ActionVerb · July 2012

<div>I'll throw Sir Peter Hall's column from today's Planning magazine into the mix, if we're doing links @Arkady. </div><div><br></div><a href="http://http://s12.postimage.org/kjna7lfwd/Peter_Hall.jpg"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://s12.postimage.org/kjna7lfwd/Peter_Hall.jpg</font><br></a><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div>

Arkady · July 2012

@Actionverb: sadly that link doesn't work for me..?<br>

kreuzkav · July 2012

I used to live in the area where the Olympic stadium is now situated, in the 90s and there was a cycle track, nature reserve, country lanes and lots of unique spaces. It was like having the countryside on your doorstep. Now it's full of 'grand project' buildings that could be anywhere in the world. The biggest purpose-built housing co-operative was pulled down. An athlete from the 1948 London games was quite critical of the 2012 grand project and commented that they used the facilities that were around and didn't need to build a huge Olympic Park. They used Wembley, Haringey Stadium etc. Now the Olympics are all about cities trying to show off and be the biggest.

kreuzkav · July 2012

A friend made me aware of the 'Before and After' guardian article and I think it shows the before in a very negative way. There were a few grubby places but a lot more unique wildlife areas and dreamy spots. It now looks like Milton Keynes. No character! And it has a big shopping mall (American style). Good transport links though!

miss annie · July 2012

<p>Anyone who thinks that Stratford was better before is living in a dream world! I've known Stratford very well since the early Seventies and I can tell you that it was a run down craphole until recently.</p><p> The only interesting architecture I can remember is quite a jazzy bus station which appeared in the Nineties and the theatre which has been there ages. Other than that it was the standard rows of terraced houses, council tower blocks and warehouses. If you want to see how it used to be, go one stop further to Forest Gate.Yes, there was a cycle park, allotments (which were nearly derelict), and a very small nature reserve. How often did you or anyone else visit any of those? East London is full of open spaces and nature reserves, Lee Valley is one of many.</p><p>Really, it is much better now for visitors and the people that live there. Thousands of people in the area now have full time jobs in Westfield, the transport out to the rest of London has improved massively and there is a ton of new, improved housing.</p><p>We live in an area with a nature reserve, massive park and cycle paths too and people bitch about it constantly.</p>

kreuzkav · July 2012

I love the nature reserve ( I guess you mean parkland walk). I'd hate that to be pulled up. The allotments (around Temple Mills) were used a lot and the nature reserve was very much liked by a lot of people. I agree there are many more jobs due to Olympic development, but spending billions on the olympics and then justifying it by saying it is a job provider is lame. Why not just pump money into areas without this (50 million would have probably had the same effect without the professionals creaming it off). I briefly worked in the regeration game and in Newham too so I know the score. Lots of lazy office workers on £30,000 salaries bigging up these projects and throwing money at nothing. The area between Leyton and Stratford was special if you lived on its doorstep. I had moved on by the time the area was pulled about. I guess this happened to Paris late 19th century with Haussman. Who knows the lasting effects?

miss annie · July 2012

<p>Well I'd say Paris turned out fine. I mean it's early days but people seem to like it. </p>

kreuzkav · July 2012

Maybe Stratford will become the Paris of the East (London). Stratford (East) is the name on the theatre royal.

andy · July 2012

Danny Boyle's programme notes on the Opening Ceremony<div><br></div><div><img src="http://moviecitynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dboyle-496x651.jpg"></div>

ADGS · July 2012

Checkski - 'bread and circuses' involved the patrician class providing the proles with both bread and circuses. So in a sense, it was a better deal than the poor get now.<div><br></div><div>Cricket is the only major sport I do like, really. Not to the extent of caring who wins or anything, I just love the way it looks on a village green. That noisy version with the coloured outfits can sod off, though.</div><div><br></div><div>And for me, Paris is a great argument against over-planned cities. Most cities feel like they were grown from cuttings of particular areas of London, and for Paris the source seems to have been the Euston Road. </div>

Mirandola · July 2012

@ADGS. Really? Including Sentier, the Marais, Belleville? <br><br>Back to Olympics - the French winning the 4*100 relay was magnifique. <br>

andy · July 2012

ADGS - If you think that of Paris, you've not seen enough of Paris. And that 4*1 was really good, reeling in Lochte.

checkski · July 2012

@ADGS. Re bread and circuses: agreed. Not that anybody else here gives a toss.

Mirandola · July 2012

@Andy. Quite. I was sniffy about Paris until I spent a winter there and fell head over heels for it. Also on Olympics - went to Box Hill for the women's road race and it was amazing to see the multinational crowd cheering on the Chilean straggler.

andy · July 2012

@checksi - So have you decided to set up your own forum or to give me an excuse as to why you won't? I can guess the answer, by the way.

ADGS · July 2012

I spent a long weekend criss-crossing pretty much the whole of central Paris (so much smaller than I expected - in my head it was more London-sized), and all I could think was that whoever said 'Paris must be made ready for the automobile' had got their way. I've since learned how many schemes there were to do likewise in London, and how narrowly we escaped the same fate. Yes, there are some monuments scattered haphazardly around, but they're all either disappointingly tiny (Notre Dame) or vulgarly ginormous (Invalides). There's not that sense of continuity, even a weird harmony, that London has. I did like the graveyard where all the cool Parisians from Jean-Paul & Simone to Louys and Huysmans now reside, and the Ile de la Cite (especially the spot where the last Templar Grand Master was burned, at the end), but otherwise I was deeply underwhelmed.

Mirandola · July 2012

Paris deserves more than a long weekend. <br>

Ali · July 2012

Kreuzkav, Westfield is Australian !

vetski · July 2012

@Ali, is it really? Interesting. Had also thought it American, as have seen one in San Francisco.

kreuzkav · July 2012

Ali, I knew Westfield was an Australian company. Scratches head.

Brodiej · August 2012

<P>So. Now its all over, what did everyone think? I thought it was an incredible event, something that appeared to make the capital happier than ive ever seen it. I found people to be optimistic, constructive, ambitious, friendly, tolerant....lots of traits that aren't always apparent in people. Im sad to see it go, but it'll be nice to have our city back. </P> <P> </P>

Arkady · August 2012

Fascinating fortnight. A truly splendid communal experience. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and certainly never felt part of something like it, not on that scale anyway. It felt a bit like a festival writ large. I have absolutely no interest in sporting activities of any kind normally. But on Saturday, leaping around in a crowd of thousands in Haggerston Park, bellowing ‘go on Mo!’ along with thousands of others… quite something.<br><br>And even a fierce anti-nationalist like me had my cockles warmed by the best-of-Britain display. I heard a joke that summed it up best for me, a one-in-the-eye-for-the-BNP joke that shows how far we’ve come: “A ginger, a mixed-race girl and a Somali refugee walk into a bar; and everyone buys them a pint”. As crass as that is, it says something, I think.<br><br>I thought the closing ceremony missed something though. Slightly limp. Where was Bowie singing Heroes? And who the fuck are One Direction?<br>

Mirandola · August 2012

It was magnificent. @Arkady, it's to your credit that you don't know about One Direction.

Arkady · August 2012

By the way, I’m not sure when it happened (very recently though I think) but they’ve updated Google Maps so that it shows the Olympic Park in all its glory, perhaps a day or two before the park opened. You can tell from the colours that they have only updated the park itself.<br><br>I can’t wait for the park to be stitched back into the surrounding areas, particularly when they open the new bridges over the Lea that remained closed during the games.<br><br>Now, must see if I can get some tickets to the Paralympics…<br>

miss annie · August 2012

It was brilliant, showed London and Londoners at our very best! I love my city.Closing Ceremony patchy but excellent fireworks.

GeekyCatLover · August 2012

These last two weeks were fantastic. I was pretty sceptic about it all until the opening ceremony and I am missing it already. People were friendlier and happier and there was a sense of integration that I have never seen before. I think we should have a mini London olympics every two years since we now have the venues (ok, that may be too much, but we do have to make good use of them). <br><br>Regarding the closing ceremony, like @Arkady, I had no idea who One Direction was. I was also expecting David Bowie to jump out of that lorry when they were playing Fashion... and, seriously, Ray Davies should have worn a hat!<br>

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