i wasn't keen on the olympics coming to london. it was only when it was a decision between us and france that i became gung ho about it.
the main reason i was against the olympics being staged in london was that (and this is probably peculiar to me) i think the magic of such global events is having to stay up late at night or get up early in the morning to watch them. somehow they are less impressive when they take place during 'work hours'. the fun has gone out of them.
the other reason i was not keen on them being held in london was the british (well mainly english) national sport of doing ourselves down (such as the recent story that said that 1 in 10 british sports fans would not be following the olympics - well hey buddy that means 90% of them will be following it my friend, 90fucking% my friend - so stick that in your bad news pipe and smoke it).
since the olympics landed in london my relationship to the games has been one of love and hate. i love the regeneration of the area that the olympics is bringing about. i hate that it cost me my job. i love the excitement around seeing buildings for the olympics being built and completed. i hate the moaning of elite athletes because their might be a cut in funding (and going a little off track here (what me digress? never) i wish some of them would just put their hands up and thank everyone who pays taxes for the life we are giving them - as an athlete they are doing it for themselves, they reap the rewards and glory and for many of them we provide the cash for them to do it. if you want to be, say. a doctor, a teacher, an engineer or a nail technician you have to fund your way through college, you have to pay back the debts. if you are half way decent at running, throwing and jumping there is a possibility you will be funded to travel around the world to compete for prize money. and they complain. wankers. rant over - well that one). i love the enthusiasm of those who support the olympics and i hate the naysayers who are happy to suck the life out of the room in order decry the olympics (and yes i am aware i can fall into that group – so i can be a complex, or contrary, person on occasions.
i was excited at the prospect that i could get work at the olympics. they were very keen on hiring local people to work on the event. i went along to an induction. i came away full of beans about the whole thing. i posted my cv on the site and started looking for available jobs.
pretty soon it became very apparent that although they were very keen on having local people they were equally keen on having people who had previous olympic or paralympics experience (or the job was so specialised that there was no point advertising it because they must have known the 10 people in the world who could do the job).
i am sure that now all the key roles have been filled there are plenty of regular jobs. just not when i was looking.
i was dismayed when there was a kerfuffle over the route that the marathon was going to take. somehow the people of tower hamlets and surrounding boroughs now saw it as an east london olympics and couldn’t see why the marathon might take in some of the sights of london rather than concentrate on running along the whitechapel and mile end roads.
still their complaints got a concession out of the london organising committee of the olympic games (locog): local people would have a 24-hour head start in applying for olympic related jobs, sounds good but not sure how it really helps as they are not saying local people will get preference – they just have a day more to get their application in.
i am thrilled at the prospect that london regional transport is thinking of running the tubes around the clock for the duration of the olympics, even if it means a possible platform (geddit) for that smug git bob crow.
today marked the 500 days to go to the start of the event.
today marked the day the tickets went on sale – though you won’t know if you got them until a ballot had been taken.
today was also the day when it was admitted that for the opening and closing ceremony and for many of the big events only half the available tickets would go to the general public. so in a stadium that holds 80,000 people there is a chance that on some days 40,000 of those tickets will be for international olympic committee staff (and spouses), sponsors, government officials and sundry other hangers on. in fact of the 8 million tickets that are available 1.4 million of them will not be sold to the public. i am sure that in this regard the olympics is no different from any other major event.
but it irks when it is the taxpayers money that is underwriting it all.
a little like the banks we are taking care of the risks but we are not given full access to the glory.
oh well it was ever thus.
(do i get a gold medal for moaning?)
(am i applying for tickets? maybe, but if the ioc or locog want to include me in their vip lists they are more than welcome to.)
the main reason i was against the olympics being staged in london was that (and this is probably peculiar to me) i think the magic of such global events is having to stay up late at night or get up early in the morning to watch them. somehow they are less impressive when they take place during 'work hours'. the fun has gone out of them.
the other reason i was not keen on them being held in london was the british (well mainly english) national sport of doing ourselves down (such as the recent story that said that 1 in 10 british sports fans would not be following the olympics - well hey buddy that means 90% of them will be following it my friend, 90fucking% my friend - so stick that in your bad news pipe and smoke it).
since the olympics landed in london my relationship to the games has been one of love and hate. i love the regeneration of the area that the olympics is bringing about. i hate that it cost me my job. i love the excitement around seeing buildings for the olympics being built and completed. i hate the moaning of elite athletes because their might be a cut in funding (and going a little off track here (what me digress? never) i wish some of them would just put their hands up and thank everyone who pays taxes for the life we are giving them - as an athlete they are doing it for themselves, they reap the rewards and glory and for many of them we provide the cash for them to do it. if you want to be, say. a doctor, a teacher, an engineer or a nail technician you have to fund your way through college, you have to pay back the debts. if you are half way decent at running, throwing and jumping there is a possibility you will be funded to travel around the world to compete for prize money. and they complain. wankers. rant over - well that one). i love the enthusiasm of those who support the olympics and i hate the naysayers who are happy to suck the life out of the room in order decry the olympics (and yes i am aware i can fall into that group – so i can be a complex, or contrary, person on occasions.
i was excited at the prospect that i could get work at the olympics. they were very keen on hiring local people to work on the event. i went along to an induction. i came away full of beans about the whole thing. i posted my cv on the site and started looking for available jobs.
pretty soon it became very apparent that although they were very keen on having local people they were equally keen on having people who had previous olympic or paralympics experience (or the job was so specialised that there was no point advertising it because they must have known the 10 people in the world who could do the job).
i am sure that now all the key roles have been filled there are plenty of regular jobs. just not when i was looking.
i was dismayed when there was a kerfuffle over the route that the marathon was going to take. somehow the people of tower hamlets and surrounding boroughs now saw it as an east london olympics and couldn’t see why the marathon might take in some of the sights of london rather than concentrate on running along the whitechapel and mile end roads.
still their complaints got a concession out of the london organising committee of the olympic games (locog): local people would have a 24-hour head start in applying for olympic related jobs, sounds good but not sure how it really helps as they are not saying local people will get preference – they just have a day more to get their application in.
i am thrilled at the prospect that london regional transport is thinking of running the tubes around the clock for the duration of the olympics, even if it means a possible platform (geddit) for that smug git bob crow.
today marked the 500 days to go to the start of the event.
today marked the day the tickets went on sale – though you won’t know if you got them until a ballot had been taken.
today was also the day when it was admitted that for the opening and closing ceremony and for many of the big events only half the available tickets would go to the general public. so in a stadium that holds 80,000 people there is a chance that on some days 40,000 of those tickets will be for international olympic committee staff (and spouses), sponsors, government officials and sundry other hangers on. in fact of the 8 million tickets that are available 1.4 million of them will not be sold to the public. i am sure that in this regard the olympics is no different from any other major event.
but it irks when it is the taxpayers money that is underwriting it all.
a little like the banks we are taking care of the risks but we are not given full access to the glory.
oh well it was ever thus.
(do i get a gold medal for moaning?)
(am i applying for tickets? maybe, but if the ioc or locog want to include me in their vip lists they are more than welcome to.)
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