THE OLYMPICS - anyone interested?

[Grandad]

I have probably mentioned that the London Olympics do not fill me with excited anticipation. That said I really DO hope that the miserable weather of late will move away and give us a few fine weeks in which the Olympics can be a huge success.

The G4S saga has been a total fiasco but as we can always rely on the military to fill the gaps I have growing confidence that all will run smoothly. It is just these border agencies that are trying to put a spoke in the wheel, but that is just selfish union arrogance.

The torch relay passed through Kent in the last three days reaching Canterbury yesterday. At the last moment I decided to walk into town for perhaps some photo opportunities. Well Canterbury is very small and the throngs in the streets was something to behold. I didn't get a picture of the torch, couldn't even see it. Here is a couple of pictures just to show the atmosphere.

The first is in Sun Street which comes along to The Buttermarket and the Cathedral Gate.


And this is one of my 'people pictures' of a young lady in The Buttermarket who entered into the spirit and sat on her partners shoulders.

[Horus]

They do say that the Jet Stream which is supposedly too far South and is causing this bad weather is now on the move back up North where it belongs, so the weather is set to improve,
Nice to see that you have been out with your camera Grandad, nice picture of a lovely town centre, I have hardly been through the door for weeks.

As for the unions, well we can always rely on some bolshie leader getting his 15 minutes of fame and pandering to their members greed. Me I’d just sack the lot of them, plenty of people who can fill the vacancies. It always makes me smile when I hear them yapping on about how they are specialist trained people, what a load of crap, trained people carry out tasks like Engineers and Surgeons, not just sitting in a booth and checking a passport or watching a machine scan a bag. It’s the same when they go on about specialist trained drivers for fuel deliveries, come on, they are doing nothing more than drive a lorry like any other HGV driver and observe certain safety regulations, how are they any different to a guy delivering chemicals or other hazardous substances? You could take any HGV driver and put him through a safety course, how do they think that the military go on when they step in with deliveries?

Anyway back to the Olympics, it is not something that bothers me much, but I will probably watch the opening and closing ceremonies. I really do hope it goes off without any problems as I do think it showcases us to the rest of the world, my only reservations are that although we can be brilliant at this sort of thing and we have some great attraction all over the UK we tend to put idiots in charge, so it may be a disaster. As to the actual benefits well I am not convinced, most other venues lost money and even saw a decline in tourism for years after they held the event. Unfortunately it has become such a high profile event that it is now a prime target for any nutter with a gun, a bomb or a cause to promote, so some sort of incident is almost certain to happen and it will just be a case of how well prepared we are to tackle it. One thing is for certain, it won’t be prevented by employing young teenagers, immigrants who can’t speak English and general “giz a job” types off the dole to man our on site security.

Anyway here’s my contribution to the Olympics, it is a natural plume of smoke that I photographed rising from some incense sticks, then colourised in Photoshop to resemble the torch.

[Grandad]

Nice little bit of Photoshop work H.

Many people will agree with your every word on the subject of security.

Unfortunately it has become such a high profile event that it is now a prime target for any nutter with a gun, a bomb or a cause to promote, so some sort of incident is almost certain to happen and it will just be a case of how well prepared we are to tackle it.

And Mark Serwotkas border staff might well be contributing to to any security risks if they DO withdraw their labour and make our immigration controls even weaker. I think their threatened action is despicable but it may not be too serious if just the 7% or so who voted for strike action do not turn up on Thursday.

[Horus]

Then just sack all of those that don't turn up on Thursday, problem solved.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I'm excited about the Olympics. Always enjoy watching them. Watched the opening ceremonies last night - (rather long) and enjoyed seeing all the athletes walking out. Only made it up to the countries starting with N/M as then I fell asleep. Enjoy watching football but already Canada lost.

I like most of the events and always marvel at the skills and abilities of all the athletes. I'm never sure though that all the years and years and years and hours of dedication to the sport are worth it. To be an Olympic competitor one has to give up so much of ones life. Great if you win the gold but not too great if you don't come into the medals. Not sure "I" have that level of dedication to anything nor am I sure I'd like to see my own children engaged in a sport that takes so much of their life.

I think I read somewhere one that China actually screens for young children to become swimmers selecting children for body type etc. and then bascially takes them from the parents to school them in special schools so that they can practice their sport. THAT is NOT how an Olympian should be made.

Great photos Grandad. Your Coventry was FULL. Good reproduction of the torch too H.

[Winged Isis]

Though I rarely watch sport at other times, I do enjoy the Olympics, despite all the controversy and hoo-ha involved, and not just because Australia does well (though we did get our first medal, a gold, this morning! Woo hoo!).

It obviously is worth the sacrifice when you look at the athletes who continue to compete at successive Olympics (some up to 7 times), especially considering they have to wait another 4 years each time, a long time in athletic terms (body-clocks ticking away).

Anything that encourages world peace, and brings strangers together to cheer for their country and for others' cannot be altogether a bad thing.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Quite agree WI that anything that promotes world peace and brings us all together positively is a terrific thing. Congrats on getting a Gold too. Canada blitz'd gold at the last winter Olympics but then we were also the host country.

I enjoy the gymnastic and track and field competitions both mens and womens. The swimming and diving events are really interesting as well.

[Horus]

Although I am not a mega fan of the Olympics I do have to admire the dedication of the athletes taking part. I usually find myself watching some events and of course it is always nice to see your country win medals. On the ceremony itself I have to say that I was reasonably impressed, a bit left wing in some aspects with all the NHS stuff and certain people carrying the Olympic flag, but overall quite well done I thought, especially the industrial revolution scene that ended in the forging of the Olympic Rings, that was fantastic. Also how many monarchs with the standing of our own QE2 would have gone along with such a typical bit of British humour as to have her sky diving into the opening ceremony with James Bond. The final sequence of lighting the torch was as spectacular as any other I have seen and must rate as one of the most inclusive torches of any Olympics ever with every countries copper bowl being added to make up the main torch. The usual entrance of all the teams is a bit slow and of course it is out of the hands of any organisers and has to happen that way, it is their one moment in the limelight to be seen by their own country as the team representing them so I suppose we should not complain too much. It was never going to be possible to compete with the money thrown at the Beijing games, but I think that GB did what we do best and it was original and very well executed, certain aspects were not to my liking such as old Macca having his face in everything, but there again why did we have so much rap music in what is a very long musical history of the UK with many great icons to choose from. I think that what we were trying to tell the rest of the world was yes we have a proud and long history and with all our faults we have contributed greatly to the world both industrially and culturally, but we are looking towards the future and that was demonstrated by sporting icons carrying the torch and then stopping to hand it over to the unknowns of tomorrow, a fine gesture I thought.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I must admit that QE2 sky diving into the Olympic with James Bond was fantastic. Can't even begin to describe how much I admire her and the dedication she has given to Great Britain.

As a piece of trivia my own Grannie copied and wore her hairstyle.

Been watching the Olympics and the women's cycling. Seems they are having a bit of a hard time on the wet roads. Lots of crashes and the announcer has commented that the white strips are particularly treacherous.

Saw Michael Phelps (mens swimming) dethroned by Lochte. I wish TV here would show more atheletes from different countries competing but - guess that doesn't help the TV ratings.

[bigken]

Olympics , couldn't get away from it, just spent the last 4 weeks in the Delux Ibis Budget Hotel at Beaconsfield services working at Eton Dorney

[Horus]

On your doorstep then eh Ken? anyway you had a nice digs, better than some of the dumps I have ended up in when working away.

[Grandad]

Olympics , couldn't get away from it, just spent the last 4 weeks in the Delux Ibis Budget Hotel at Beaconsfield services working at Eton Dorney

Was that in your line of work or as a volunteer BK?

I did think the volunteers did a brilliant job of keeping things running smoothly and far more reliable than the paid employees of G4S......

[Horus]

I agree Grandad, it was my pleasure to bump into a young squaddie out with his camera yesterday while out for a walk in the countryside. We chatted for ages about all sorts from photography to military service in general, he had just returned from his secondment at the Olympics and was due to go out again to Afghanistan on his next tour. I was interested to find out that they had been instructed to remove their arm badge military insignia and replace it with an Olympic one, which did not go down too well and I can understand why as these guys are proud of their regiments. He also told me that during his time he and several others were on duty and seen by our beloved prime minister who duly lowered his gaze and walked by without comment, but as I said to him at the time "what do you expect from a man who has no shame"? What an affront to a lad who was studying for a degree during his service and hoped to become a teacher of literature in civvie street, as we parted company I shook his hand and thanked him for his services to this country of ours, I also asked him to keep his head down and to return safely to his family, he seemed quite moved by this and thanked me for my concern. So lets not forget all those who had to stand in at short notice and along with the official volunteers received nothing in return, unlike the money grabbing public sector workers on a big bonus for doing nothing but the job they are paid to do in the first place.

[Scottishtourist]

Well,here's me taking break from "blue"side and submitting first ever post on Egypt4u!
Just a little personal anecdote re Olympics.
My son is policeman with Scotland's biggest force and got chance to go to London for week to assist English police with security during Olympic Games.
He wasn't on duty at actual Games,but informed me that his "beat"was Parliament Road,Whitehall and Horseguard's Parade.
The police put in an amazing number of hours on duty...but what an experience,and hopefully the increased security helped to make the Games the success that they were.
Of course...they just had to make sure that the womens beach volley ball teams were all ok at Horseguards Parade,so checked out the training purely in line of duty!!!
Such a pity that the teams wore tracksuits during training...and not their uniforms!lol!!!

[HEPZIBAH]

I have next to no interest in the Olympic Games but I have to say that I am so proud of 'my girls'. I work with Japanese students an many of them have been involved, in many different ways, with both the Olympics and the Paralympics, as volunteers. Some were/are involved in the opening ceremonies, some in the closing ones. Others have been translators, guides, water monitors etc. For each of those that volunteered and were successful, I know of at least one that applied and was not successful - the great thing is that they all thought it important to the games and their own self development to volunteer their time and skills.

[Horus]

Well,here's me taking break from "blue"side and submitting first ever post on Egypt4u!

Well its nice to see you over here ST, I often read your post and it's good to see people who have an opinion of there own and not easily put down by some of the antics that go on at times.

But back to the Olympics, I think that all our people did us proud from the Police, the Military, the wonderful volunteers and everyone who gave their time and effort and all those who had no choice, but did their duty anyway. I just wish I could give them all the big bonus that that some people received for just doing their normal job. I suppose they will have the satisfaction of saying in later life when people talk about it being one of the best games ever "I was there as a volunteer, I helped to make it work" and not "yea son it was a good little earner, did bugger all and got another 500 quid in my sky rocket"

[Ruby Slippers]

Thanks to all of you who bothered to update this topic with some truly heartwarming posts! Scottishtourist, now that you've taken the plunge - don't be a stranger! I must admit to having given no thought at all to the Olympics - not really into sport - but your stories have certainly started some lateral thinking in my mind!

[Horus]

I too was originally a bit sceptical about the whole thing, even forgetting the cost involved (that is another story) I was convinced that we would mess it up in some way, by either failing with the organisation or some sort of problem would arise such a terrorism to disrupt the whole affair. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, it was brilliantly organised and went off without any hitches, for once the meddlers and dissenters were kept out of it and ordinary people with good organisational skills and flair were allowed to run it. OK there were a few things about the ceremonies that did not really appeal to me and could (in my opinion) have been done better, but as I said to Mrs H at the time, we have to accept that it is now another generation and if they enjoyed it then so be it. Overall it was good, the opening and closing ceremonies did us proud, the TV coverage was excellent, the weather was fine, the organisers and volunteers did a splendid job, our police and army kept it safe, but best of all our athletes and sportsmen and women did us proud. They restored our self esteem, they showed their greatness to the rest of the world, they behaved impeccably both on the field and off it. In interviews they showed humility when winning and graciousness in defeat, in brief they were worthy representatives of this still Great Britain. : : :

[Ruby Slippers]

Talking of the Olympics, did anyone see the programme on BBC2 the other night, on the German Jew who started the Paralympics? Great programme; expertly cast and wonderful acting! This also started me thinking laterally. I have immense admiration for all those who battle against the odds to re-build their lives, but I hadn't really realised just how much they battle! I will have to watch some of the Paralympics and wonder anew.

[bigken]

Olympics , couldn't get away from it, just spent the last 4 weeks in the Delux Ibis Budget Hotel at Beaconsfield services working at Eton Dorney

Was that in your line of work or as a volunteer BK?

I did think the volunteers did a brilliant job of keeping things running smoothly and far more reliable than the paid employees of G4S......

Sorry for the delay GD, My work was Water a lot of these venues don't have the water supply needed for the amount of people that are at them