please empty your brain below
I see they've relaxed the no-refrigerators rule, then.

When's that famous 'wrap' going to go up?

swirlythingy | Homepage | 10.05.12 - 3:29 a.m. | #

Yes, what's happened to the outer wrap.
I also remember reading that the toilets
are arranged not to face Mecca.
Looking at your photo of prohibited items notice I see it bars wireless access points, I think that some modern smartphones can be used as access points.

John | 10.05.12 - 8:42 a.m. | #

Looking at your photos, I must say that the whole place strikes me as rather depressing and soul-less. But perhaps that's because I'm used to living in a much greener environment.

Great Aunt Annie | 10.05.12 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Younger daughter ran in the Olympic Park Run in March (well done Annie) and invited her father and I to watch her. My overwhelming impression of the part of the Olympic Park we were allowed to see (the entrance and the stadium) was that it is vast, characterless and grey with splashes of colour for navigational purposes. The stadium seems to me to be a very impressive, huge wind funnel, or perhaps that's just because it was perishing cold that day. Although when the sun came out for 5 minutes it got almost warm, so I should think that if the sun shines in July it might get a quite hot. All the better to sell lots of expensive drinks I expect. There was a slightly larger selection of food outlets with water "fountains" at regular intervals so perhaps no need for expensive drinks after all. I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can get tickets for the Paralympics, we'll watch the standard version on the telly

Christine | 10.05.12 - 10:50 a.m. | #

I think it could prove to be a very expensive day out, and might put off families and pensioners who are used to taking their own food and drink on days out. I do not think Macdonalds food is a very healthy option for a sporting event anyway. I don't think I shall be bothering to go, what with the travel costs as well, shall just enjoy your write ups and watch on TV.

dg writes: The Games doesn't have to be an expensive day out. In the summer, every ticket comes with a free London All Zones Travelcard. You are allowed to take your own food, so long as you don't bring anything picnic-sized. And there will be free drinking fountains all around the park, so long as you remember to bring an empty container.

TinafromSurrey | 10.05.12 - 11:20 a.m. | #

DG, did you spot anywhere in the stadium to hold the flame? Or is it going to go on top of the Orbit, as rumoured?

James | 10.05.12 - 2:29 p.m. | #

Re the Cauldron - there is planning permission from 2007 for a separate structure up to 150m high just to the north of the stadium. Have they started work on it yet?

See
http://planning.london2012.com/upload/publicaccessODAlive/OLY-OLF-APP-DWG-PDZ3-SSU-PAR-001%20(2268).pdf
and http://planning.london2012.com/upload/publicaccessODAlive/OLY-OLF-APP-DWG-PDZ3-SSU-PAR-003%20(2269).pdf

Then there is this (possibly unrelated?) gas pipe - http://planningforms.newham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LUOZKFSZK0000

Andrew | 10.05.12 - 5:32 p.m. | #

Oh, apparently Thomas Heatherwick was commissioned to designed the cauldron. Let's hope it does a bit better than "B of the Bang".

Andrew | 10.05.12 - 5:38 p.m. | #

I had a similar experience on Saturday.

I found the place not terribly exciting architecturally - not awful, but rather empty...

The signage looks really bad - presumably it's temporary.

The security people were very friendly, as were all the staff - saying good night to everyone as they left, and generally smiling. Whether that'll still be the case by the end of the olympics, who knows?

At the opening event on Saturday, the sponsorshop from Visa and Cadbury that was forced down everyone's throats was awful, as was the singing (see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuYm21SSl8E)

Ed Lyons | 10.05.12 - 6:07 p.m. | #

There's no sign of anything for mounting the torch on, yet, unless it is indeed the Orbit.

And I have to say that Tuesday's event was far less tacky than Saturday evening's opening appeared to be - I'm still reeling from the awfulness.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 10.05.12 - 6:37 p.m. | #

Thanks for the info about the food and drink. I was unsure, getting feedback about your day out from geofftech as usual.

TinafromSurrey | 10.05.12 - 8:54 p.m. | #

P.S. I didn't know about the free train ticket, I would just have to pay to get to zone 6 I guess. East Croydon?

TinafromSurrey | 10.05.12 - 9:01 p.m. | #

Thanks for all the background details this week; as someone whose not going to have the chance to get to anything this summer it makes fascinating reading.

One quick question (and apologies if it's been talked about before) - do the magenta signs, and foam fingers, outside Stratford station direct you to the Olympic Park along the road or through Westfields?

@TinafromSurrey - there is a link on the official website to a page on the National Rail website for booking train tickets from outside London

http://www.nationalrailgamestravel.co.uk/

Whiff | 11.05.12 - 6:43 a.m. | #

Whiff: on Saturday they were sending people on three different routes: some through Westfield, some along the road and some another route.

On leaving the same applied, even before you left the park you were split into three very wide lanes. The middle lane went through westfield, the right one along the road and a third one must have gone the other side of westfield somehow.

Ed Lyons | 11.05.12 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I thought I read that they'd done away with the free Travelcard with venue tickets (too expensive) but I see it is on the website link provided by Whiff.

Paul | 11.05.12 - 9:56 a.m. | #

Thanks Ed,
that's sounds a surprisingly common-sense and uncommercial approach.

whiff | 11.05.12 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Sorry, for the multiple anonymous comments due to a few problems with my work computer; will at least keep DG's comment count up!

whiff | 11.05.12 - 10:02 a.m. | #

Help, I think I might have ticked the box below in error to notify me of follow up comments. How do I stop these please?

TinafromSurrey | 11.05.12 - 10:50 a.m. | #

I attended the "2012 Hours to Go" event in the Olympic Stadium, the PA system was both impressive and rubbish.

During most of the BUCS Athletics events, the speakers just inside the rim of the roof were excellent, with the commentary sounding crystal clear.

Then they put out a load of speakers around the outside of the track, facing into the stands, and used them for the "Celebrity Corporate Sponsorship not-as-good-as-the-athletics" part of the evening (I couldn't tell whether the roof speakers were also on). It sounded terrible, could barely make out a word that was said, and it wasn't just because it was Vernon Kaye speaking as I could hear him perfectly well before.

Darren | 11.05.12 - 2:40 p.m. | #

"two female blocks for every male"

Halle-freakin-lujah! Now if only we can get this message out to sporting stadia worldwide!

DebF | 20.05.12 - 2:39 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy