please empty your brain below
I do have a video of the Carpenter's Road Lock gates opening up from their opening day - I really shoulfd get around to uploading that.

martin | 18.11.17 - 7:10 a.m. | #

Thanks for the lastest update.
Interesting to see what looked like 10 Swan shaped pedal boats in the river tour photograph. I assume these are for hire, I wonder if they are popular and how far you are allowed to take them along the waterways.

John | 18.11.17 - 7:12 a.m. | #

They're pedalos, and you're only allowed to take them on the short stretch of the Waterworks River between the Lea and the Loop Road bridge.

martin | 18.11.17 - 7:40 a.m. | #

Since work was completed on the Carpenters road lock I have walked passed it twice and on both occasions it has been in operation but without a boat in sight, just a man in a high vis jacket with the control panel door open and his key firmly in position.

fishislandskin | 18.11.17 - 7:43 a.m. | #

It all looks like a soul-less nightmare to me, similar to the Greenwich Peninsula.

A new brutalism.

dg writes: Sorry, I failed to upload any photos of the pretty bits.

Chris | 18.11.17 - 8:09 a.m. | #

It still looks rather bleak though, and I don't think a new cement works would have helped. I wonder why we can't create interesting new places with a similar appeal to Soho or Hampstead? Perhaps infrastructure and buildings should be allowed to grow and accumulate "naturally", as of old, rather than planned so clinically?
I wonder what Venice would look like if they started from scratch right now? Would tourists flock to it?

dg writes: The Olympic Park was never going to "accumulate naturally". Anyone who's walked round it recently will know it counts as an "interesting new place", certainly in comparison to other 21st century London neighbourhoods.

Alex Mckenna | 18.11.17 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Hey,

If you want to see the counterweights or perhaps all of the locks of the Olympic Park in action, let me know, and I'll arrange to co-opt some Canal & River Trust volunteer lock keepers to take you around.

Cheers!

-- Giles.

Giles Williams | 18.11.17 - 8:35 a.m. | #

dg: I hope you manage to take advantage of Giles Williams offer - I'd love to read a report from you about that!

Terry | 18.11.17 - 9:45 a.m. | #

I have been walking the River Lea in installments and compared to the boring patches of green that pass for parks in my immediate neighbourhood the QEOP is a fantastic resource. The locals are so lucky to have such variety on their doorstep.

Cornish Cockney | 18.11.17 - 11:11 a.m. | #

Hardly fair to say the protests against the huge cement works at the edge of the park are NIMBYIS. With the branding of no ordinary park the idea of a huge green space and residential/commercial building being engulfed with toxic dust clouds from an industrial site isnt in keeping with the whole plan for the future of the regeneration. If theres a need to a new cement works them put it in the industrial zones down at Dagenham on the old Ford plant site. Use the river to move its produce if necessary.

Andrew Jarman | Homepage | 18.11.17 - 11:37 a.m. | #

daffodils ??? for heavens sake let's have Christmas first please DG

dg writes: Two years ago the daffodils were in full bloom in the first half of December. Not last year, nor it seems this.

Caz | 18.11.17 - 12:27 p.m. | #

DG you mention streetlights for the Greenway, is it now accessible along its full length?

dg writes: Alas not. Latest estimate, end of next year.

Ray | 18.11.17 - 12:38 p.m. | #

Andrew - Regarding the "huge cement works", an independent 50-page report concluded that "the resulting air quality effect of the cumulative impacts of the Development is considered ‘not significant’ overall."

Anyone living round here who's worried about "toxic dust clouds" should be much more concerned about air pollution from the A12.

That said, I hope they find a more appropriate use for the site.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.11.17 - 1:24 p.m. | #

Yesterday evening, I passed the Olympic site after dark for the first time, en route to Norwich for this year's anniversary jaunt (comment passim).

I must say how much nicer the Orbit looked when all lit up in red, with the stadium backdrop behind. Very dramatic. Shame about the cafe though.

Ken | 18.11.17 - 1:30 p.m. | #

I'm not on Twitter but sometimes I wish I was. In spite of what seem some "differing views" on some things, I felt a definite sympathy for the 'Greenway' guy you posted a link to. Maybe we're not all so different
I took a walk along the 'Carpenters Road' section back in August, and I'm continually impressed by how the habitat there is turning out for wildlife. There's only so much of it that could've been "designed-in." No matter what the 'planners' may have been hoping for, even a patch of ground near the Aquatics Centre - which looks nothing more than if it's waiting to be turned into something else - had become nature-friendly enough that it had goldfinches feeding on the drying seedheads of the thistles... and even a migrant Clouded Yellow butterfly [not a common sight] stopping by to check out the wild-growing clover!

RogerW | 18.11.17 - 4:23 p.m. | #

Any sightings of The Olympic Fridge Freezer?
I fear for its wellbeing.

drD | Homepage | 18.11.17 - 5:12 p.m. | #

Just had a facebook post from the View Tube saying that they have parted ways with the team from the Common so that Mark from the Common can put more time in to his architecture practice and the Bethnal Green cafe. https://theviewtube.co.uk/the-view-tube-cafe-is-the-same-but-different-thank-you-for-your-continued-support/

dg writes: Blimey. Post updated, thanks.

Joan | 19.11.17 - 10:29 p.m. | #

I hadn't really had a chance to visit the View Tube since the Common took over - but does anyone know what happened to the previous tenant (the chap with the hat from Moka East), who was hoping to reopen elsewhere?

martin | 20.11.17 - 5:56 a.m. | #

The spiky-topped wall around and past the Crossrail station has only partially been uncovered - the bit by the substation itself has been, but just past that they haven't got round to taking down the temporary-looking wooden hoarding that is covering the brick wall behind it. It just looks rather untidy and likey they've forgotten to take it down. It's been like that for ages.

lockedintheattic | 20.11.17 - 9:16 a.m. | #

Apparently when the Crossrail electricity substation was switched on in November, two of the transformers exploded. With a successful start-up delayed to this week, the running of test services yet hasn't begun.
https://rosslydall.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/crossrail-may-miss-december-opening-deadline-after-explosion-and-as-new-trains-suffer-software-problems/

diamond geezer | Homepage | 31.01.18 - 4:12 p.m. | #











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