please empty your brain below

They did a great job at the View tube. I expected souvenir tat and patronising edutainment - they gave instead the best coffee and bacon buttie combo this side of Melbourne!

I'll certainly be queuing up in September.

Great series of pictures, I had considered doing that from the top of the Stratford car park, but knew I'd never stick to it.

Small piece of trivia of little interest to anyone: a while back I met the sales manager of the Chinese firm who made the keyrings in Lao di fang (an excellent, authentic chinese restaurant in Liverpool Street) who was very happy with the contract and gave me a few keyrings.

Great series of Park fots DG - thanks.

DG we need to know - why were you late this morning? It ruined my routine not having your blogpost to read before I started work!

dg writes: A 24-hours-to-go post needs to go up with 24 hours to go :)

@peewit - glad to know I wasn't the only one getting worried.

DG - great photos as always. I'm looking forward to having a look at the whole set when I have time

Aficionados of the Container Cafe's bacon rolls will want to get themselves to their sister cafe, the Counter Cafe. It's well-hidden in Hackney Wick, but worth the trek. There's also a fairly good view of the Olympic Stadium there, although it's recently been partially obscured by some temporary buildings (part of the broadcast compound, I believe.)

DG, Great photos as always.
Just out of interest...yesterday your blog recieved 57 comments. Is that a record?

Particularly enjoy the Olympic postings on here - very informative and really hit a chord with those of us who have a contradictory mix of cynicism and excitement about the Olympics.

One minor point of detail though - on the Greenway closure, I've since read on the Walk London website - see http://www.walklondon.org.uk/section.asp?section=37 - that the Greenway between Wick Lane and Stratford High Street will now remain closed until December 2012!



I am pretty impatient for Olympics to start. Great series of photos shared, I really appreciate that!

Various signs, notices and websites definitely suggested the Greenway would reopen at the end of September. But a more realistic update has been confirmed, alas, and now it's almost certainly December.

Temporary London 2012 facilities will be removed in September and the London Legacy Company intends to reopen the Greenway in December.

I am wholeheartedly unimpressed, and the staff at the View Tube must be well pissed off, but that's how it is.

The photo slideshow is excellent - thank you for taking the time to record the amazing scale of change.

I popped to the View Tube yesterday and was glad to have made the effort. Ironically my other views of the View Tube have been from inside the Olympic Park (two visits).

@Bernie: Nope.

I have a strong feeling that there will be more closures to come and more access denied as we get closer to the games, a prime example is the bridge across the A12 at Old Ford, the junction has recently been completley relaid with the addition of Traffic lights ( to speed the entrance and exit of the rich and famous through the Olympics VIP entrance at Bow Goods Yard) this work is now complete except for switching said traffic lights on, but the Traffic Order allowing the ODA to close the junction as and when required is still valid until the end of September 2012, when I queried this with the Highways section at Tower hamlets Council nobody could give me a reason as to why the ODA wanted an additional four months permission to shut the junction as and when required for works that were scheduled to be completed on 20th May.

The slideshow is excellent. What a wonderful record for posterity. Too much changes without a record of what came before.

fishislandskin - your concerns are without foundation. You should contact the Olympic Helpline to get an official response.

Well thanks to DG I decided to pop up to the Viewtube on my way home from work today.

I was the sole visitor on what was a rather damp mid- evening (about 9pm) and enjoyed a solitary wander through the lovely garden behind the Viewtube building, even having a brief recline on the wooden sunbed under the light drizzle and circling flies (it was a bit smelly being above the sewage outfall).

There were several signs indicating one could return in September to see the flowers which had been planted but it looks like we may be denied that privilege?

I was hoping to walk through to Hackney Wick and check out that cafe but found my way barred, getting confused over my dates and thinking 30th April was yet to come.

Anyway I got tickets to the handball yesterday so I'll be inside in less than 2 months looking back on the flowers.

xmb53 I am pleased that you are so sure my concerns are unfounded, I have already spoken to the offical Olympic helpline who were unable to enlighten me any further apart from stating "I Imagine there is a possibility that we may need to close the junction for the Olympics", and having myself previously worked for Tower Hamlets Highways section for many years I am very familiar with road closure orders, they are never granted for such a long period without an underlying reason, but time will tell.

fishislandskin - sorry about the poor service - the response was not accurate at all. The order you refer to is one promoted by TfL for maintenance, not one promoted by the ODA for the surfacing works or by TfL for Games-time.

I like the Dorney Lake in Windsor. which is being the Olympics venue for Canoe Sprint and Rowing race. the lake is nicely designed.
travelling there would be by bus number 702 ( Green Line buses) from Hyde Park corner to Windsor.
maps of the Olympics venues routes can be seen here: http://london2012olympicsjobs.blog.com/olympics-venues-maps/










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