I think that is just amazing $-$ she also points out that you'd get fined £100 if you went on the bus lane to the left and £130 if you moved to the right into the Olympic lane. Obviously, you're just supposed to decompose and disappear in the air once you get to the point where the three lanes merge.
I know it's always very easy to criticise the organisers (or the people in charge, in general) especially for something as big as the Olympic Games. But it seems to me that these people are really trying veeery hard to screw things up.
I won't even mention the security fiasco, except to say that I find the way that the media (and the government) have handled this quite strange: may be I'm being really naive, but doesn't widely advertising at the 10o'clock news that the screening isn't really working give an encouraging message to potential terrorists?
But I will point this out: apparently, it took some athletes 4 hours(!) to get from Heathrow to the Olympic Village (google maps suggests, probably a bit optimistically, 45 minutes for this trip) because the bus drivers are not from London and have not been trained properly to get around the city.
Finally, I will also get this out of my system, so I can stop nagging everybody with it (I do apologise for all the times I've already told this story and promise I'll do my best to stop doing it!). Next Saturday I'll go to San Diego for the JSM (and I'll post about this trip, later). But on the same day the cycling road race is on, which happens to go through the streets around where I live. Which means that I can't cross the bridge that connects me to Heathrow, which means I'll have to leave the night before and sleep in one of the hotels at the airport (although Heathrow is just 25/30 minutes away from my house).
I think that alone deserves at least a bronze medal! On the plus side, there seems to be a bit less traffic on my way to and from work...
Apart from the fact that it is clear that you were one of the drivers of the athlete's buses to the Olympic village and that Olympics are a great happening, I have to say that from my experience Olympic games completely FAIL as far as:
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- everyday life in the hosting city
are concerned.
I was in China for business many times before and immediately after the Olympics and it was a nightmare in terms of security measures, restrictions and, most of all, price increase for hotels, restaurants and services. And usually this price increase related to Olympics will remain stable after, causing another problem to everyday life.
Lure
Thanks Lure for such an optimistic outlook on the next weeks and years! ;-)
ReplyDeletePS Not that I never get lost these days, but I'm soooo much better than before now!
I second Lure's view: I moved into Vancouver just before the Games, saw the price hike, the relabelled restaurant menus, the appartment rental nightmare, and the massive lack of funding for any cultural activity in the following year(s) (still ongoing, actually). Yay Olympics.
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