London
I live at the centre of the world. Who'd have guessed? It'll be seven years before the rest of the world arrives, and they're planning on staying for less than a month but, come 2012, a massive global spotlight will be shining on that big patch of wasteground at the bottom of my road. The Olympic bandwagon is coming to Bow and I for one am delighted. Against all the odds a committee of international sports gurus has given the go ahead for the greatest transformation in East London since the massive rebuilding of the area following the Blitz 60 years ago, and it starts today. How bloody exciting.
So, what to expect over the next seven years? Increased council tax bills for a start, and endless pessimistic articles in the Evening Standard detailing how the whole venture will undoubtedly be a complete disaster. Plus, for us East End residents, the opportunity to be locked out of 1500 acres of local wasteland for several years while some multinational construction company makes vast profits by turning all the grass there into concrete. But, come completion on Friday 27th July 2012, fireworks will light up the sky over the Lower Lea Valley to announce to the world that East London can put on an Olympic Games like no other. I just hope I'll still be living around here to see it. | | Paris
I live in the arse-end of nowhere. No change there, then. The faceless bureaucrats of the IOC have spoken and the hopes of my local neighbourhood have been extinguished. There'll be no Olympic Stadium in Stratford, no world class athletic facilities in the Lower Lea Valley and no international marathon running past my front door. The kingfishers can carry on nesting down the Bow Back Rivers, factories down Marshgate Lane can continue to pump pollution into the East London sky, and the last few days on my blog can be filed away for future historians merely as an online archive of what might have been.
Admittedly the Government has still pledged cash for some urban renewal around here no matter what the result of the Olympic vote, but I suspect any future projects will be be minor, piecemeal and underfunded. And all this planned future redevelopment has one major downside. If London ever chooses to put forward another Olympic bid, say in 8 or 12 years time, there'll be insufficient brownfield land remaining in the Lower Lea Valley for the construction of an Olympic park. 2012 was a one-off chance for local international glory and we blew it. Still, it was a nice dream while it lasted. Any other godforsaken London borough fancy giving the Olympics a try in 2020? |
Singapore 2005: Election of the host city of the Games of the XXX Olympiad
