It's been 12 months since I stood in Trafalgar Square alongside several thousand other Londoners expecting to hear Paris anointed as the Host City of the 2012 Olympics. When instead Jacques Rogge opened his big envelope and announced 'London', the crowd around me reacted with startled cheers and unexpected euphoria. Maybe everyone was thrilled at the honour of hosting an international sporting extravaganza in their very own backyard, maybe they were just looking forward to the beach volleyball, or maybe they'd forgotten how much it was all going to cost. Suddenly a new clock was ticking - there were just seven years to transform a sprawling wasteland in East London into a world class sporting facility. This week, with one of those years now passed, I went back for another walk around the Lower Lea Valley to see how things are progressing.
There are signs of change all around the perimeter of the Olympic site. Unfortunately most of them prominently feature the telephone number of a local estate agent. Property prices are on the up, as are various new apartment blocks. Admittedly these were all planned and approved before the 2012 decision was made, but they can only breed and multiply as the months go by. A lot of people want to live close to the economically alluring Olympic park, but not too close lest the authorities might forcibly evict them from their home and build a souvenir kiosk or burger restaurant instead.
Inside the Olympic site, by contrast, almost nothing has changed. You might expect several local businesses to have been demolished by now but no, they all still seem to be chugging along as normal. You might expect to see an emerging skyline of giant cranes and scaffolding but no, the view across the valley is still dominated by tall stalking pylons. You might even expect to stumble across a small portakabin inside which Seb Coe makes all his decisions of immense Olympic importance but no, he's safely tucked away inside a rather more luxurious office in Canary Wharf. The only development here sofar has been on the drawing board (or its modern digital equivalent), intricately planning how all this normality will be swept wholly and utterly away.
This street corner, for example, is nothing special at present. A row of nondescript warehouses, an long iron shed where fence panels are galvanized and an arc of drooping bollards. If I read the plans for the location of the Olympic Stadium correctly, the finishing line for the 100m, the relays and the marathon runs somewhere across the foreground of my photograph. For now you can stand here unchallenged, unhindered and unnoticed. But just six years separate this industrial nowhere from international everywhere.
There are only six months before the bulldozers move into the north end of the site to make a start on building the Velopark and BMX track (ripping up an existing cycle track in the process, there's irony for you). There's just a year to go until Waterden Road is evacuated to make way for a couple of hockey pitches and a handball arena (forcing the relocation of not one but two large bus depots). And as for work on the Olympic Stadium itself, expect that to begin in mid 2008 (you can bet that Wembley's contractors will not be allowed to tender for the contract). But I fear it's too much to hope that this sweeping redevelopment will retain the charm and character of the current watery industrial landscape.
So there's very little time left to see the Lower Lea Valley in all its semi-derelict glory. Acres of trees and flowers have budded here for the very last time. The local ducks and moorhens can expect only one more season bringing up their young in the waterside reeds before they're forced to move on. The dragonflies skating down the City Mill River beneath the Greenway probably won't survive the transformation of their habitat into a Transport Interchange and Security Check. And the remaining bollards on the corner of Marshgate Lane don't have long to stand before they're ripped out to make way for the most important 8-lane running track on the planet.
Hurry now, one of the footpaths alongside the Waterworks River has already been sealed off to prevent public access, and I'm sure the remaining (delightful) riverside walks can't be too far behind. You might consider joining the Newham Striders later this month on one of their weekendwalks around the Lower Lea Valley. Or just come by yourself, sometime soon, so that you can say you were here. Because I can guarantee that, come 2012, your chances of crossing the finishing line are absolutely nil.
London 2012 - one year closer
It's been 12 months since I stood in Trafalgar Square alongside several thousand other Londoners expecting to hear Paris anointed as the Host City of the 2012 Olympics. When instead Jacques Rogge opened his big envelope and announced 'London', the crowd around me reacted with startled cheers and unexpected euphoria. Maybe everyone was thrilled at the honour of hosting an international sporting extravaganza in their very own backyard, maybe they were just looking forward to the beach volleyball, or maybe they'd forgotten how much it was all going to cost. Suddenly a new clock was ticking - there were just seven years to transform a sprawling wasteland in East London into a world class sporting facility. This week, with one of those years now passed, I went back for another walk around the Lower Lea Valley to see how things are progressing.
There are signs of change all around the perimeter of the Olympic site. Unfortunately most of them prominently feature the telephone number of a local estate agent. Property prices are on the up, as are various new apartment blocks. Admittedly these were all planned and approved before the 2012 decision was made, but they can only breed and multiply as the months go by. A lot of people want to live close to the economically alluring Olympic park, but not too close lest the authorities might forcibly evict them from their home and build a souvenir kiosk or burger restaurant instead.
This street corner, for example, is nothing special at present. A row of nondescript warehouses, an long iron shed where fence panels are galvanized and an arc of drooping bollards. If I read the plans for the location of the Olympic Stadium correctly, the finishing line for the 100m, the relays and the marathon runs somewhere across the foreground of my photograph. For now you can stand here unchallenged, unhindered and unnoticed. But just six years separate this industrial nowhere from international everywhere.
So there's very little time left to see the Lower Lea Valley in all its semi-derelict glory. Acres of trees and flowers have budded here for the very last time. The local ducks and moorhens can expect only one more season bringing up their young in the waterside reeds before they're forced to move on. The dragonflies skating down the City Mill River beneath the Greenway probably won't survive the transformation of their habitat into a Transport Interchange and Security Check. And the remaining bollards on the corner of Marshgate Lane don't have long to stand before they're ripped out to make way for the most important 8-lane running track on the planet.
It's been 12 months since 
There are signs of change all around the perimeter of the Olympic site. Unfortunately most of them prominently feature the telephone number of a local estate agent. Property prices are on the up, as are various new apartment blocks. Admittedly these were all planned and approved before the 2012 decision was made, but they can only breed and multiply as the months go by. A lot of people want to live close to the economically alluring Olympic park, but not too close lest the authorities might forcibly evict them from their home and build a souvenir kiosk or burger restaurant instead.
So there's very little time left to see the Lower Lea Valley in all its semi-derelict glory. Acres of trees and flowers have budded here for the very last time. The local ducks and moorhens can expect only one more season bringing up their young in the waterside reeds before they're forced to move on. The dragonflies skating down the City Mill River beneath the Greenway probably won't survive the transformation of their habitat into a Transport Interchange and Security Check. And the remaining bollards on the corner of Marshgate Lane don't have long to stand before they're ripped out to make way for the most important 8-lane running track on the planet.