Ok,I got into London on Friday at about 10:30. Victoria was no busier than normal at this time of year.The Central Line was snarled up after a signal failure, but the District Line out to West Ham was busy at first, but tourists soon got off and there weren't too many folk going all the way to West Ham and the Greenway walk...
...of about 20 minutes (if you're slow) to the perimeter of the games gulag.
That's as far as us low life without tickets can go and I then spent about an hour wandering around that area trying to find some interesting viewpoints or a decent walk around the Park zone.
But this lot were the only ones with a decent view.
All the canal paths and side roads in the area were blocked by guards or barriers and I eventually gave up... though not after helping some puzzled tourists who were struggling with the roads given that half the walkways around the area were shut off. There were also a lot of people, including families, hanging around with signs asking for tickets. I think they had two chances... fat chance and no chance whatsoever. At least I knew I was heading for a dead end, some people clearly didn't.
I still really regretted not being able to get in. It was strange being so close and yet a million miles away. Never thought I'd feel like that about a sporting event, but maybe mass hysteria is infectious.
So I trudged back down the walkway heading for West Ham tube again. Which is when the heavens opened and for a few minutes I was in the heaviest rain I think I've ever experienced. And I grew up in Buxton, where we have more words for wet stuff than the Eskimos have for snow. This wasn't just any old rain, this was world class Olympic rain!
I wanted to take more shots, but water was pouring off my camera... and me. Even Berghaus's finest waterproofing gave up. But fortunately Transport For London make some fairly good drip drying apparatus.
I got off the District line at Tower Hill, and -- still incredibly soggy in the glorious sunshine -- made the fairly short walk over Tower Bridge...
...and went over to sit outside Boris's office with a relatively small crowd. This Potters Field site has no restrictions, and is probably on a much smaller scale than the big park (Hyde etc, not Olympic) Live events.
To be honest this wasn't too exciting. Two beach volleyball games dragged on, livened up by a party of Dutch tourists supporting their team, then they switched to the archery, which was more to my tastes. However they switched over from the end of the gold medal match to cover the GB cycling heats.
That finally got the crowd going a bit, but it was getting on for about five o'clock by then and I have to be at work for 10pm, so I called it a day.
On the walk back down the Thames towards Victoria there was a bit more ring action...
And a passable impression of the Olympic flame.
So, overall I'm not sure I've added anything useful to the knowledge database. I suspect the bigger Live venues will be better to visit (more people, more atmosphere, but more potential queuing) but it was nice -- and tantalising -- to see the site and all the excited folk heading into it. And the mood in London was surprisingly good. The Olympic 'gloss' would appear to be more than skin deep.
For two weeks anyway. Normal grumpy business will be resumed soon enough.
I may try to get in again one day next week to soak up a bit more atmosphere, though I suspect next week will be much busier as people get swept up in the event.
