2012 London Olympics

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Stanley
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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The Sunday Times has blown the whistle on illegal sales of tickets by Olympic officials and agents. (LINK) They have been caught selling tickets at ten times the face value. Nice work if you can get it.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Well, Skipton was rammed for the Olympic Torch Relay through town today. All of the route from Snaygill through Caroline Square, up the High Street and back down then on up Newmarket Street and Otley Road was very well populated with sections of the crowd 10 deep in the wider bits. Wall to wall sunshine helped the event no doubt. The event was very well organised, we parked up at the Auction Mart as there was a park and ride service operating down into town. A nice walk back to the car on the canal bank and through the park.

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This was the torch passing down Keighley Road this afternoon just by the entrance to the bus station.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I'm really pleased the weather stayed fine, there was a very good chance of a washout. Unfortunately I was working so watched it on the BBC website, there's a live feed from one of the vehicles.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I was a good day Kev. The shops that had stayed open on Sunday were doing very good trade. We took advantage and did a bit of shopping while we were there on our trip down the High Street. It took the best part of an hour for the crowds to dissipate. We got a bite to eat before walking back to the car and folk were still in transit to wherever they were parked.
Despite what misgivings some people have about the event in general. The torch relay has certainly captivated people which can't be a bad thing as far as I can see. The shopkeepers of Skipton were certainly well suited when the torch came to town, I assume there will have been a similar effect in all the places it has visited across the country.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I'm not a great fan of the Olympics but I agree with Ian about the beneficial effects of the passage of the flame. My mind goes back to 1955 when we were guarding Speer's Olympic stadium in Berlin, it was used by the Berlin Independent Brigade as their HQ. I say guarding, but we never had any live ammo and would have been reduced to fixed bayonets if anyone had attacked us! The thing that struck me was the scale of the place and the high standard of construction. For all Hitler's faults, he built it to last!
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Our neighbour here is a dentist and he's got the contract for dentistry at the olympics. Says pays well but getting tickets complimentary not that great. Eileen
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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The Radio Times printed an 'Olympic Magazine' and included it in the RT this week charging 60p extra for it. I never asked for it! What right has anyone to pursue predatory pricing policies like this?
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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The BBC have about 18 HD channels purely to cover the Olympics. Nolic
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Watched the extravaganza till my bed-time at 22:00. I'm afraid I can't say anything sensible about it. Described as 'quirky' and 'bonkers'. Everything from steeplejacks to Mary Poppins killing Voldemort. I couldn't help getting the feeling that someone said "We have £30million, how ridiculous can we afford"? Someone has an entirely different definition of austerity than mine. Perhaps I'm just getting old......
Later... Just heard that a Tory MP has tweeted that the opening ceremony was more left-wing than Beijing. Downing Street deny the charge but he may have been watching more carefully than most. How about the NHS being attacked by Voldemort and being rescued by Mary Poppins?
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I disagree Comrade. My cynical eyes watched as there was little else on TV and I'm afraid I've been converted into the spirit. Yes it was quirky and a bit jingoistic but it was done marvellously and Danny Boyle deserves a knighthood for his inspiration and hard work. I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle and extravaganza and as I'm paying for it I felt I got my money's worth. Nolic
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I was converted too Nolic. We didn't even mean to watch it, but tuned in at the start and then couldn't switch it off till the very end. I thought it was a work of art, a bit odd in places, and very moving in other places. Loved the cyclists with wings!
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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The dancers in a CND logo during the 1960s themed bit. But part of the Olympic spirit is fair play on an equal field to compete to be your best ( not quite the same as the best ) rather than just winning alone. Plenty of cheers for all the teams I think it was 208 - more than the united nations as some olympic recognised countries are not nation states in there own right just yet, and I have a feeling that just about each team have someone from their country living in London ( not just any diplomatic staff and representatives ). Most overseas political representatives seemed genuinely excited for their team to be participating, and many of the team members and representatives were photographing and filming their view from inside the stadium.


Stanley - look at the end on i-player for the cauldron lighting , a marvellous bit of I presume British engineering designed by Thomas Heatherwick according to the Independent.

Apparently too each of the countries' name holder marchers had different dresses on with pictures of everyone whom had auditioned to be in the performance - as part of the inclusivity Danny Boyle wanted.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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My youngest son was fortunate enough to be there, he said it was amazing. He's there working now, I just caught a glimpse of him on the TV

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He's the middle, of the three in white shirts, between the time clock and the Olympic rings.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I started to watch , but soon gave up as I thought I'd stumbled into an episode of Teletubbies. I then channel hopped for quite a while, but didn't understand the episode of Vera on ITV either, and watched much of the second half. For me it was a mixture of the cringeworthy, and the truly moving. Overall eventually a winner. It needed to be about an hour shorter, and have Terry Wogan as commentator.
I thought the cauldron lighting was magnificent, and immediately was reminded of the B of the Bang. I now hear it was designed by the same man - Thomas Heatherwick. That was meant for the Commonwealth games in Manchester in 2002. It had a troubled life, which is worth reading up. Someone should have a word with Paul McCartney about "singing" at these events - and I've looked up the words to Hey Jude, but can't see any relevance to the occasion. They switched the electricity off at Hyde Park last week? Fair comment I'd say.
I don't see how Shami Chakrabarti and Steven Lawrence's mum fitted in. I think Her Maj had had enough by the end, and was a bit solemn and brief in her official opening speech. When are they going to retire? The Duke should not be out so late. A benefit of the last few weeks is that the Union Jack seems has been reclaimed from right wing organisations, and is respectable again.
Last disjointed thought - Have Danny Boyle, and Dave Fishwick ever been seen in the same room together? :smile:
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Listening to the comments afterwards and giving it some further thought I now realise that the people in the stadium didn't see what TV viewers saw on the screen, they were part of the production. Biggest pop video ever? Brenda didn't get much sleep, she was out and about early the next day.
Saw that the cycling didn't go well.... I think that the predictions should be toned down a bit and possibly the medal estimates as well. Just watch the sport if you enjoy it and tone the rhetoric down.
Missed the beach volley-ball..... I see that the corporate sharks who got many seats aren't putting their bums on the seats, some lessons should be learned.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Swimming and diving superb. It took me back to the days when Julia swam at National level. The excitement , the tension, everything. Wish I could have been there
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I think its the Olympic Affilates thats the problem of empty seats ( whatever that means ) , and the best people came in up front on the cycle races. Rain , poor road conditions , hills and a long way to get to a busy city , no wonder someone from Otley came in second.

Quite why London2012 allocated such large blocks of seats to affiliates seems odd in retrospect, I here its 5% affiliates and 8% corp sponsers , whom generally have the seats occupied according to Lord Coe ( but the amount of vacant seems more than 15% of total seats . I suppose it would be difficult to sell an allocated seat if the organisers dont know it wont be used - but they could upgrade some of those in restricted view seats at suitable times to make it look full.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Interesting piece on World Service this morning. A report by a correspondent who took Coe at his word and went looking for the 'seat re-allocation' facility he said had been set up to deal with the empty seats by selling them first come first served. It turned out to be a myth, he couldn't find it and nobody knew anything about it.
Report this morning that seems to indicate that the police lost their set of keys for security locks at unspecified locations. The locks have all had to be changed at an undisclosed expense.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Absolute shambles but Bradley Wiggin's did it again. Eileen
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Some interesting hard facts about sponsorship surfaced this morning in a business discussion on R4. MacDonald's contract for the games includes a clause that no other chips but theirs can be sold on the Olympic Park. There is one exception, if they are sold with fish! Visa have taken steps to make sure that as far as possible only their cards can be used in any payment. The question that was being discussed was whether sponsorship enhances or damages a brand.....
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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I posted in I don't believe it and I don't on the velodrome incident Also a good blog on the guardian yesterday about how successful in the ticket lottery were Wills & Kate, David Cameron, George Osborn and Hunt were when some mere mortal like us had applied for 40 events and didn't get one ticket! Eileen
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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How good was the GB - Spain basketball game last night? Considering basketball is a fledgling sport here, and Spain are no2 in the world, I think the final score of 79-78 was an exceptional performance.
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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McDonalds , dont they serve fries ? They are not the same as chips ( 1 proper chip= 4 MD fries in a 2 x 2 formation thick and between .5 and 1.8 times as long)
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Re: 2012 London Olympics

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http://leedscarnegiebasketball.co.uk/bl ... frightful-

A serious question; why isn't basketball as popular in the UK as it is elsewhere in the world? Honest answers and opinions, please.
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