London 2012 Olympics.

InnerFatGirl

Hey everyone

Well, the Olympics officially start on Friday. The Torch will be coming through my borough on Wednesday.

However I, like some other Londoners, am a little apprehensive about this whole thing. I have to travel to work four days a week. I work near Regent's park, and our Starbucks is gonna be packed to the brim.

Not only that, but our terror alert is on high right now. After the London bombings, well, I am still a bit nervous about travelling by Underground. Apparently, that's something I've always been scared of. My Mum tells me I used to cry on the trains as a kid and scream that it was going to get blown up O.o

What's your thoughts on the Olympics?

Londoners? You excited? Apprehensive? Not bothered?

I'm off to work now, so I'll come back this thread later ^_^

_Ben

Im much more excited for these olympics than I have ever been before. Mainly, because 4 years ago michael phelps kicked butt, and Im excited to see him do it again

jumadey

Born and bred londoner here!

I live in South London I work in Central London, so no. Tourists are bad enough of a "good" day but once the Olympics kick in...lawd! Getting in/around work will be a nightmare.

I'm not really thinking about it from a terrorism point of view...if I thought like that, I'd never go anywhere.

lippy1727

I cant wait, its an amazing thing to happen to our capital and i cannot wait to attend. Yes the terroism is an issue, but we are prepared and theses things can happen at any point at least were on high alert.

33neenaj

I can't wait. Love the Olympics!

Whisperinghorse

I avoided the relay in our like the plague! I'll probably watch some of it, but the stuff I want to watch will be overshadowed by extreme olympic downhill tiddlywinks or something....

I hope you Londoners manage to survive the next few weeks especially with the olympic lanes coming into force tomorrow..

Some one I know has bought tickets to the beach volleyball event, £200 each and valid for? half and hour.... seriously?

glypta

Hate to be a Scottish party pooper, but I couldn't care less. In fact, I might even be more negative and spit the dummy that Scotland is benefitting very little from it.

That said, I did watch the torch, and love the effort and planning that went into that so that in theory, everyone in the UK was within an hour of it.

thepurplestar

East Londoner here, about a mile from the Olympic Park. I absolutely cannot wait for it to be over; we've had disruptions and road closures for years around here whilst getting everything ready, and the promised tickets for locals for putting up with it all unsurprisingly didn't materialise. And it's going to be a nughtmare travelling anywhere either by car or public transport!

Dead_Darling

East Londoner here, about a mile from the Olympic Park. I absolutely cannot wait for it to be over; we've had disruptions and road closures for years around here whilst getting everything ready, and the promised tickets for locals for putting up with it all unsurprisingly didn't materialise. And it's going to be a nughtmare travelling anywhere either by car or public transport!

Fellow East Londoner here I saw the torch going past my road on Saturday which was pretty exciting, and went to Westfields earlier to see the hoopla and it's cool seeing the athletes just enjoying the sunshine. However, both my mum and brother work near the Olympic park, and they won't be relocated during the Games, so I don't know how they'll cope with the traffic all around them.

Although the whole thing looks really exciting, it's really unfair that we didn't get any tickets, despite putting up with the roadworks, parking permits, traffic, making the towns look pretty, etc.

InnerFatGirl

Thanks everyone, for the comments. Very interesting reading them

The Torch comes through my bit tomorrow. They're stopping the traffic. I am strangely excited

InnerFatGirl

I live in South London I work in Central London, so no. Tourists are bad enough of a "good" day but once the Olympics kick in...lawd! Getting in/around work will be a nightmare.

Oh, don't get me started on tourists. At my work, they cause enough chaos. Come Olympics. Oh jheeze..

Jain

Yorkshire woman here. I'm sick to death of all the media coverage all ready and have zero interest in the whole event. I've been stocking up on DVD box sets, so I'm all set.

Elle408

I'm really excited! I work as a steward around school and have been to four of the Torch relays and loved the whole atmosphere and hearing the wonderful stories of the torch bearers, it makes me proud that we have so many amazing people in our midst willing to do such amazing things for others!

As for the Games, a lot of it bugs me, the fact that this is costing us so much and we're not getting a lot out of it, the only people that seemingly profit are the private companies. But it's a once in a lifetime thing, and it's happening whether I like it or not so I intend to try and enjoy it. As it happens I'm stewarding at London Live, and will be working up to 18hrs some days whilst they screen all of the events, so I hope the people that turn up get into the spirit and enjoy the festivities. I'm not looking forward to travelling, it should take me 40 minutes to get from Norwood Junction to Victoria Park and I have been told it's likely to take 80 minutes, a 160 minute round trip on top of an 18hr shift does not make for a happy Elle... but in three weeks, it will be over!

Oh and the Terrorism threat level has been at it's highest for years, ever since 7/7. I was on a train to Kings Cross when the bomb went off and was one of many stuck trying to get home, I hope we never have to go through something like that again, but regardless of the media coverage about G4S ballsing things up with security, we have one of the best intelligence agencies in the world and one of the best armies looking out for us, I think we'll be just fine.