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Sunday, August 12, 2012

London Olympic style Traffic Headache







A Road not for Driving

I freely admit that I am writing this from afar, but at the best of times traffic in London is a real pain. I know this from having lived in the city, so I am using my imagination to compound the problems people usually have on a daily basis to get around, and add to that all the many visitors to the city for the Games.

The first thing we have to understand is that the Olympics is a business, one that jealously guards its trademark and products. The games have drawn so many people to England, and of course this is very good for most merchants who operate businesses for consumers. Restaurants, lodgings, transport, souvenier sellers, etc, however, if it says London 2012 or Olympics you will have paid very big bucks for the right to sell your goods.

This may all be very well, but if you live and or work in London, or anywhere near where events are taking place, I imagine your life may have been turned upside down, and possibly you may be wishing for tonight's closing ceremony. We have been concentrating so much on all the positive things that are derived from these Games, but on the other side of the coin there will naturally be the need to make accommodation by those who find themselves in the middle of things.

However, it is really good to see that the East End of London has got itself a fabulous makeover. Apart from transport by bus and private car, if you are a little crazy, its good to see the use of the river, and zip lines and  ariel lines to get people to the games as alternatives. Personally, for me these games have generated far too many people in one place. I am not good with crowds, so it has been better for me to watch the whole thing on television. I imagine that I have been missing the live ambience  of being in the stadiums, but I can live with that.

For all the bother of being there and getting there and back, I think that the games have been wonderful and I will look forward to the games in Brazil. I'm sure you will also!

Copyright (c)  2012    Eugene Carmichael

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