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7 July 2011

I want to be one of Eurostar's Olympic Pioneers because......

Eurostar, an official provider (provider?!) to the London 2012 Olympics have invited me and other bloggers to enter a competition where the prize is attendance at a special 'One Year To Go' event later this month.
We have been asked to write something with the title as above, so here goes....
How shoddy of Seb and the boys to contact me at this late stage – they ought to have invited me to this 'One Year To Go' event as a formality being London is mine – it's in the name 'Jane's London' – so, by default, everything to do with the London 2012 Olympics is mine too! For this reason I ought to have been involved with the design and management of the Olympic sites from the outset. It's no good showing me something that's almost finished. After all, I visited the Stratford site two years ago and didn't give very good feedback about it, so you'd think they'd be wanting to sweeten me up and convince me everything's going OK. I really, really do hope they have pulled their socks up since then.
Every garish option of that nasty logo still niggles me. It looks like the Saturday staff at KallKwik knocked out a few scribbles one afternoon with a limited set of felt tips, some coloured paper and dry transfer lettering from the local Poundshop. These ugly concoctions are splattered all over the place resembling poor graffiti complete with a hideous typeface, bad letter-spacing and a lower case L on London – yuck! We were told that the logo would 'come into its own' nearer 2012, but I am still waiting for that 'aaah-ha I see!' moment. I wish I could get graphic design jobs like that.
Seriously though, I really do want to see that the London Olympics turns out to be a big success. Not for just me, but for everyone; I need to be convinced that all this building and disruption for a one-off showcase event will be worth all the hassle; during the event and for decades afterwards. But from where I sit now, it all seems to me to be such a huge waste of money; money that could have been better spent on other things, especially in what was a neglected area of London. For instance, how does building another huge shopping centre there (Westfield) help the small businessman in the local area?
I did not apply for tickets to any of the events as I think I will be able get a better view of the proceedings watching it all on TV from the comfort of my sofa. I don't understand why the Olympics cannnot be staged in the same place every time – Athens would have been the logical choice once it returned there.
Sport and the Olympic sites aside, I have applied to be a London Ambassador, which I really hope works out for me because sharing this great city with Olympic visitors will be a much better use of my time.
So, to conclude, as the owner of [Jane's] London, I'd like Eurostar, Boris and Mr Coe to assuage my concerns and convince me that work being carried out on the Olympic sites is all up to my high standards and that I have nothing at all to be concerned about.

London-wide pics relating to the Olympics:
Top: N7, W14, WC2, WC1
Middle: WC1, W1, EC2, EC1
Bottom: N1, NW1, W1, N7

8 comments:

  1. Go Jane...go Jane (making a weird rotating motion with my hands)

    I took the test and as a result of my, not entirely honest, answers I achieved the Top Spot on the Podium. So I must be in.....just give me my pink and blue tracksuit and my PDA and let me get out there on the streets.

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  2. they should have had you in there from the start - i am sure you could have designed a much better logo for london than the one that they did!

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  3. ah... thanks!
    I thought the logo that was designed for the bid was good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_bid_for_the_2012_Summer_Olympics but there's some kind of stipulation that says if your bid wins you have to come up with something else. Why?

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  4. Malcolm, can you put a link to that quiz here please... ta x

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  5. http://www.londonambassadors.org.uk/About/quiz.aspx

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  6. Oh yes that! It's old and defunct now. I thought you meant a quiz within The Olympics site or something...

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  7. That should do the trick, I'm sure Seb & Co will saviour and agree with every word. The winning prize is almost certainly in the post as I write this.

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  8. Thanks for commenting David... because it prompted me to look at your site after too long away.... a mine of info... well done!

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Thanks, Jane