Chit Chat
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All this Olympic whingeing is doing my shed in! IT's gonna be huge get over it!
It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for the athletes and the torch bearers,for most it's a huge patriotic moment and an a great honour.
Seethers won't be pleased with ram packed stadia,and ram packed streets as the torch passes through your town.
I grew up cheering for anything in a GB vest whatever the sport,and for most of the athletes it's the biggest moment (and will always be) of their lives,yrs of dedication and training to appear in the worlds biggest sporting event and on home turf as well.
And don't forget the para-olympians there's some real heroes out there,no corporate sponsorship for them just hard hard graft and a dedication to life some rancid chit chatters would do well to emulate.
It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for the athletes and the torch bearers,for most it's a huge patriotic moment and an a great honour.
Seethers won't be pleased with ram packed stadia,and ram packed streets as the torch passes through your town.
I grew up cheering for anything in a GB vest whatever the sport,and for most of the athletes it's the biggest moment (and will always be) of their lives,yrs of dedication and training to appear in the worlds biggest sporting event and on home turf as well.
And don't forget the para-olympians there's some real heroes out there,no corporate sponsorship for them just hard hard graft and a dedication to life some rancid chit chatters would do well to emulate.
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and not a ticket in sight ffs
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Nice speech Boris...now go and stick the union jack where the sun dont shine pal.
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I grew up cheering for anything in a GB vest
so what? we're not all like you |
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It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for the athletes and the torch bearers
Do you mean a once in a lifetime opportunity for these selfless well deserving torchbearers to sell their torches on Ebay for a small fortune? Such Corinthian spirit is heart warming. |
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It's not like they are building the pyramids is it? they are going to do a bit of running/peddling/chucking etc. The ecstatic adulators are worthy of the contempt some of us feel.
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paradox and equilibrium 21 May 12 23:30 It's not like they are building the pyramids is it? they are going to do a bit of running/peddling/chucking etc. The ecstatic adulators are worthy of the contempt some of us feel. Drugs ? |
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And don't forget the para-olympians there's some real heroes out there,no corporate sponsorship for them just hard hard graft and a dedication to life some rancid chit chatters would do well to emulate.
well said here here |
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well said here here
Did you mean "well said, Hee Haw"? |
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I'm not a spelling or grammar pedant, I find such nonsense tiresome, HOWEVER if you listen to something you HEAR it. HERE means 'in this place' (or something similar).
HERE HERE would be something that you would say to your dog in the park HEAR HEAR, sort of means listen listen. |
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I am just not listening any more. Watching the torch go past empty streets all the way to the carrier's ebay account is toe curling. Whilst I hope out athletes do well in the various uber-minority sports on offer, I shall be watching the cricket.
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The torch bearers have to pay £200 to keep the torch!
Don't understand all this wailing and nashing of teeth about them selling them on. If they were given for free there are some grounds to complain about the spirit of the Games etc, but not if they had to pay. |
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I don't understand. I thought there was just ONE olympic torch. That's the whole point shirley? That's why they flew it all the way from Greece. So where are all these other torches coming from? Is it a scam?
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Give up Bon Vivvy - it's a hopeless cause in here.
Every night you'll see streets thronged with people watching the torch go past. For months you've not been able to get a ticket for any of the events, such has been the demands on a manifestly fair ticket allocation system. The security forces are taking every threat seriously so have all manner of terrorist counter measures in place, some public (SAM's on tower blocks) some not. and, ss you point point out, the athletes are getting themselves to concert pitch, ready to put on a performance which, for all of them, will be the single most important thing they will do in their sporting lives. Yet in the parallel world of chit-chat, such measures are met - in the main it would seem - with cynicism, sneers, negativity and ill-informed whingeing.....which of course is the right of anyone living in Britain with access to a computer and the Internet. You just have to hope that they come on board the party train at some point, shut up and go away in the face of the overwhelmingly positive reaction there is in the world outside chit-chat, or stick to their principles, turn the Games coverage off and don't bother watching, commenting or enjoying the biggest party Britain will ever put on. |
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Point is....why would anyone pay thousands of pounds for something that has been mass produced.
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And for the record. I find it disgusting Olympic Torches are going on e-Bay 5 minutes after the bearers coming off the roads.
Hiding behind the fig leaf of doing it to raise money for charity doesn't cut it for me either I'm afraid. |
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The only thing I’d like to whinge about these Olympics is the number of adverts spuriously linking their product to the games in some way. An unedifying sight. I’m not that keen on these sports people taking part in them either, but then the amateur aspect of it all went out the window a very long time ago. A Bah Humbug, but only on a small scale.
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Why is the OP whingeing about whingers, thereby reducing himself to the same status.
Didn't really think that one through eh? |
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The flame reached Bishops Hull at tea time yesterday and, I have to admit, it was probably the biggest event to hit this village since the Monmouth Rebellion.
I understand all the objections, but given the choice of standing in the sun and cheering the show along or sitting in the gloom seething at the keyboard, I went and stood at the roadside. And I'm glad I did. The whole village was there, young, old, infirm, Union Jacks were waved. Every foreign visitor made sure they didn't miss the moment. Not a frown in sight. Even if we are all mugs being cynically manipulated while having our pockets pinched, if something makes people leave their homes and come together with a smile on their face, it has to be a Good Thing. And Trescothick managed to carry the flame 300 yards without needing another ankle operation. |
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It's not a question of 'Yaaay the Olympics, Right or Wrong' for me.
There's plenty of things that I dislike about the Games and doubtless plenty of things that'll get up my nose once the Games start. Dan Topolski and Gary Herbert's commentatry on the rowing will be unendurable, this I know already. But they're here, we've got them, they're coming. The world will be watching us and I'm fed up to the back teeth of my nation being characterised as hooligans, p1ss-artists, and grim, determined generally downbeat moaners, with faces like an Easter Island statue with razor blades up its ar$e. And I also like the truth too - like acknowledging that the Great British public has gone nuts trying to watch any event at the games and the fact there are massive amounts of people watching the Flame go round the country. This may not please the chit-chat doom-merchants, no matter that it doesn't fit thei cynical little worldview. |
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roger,
There has been nothing 'fair 'about the ticket allocation system.According to today's Guardian less than one third of the tickets for the Athletics,Swimming and Velodrome went on sale to the general public and the chances are that most of these will have been for the morning sessions of meaningless heats. Does anyone know anybody who has obtained tickets for a decent event? I officiate at about 40 Athletics meeting each summer,all unpaid of course and travel goodness knows how many hundreds of miles at my own expense.A couple of weeks ago I had a combined mileage of 200 miles for the 2 days of our County Championships.What's that in petrol costs?I had been hoping that people such as myself would be given preferential treatment in buying tickets but,of course,they've all gone to Coca-Cola and McDonalds. I used to joke that the volunteers would be selling programmes and suchlike.A couple of weeks ago I was at the University Athletics Champs at the Olympic Stadium as a spectator and saw a friend acting as a track official.On asking her if she'd been given a role for the Games she told me that she had been offered an unpaid job CLEANING THE TOILETS.Meanwhile,Little Lord Fauntleroy and his cronies will be raking it in. The whole shebang is a ****ing disgrace. |
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Olympics are for sad individuals who have nothing better in their lives than follow the next so called big event in England.
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man of many moods 22 May 12 09:16
I don't understand. I thought there was just ONE olympic torch. That's the whole point shirley? That's why they flew it all the way from Greece. So where are all these other torches coming from? Is it a scam? Nobody knows the answer then? |
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iamajambo
I agree with you and the corprotisation of the Games sticks in my craw, but I can just about accept that with the Games now being such a huge undertaking, 'the man' has to get involved and will want more than just goodwill in return. My use of 'fair' was in respect of the allocation of those tickets that were available to the general public. A completely random allocation is by definition, the only fair way to get tickets out there. I acknowledge that it's imperfect - but it is fair, given the parameters above. FWIW I'm the same with the rowing. I would have queued at Dorney and camped out overnight to get tickets, but you just know it would have been pandemonium with queue jumpers and worse - just look at what happens when an IKEA store opens! |
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Its an impassioned and sensible defence RTB. Certainly any amount of whinging isn't going to make it go away - so lets do our best to make it a success.
Except I am not playing and would prefer others not to. Its an unbelievably London-centric ego trip for a self chosen few. The BBC will do a great job of telling us how great it is going to be/great it was etc. Forums like this offer an opportunity to say otherwise. B0llocks to the whole show, I say. |
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Would any of those who are pro-Olympics and not living in Greater London like to give me the £200 that I (and every other London household) have had to fork out for the Olympic stipend?
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Good post sibaroni
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sibaroni
I can accept that not everyone is on board and I can accept any number of reasons why this may be the case. I'm on record as saying: I think the first point must be to acknowledge the concerns that some people have regarding the cost of the games. Times are tough and even though I think it’s a jaundiced view, the Olympics can be seen as 21st Century ‘bread and circuses’ for a country where some Britons still go hungry and homeless. Of course, this is a perfectly legitimate view to hold and immediately captures the moral high ground; how can one defend one penny spent on leisure and recreation if that could otherwise be put towards another dialysis machine? You can never win a debate with anyone with such trenchant views, however, for me, such people are ghetto area, no-platform tub-thumpers who will never listen to any other point of view and can be left at the margins. I prefer to engage with folks who will at least listen to an alternative perspective. However, when people attempt to downplay the effect the Olympic is having on the nation, by saying no one is coming out to view the flame or that no on e will be attending such and such event - when every evening the news shows pictures of the nation thronging to see the Torch Relay and the airwaves are still clogged up with people who can't get a ticket because they're all sold already - then I'm sure you would applaud the questioning of such manifest twisting of the truth. |
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But I don't believe it. I have seen pictures of empty streets, but the BBC aren't going to be showing those. There is going to be enormous propaganda. But I am not a conspiracist - there will be people there in their thousands.
But I bet you a fortune that the queues are ridiculous. The traffic is at a stand still in London. The economic effect of that alone will be huge and unreported. What matters I suppose at the end of the day is the international perception after the event. Sydney was considered a success, Atlanta a disaster. And there are all the shades of grey in between. I predict, but do not especially want, a perception nearer to Atlanta than Sydney. |
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Personally, I’m not a great one for macro-economic theorising and attempting to get my head around the economic pump-priming that capital spending on the Olympics and the effect on the balance of payments of tourist visiting London will have on the economy. I believe the net benefit will be to generate a surplus, but I will leave that to Lord Coe and Robert Peston to argue!
I think it’s more a question of attempting to fire the imagination of the naysayers about the overwhelming positive and galvanising effect a successful Olympics will have on the nation. Not just in terms of medals won or PB’s achieved by our athletes. How about this being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the world to see Britains not as boorish hooligans, but as friendly and hospitable (for the most part)? What about the opportunity for us to throw off the grim, stoic persona we seem to portray on the World stage and to, you know, welcome the world to the biggest carnival going? I don’t know what the opening ceremony will be like but imagine a showcase of Britain’s artistic talent? Fill in your own cultural heroes and paint your own picture here, but Wayne Sleep choreographing dancers dressed by Stella McCartney executing routines set to Noel Gallagher’s music? Sounds exciting to me! |
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the effect on the balance of payments of tourist visiting London will have on the economy. I believe the net benefit will be to generate a surplus
I wonder. Informal date from hotels and rental properties suggests the huge demand expected has not materialised. Tourists who would traditionally be drawn to London during this time are avoiding it because of inflated hotel prices and fears of crowding. I suppose all the athletes and their whole entourage will amount to a huge amount of spending, though I am unsure as to how much of their stay is complimentary, but as a previous poster as stated there will be a huge impact on the economy in terms of man hours lost due to travel delays etc. Take the athletics away and I suspect the rest of the events leave the vast majority of the public cold and disinterested. That said, the GB public will without doubt get behind it and I think put on a jolly good show for the watching world. |
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Had to laugh the other day when the BBC had sent a reporter out to cover the torch relay. He was interviewing a teacher who had brought his class along to see it. When asked why he had come to see it he said something along the lines of 'It's a once in a lifetime event and we'll never get another chance to see it again'. 'Ok' said the reporter and proceeded to ask one of the kids why they were looking forward to it, 'errr, because we'll never get chance to see it again' was the reply. He then went on to ask another kid why they had come to see the torch, there was a long pause (i'm sure while the kid looked to the teacher for prompting) 'because this is the only time we'll ever get to see it' he said.
It was like brainwashing. |
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Tourists who would traditionally be drawn to London during this time are avoiding it because of inflated hotel prices and fears of crowding.
So whose going to be making the crowds if the Tourists are being kept away? utc Maybe schools could be doing like my daughter's (primary) school are and making the Olympics a centrepiece of a term long project to underpin work they are doing in Geography, Literacy, Numeracy, PE etc. You don't say how old the kids were but I'm assuming they were primary school age. If so, maybe the BBC could have found a kid who could give a meaningful discourse on the GutsMuths / i]Schepfenthal[/i] school of thought relating to Physical Education and how this very real manifestation of the Olympic spirit was an important educational underpinning of this theory - but doubtless you'd have been on saying how they were hand picked and unrepresentative of the kids watching the Relay. |
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What sticks in the craw of eastenders is the fact that there wss no money available to redevelop Hackney marshes for years on end
Then there are billions, but not for housing projects The houses in 'The Village' are to have their own brand new postcode of E.20(Olympic Park) Which is the same postcode they use for Walford on televisions Eastenders, who also seem to have skipped past E.19, which was the next number in line out in the real world And it was reported that the houses will mostly go to ex-servicemen when they leave the armed forces. I have no ideas if that reported on April 1st or not. Can you imagine soldiers coming home from Afghanistan that want to live in a Borough where muslims represent 24% of the current population ? And as for cost, it was reported on the radio that beer will cost £8 a pint in the Velodrome, and Pumphol went to a swimming event a few weeks ago, and had to pay £1-20 for a bag of crisps I can just see the place filling up with working class eastenders...not |
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So there are some positives then.
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I notice on another thread "Twizzle" is bemoaning the fact that "the torch went out but was re-lit with a MATCH!"(god forbid!) what was Twizzle expecting? a fire breathing dragon,one of Jasons Argonauts? Zeus himself? ffs!
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Roger - I genuinely wish the best for your girls, and for all the athletes. But this big show case party nonsense, I just don't buy it. It is massive queues and massive disruption for overpriced cr*p, with two or three events people are actually bothered about; but then not much.
I am genuinely angry and have been for years that thousands of small scale projects have gone wanting for lottery money because this monster has taken the lot. And many of those small scale projects would have survived for years to come, and would have been all over the country. "Its happening though", says you, "so lets get behind it". No. I resent the Olympics and I will not support it in any way. |
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Can't argue with that sib
I believe different and thanks for your best wishes re the girls. |
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Oh and if it helps, I think the paralympics thread is a disgrace - i am not posting on it.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9049035/London-2012-Olympics-Locog-returns-120000-hotel-rooms-to-market.html
120,000 hotel rooms released due to slow take up for Olympics. |