The Olympic Legacy

Admittedly it’s way to early, to reflect on the London Olympics, but since the future of the main arena is back in the news, what the hell, hopefully there will be a great televisual experience, maybe Team GB will do well (perhaps the last before Scottish independence), but it seems a typical British squabble has already broken out, over the bones of the event.

I’m a cynic, so far, from what I’ve seen, it’s a triumph of big business over people, particularly those in East London, I’ll explain and fess up to having benefitted myself, around 2006 I had a couple of nights work, protecting cabling adjacent to factories, warehouses and offices as they were being demolished, at the time I wondered, how would this benefit the locals and concluded that it wouldn't as most of those once employed in premises being obliterated would have joined the dole queue.

More substantially, improvements to London’s rail network, have provided me and co-workers with work for some considerable time, although most not coming from London let alone places like Hackney and Stratford more likely Kent, Essex, Birmingham, Yorkshire, Bulgaria, Romania, and "up North".

During the Olympics I guess much of London and the South East will be in paralysis, I've heard work will cease on the railway infrastructure at the time, of the Olympics, so perhaps I'll be indulging in that speciality of significant numbers in Hackney
form filling.

I assume that central London and certainly East London will be effectively sealed off, by officialdom, my own sporting discipline, hurling a white van up the A102 and seeing if I can get it through the Blackwall tunnel will almost certainly be cancelled given the proximity to the Olympics.

Admittedly so far the Olympics has put money in my pocket and has driven many essential improvements to London's infrastructure and helped create a large new shopping centre in Stratford employing I hope locals selling goods no doubt produced in China.

I just feel sad that ordinary people will not share the first hand direct experience of the games that rich people will, due to the slanted ticket allocation.

London as a whole has and will continue to benefit, but having worked around Hackney, it's difficult to see any improvement, and I cannot help thinking that the controversy over disposal of the main arena, is a prelude to other problems, what will happen to the velodrome, the basket ball courts or the tiddlywinks stadium or even the long term unemployed of East London.