Author Topic: Your Olympic Event Experiences. (Read 13710 times)

clarion · « **Reply #50 on:** 31 July, 2012, 08:12:20 pm »

Speed limits certainly have applied to cycles in the Royal Parks. The question is whether they still do after the unspecified change.

David Martin · « **Reply #51 on:** 31 July, 2012, 08:18:24 pm »

No they don't, not any more. I believe thy may still apply in Holyrood park.

contango · « **Reply #52 on:** 31 July, 2012, 09:00:37 pm »

Quote from: David Martin on 31 July, 2012, 08:11:03 pm

Quote from: contango on 31 July, 2012, 05:52:49 pm
Snip barrack room lawyer stuff..

A cycle is not a mechanically propelled vehicle in law. End of.

Speed limits only apply to motor vehicles (Road traffic act) and mechanically propelled vehicles (ie ones with motors). Similarly horses do not have to abide by the speed limit either.

I just like to have something a little more formal to work with than "some guy on the internet said..."

Even assuming speed limits don't apply to bicycles there's the potential to be charged with "furious cycling" or with cycling dangerously or carelessly. It would be interesting to know how "cycling dangerously" is defined, although I'd hazard a guess that if a policeman wanted to press a charge and a cyclist was going faster than was deemed safe for a car it would make his job a whole lot easier.

Biggsy · « **Reply #53 on:** 31 July, 2012, 09:23:54 pm »

I don't usually complain about going off topic and topic repetition, but it's gone far too far here now, on this special board for the Olympics.

Please try the Search function, or Googe with a prefix of "YACF", to find some excellent detail on cycling and speed limits and Furious Cycling and Dangerous Cycling. You'll find quotes from actual legislation, interpretation from lawyers, and case examples. All you want and more. YACF is not just guys on the internet, but the best guys (and gals) on the internet!

ScumOfTheRoad · « **Reply #54 on:** 31 July, 2012, 10:07:34 pm »

Went to the Women's Hockey this afternoon.
I noticed on the ticketing site that there were tickets for this session and got them at short notice.
The transport was fine, plenty of Underground staff around. On arrival at Stratford everything flowed smoothly, I had to collect the tickets at the box office and that queue seemed large but moved quickly. Parachute Regiment soldiers on the security searches looked barely old enough to be out of short trousers (but I wouldn't say that to their faces!). Everyone friendly - volunteers, soldierd and the policeman I chatted to in the stadium.
The Riverside Arena is where the old dog track was.

First game Belguim/China was a nil-nil draw.

Second game of GB versus Korea was a stormer - GB girls pulled ahead to 3-2 then Korea pulled it up to 3-3.
GB kicked up a gear to win 5-3, helped by a Scotsman cheering them on with "Come on St. Trinians!" at the top of his voice.
Genuinely bloody marvellous to see, and its a fast game.
Sadly a GB striker was stretchered off, looked like a heavy blow to the ankle. I hope she's OK.

Then I went over to see the Velodrome - sadly the viewing windows are whitewashed out, I guess to stop crowds gathering ten deep when an event is on.
Then down to the British Airways big screen for a beer or two whilst sitting on the hill.

Great day out, superbly well organised.

ScumOfTheRoad · « **Reply #55 on:** 01 August, 2012, 08:01:18 am »

For anyone in London over the Olympics, many nations have a base where you can visit and sample their culture, food and drink.
I have only visited the Swiss one so far.
Here is a good roundup:

http://londonist.com/2012/07/have-you-been-to-the-national-hospitality-houses

http://www.visitlondon.com/london2012/national-hospitality-houses-for-london-2012/

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #56 on:** 01 August, 2012, 02:48:42 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 30 July, 2012, 05:23:28 pm

Quote from: Arch on 30 July, 2012, 03:19:02 pm
I think I'd be tempted to peel that tape off, one by one over the course of the day...

On an vaguely related note, I see that my guerilla spelling correction has made it into this month's Cycle.

Page 14, top left!

contango · « **Reply #57 on:** 01 August, 2012, 09:20:33 pm »

Quote from: Biggsy on 31 July, 2012, 09:23:54 pm

I don't usually complain about going off topic and topic repetition, but it's gone far too far here now, on this special board for the Olympics.

Please try the Search function, or Googe with a prefix of "YACF", to find some excellent detail on cycling and speed limits and Furious Cycling and Dangerous Cycling. You'll find quotes from actual legislation, interpretation from lawyers, and case examples. All you want and more. YACF is not just guys on the internet, but the best guys (and gals) on the internet!

Fair call... let's put the derail to bed for real this time.

Jaded · « **Reply #58 on:** 01 August, 2012, 11:48:29 pm »

Today was footer at ~~London 2012~~ Cardiff.

A fuller report after the trip tomorrow, but it was a great day out, with Olympic volunteers being very helpful indeed, including giving Master Jaded and I a lift home.

mr magnolia · « **Reply #59 on:** 04 August, 2012, 10:46:29 am »

Family magnolia went to hampden yesterday to see France v Sweden ladies footy.
Took the 3 girls and missus the traditional route via overcrowded train from embra, then overcrowded train to mt. Florida and afterwards, a 45min stroll back to town. No beer though, sadly, although I was allowed a cheesy been pie.
Footy warmed up towards the end of the first half and was a thoroughly enjoyable event. French stylish up front.
Crowd of about 12500 managed to address the potentially somewhat thorny issue of waving union flags/butchers aprons by giving them only to small people or opting for Scotland/Sweden/France more suitably. Still not a personally comfortable feeling sitting close to the rangers end with them flying nearby though...

ScumOfTheRoad · « **Reply #60 on:** 05 August, 2012, 03:54:15 pm »

I am going to the Women's Beach Volleyball tonight!!!!
(Does a happy dance).

David Martin · « **Reply #61 on:** 05 August, 2012, 03:54:44 pm »

Say Hi to my cousin-in-Law Sarah who is a volunteer steward there..

drossall · « **Reply #62 on:** 05 August, 2012, 09:38:16 pm »

On Wednesday, I went to Hampton Wick for the time trials, but there's a thread for that. Yesterday, we were at the velodrome for the session that included, among other things, the womens' team pursuit final

There was a sonic Mexican wave as the noise followed the GB team around the track. Weird to hear.

Jaded · « **Reply #63 on:** 05 August, 2012, 11:48:48 pm »

Wednesday - Football, Cardiff.

Got (well, got then didn't got) some tickets for the matches on Wednesday. Our local football club had arranged coaches and tickets, but at the last minute (Monday) they found out that they had 3 fewer tickets than they expected and we, being the last to pay the deposit, were disqualified. I tried various sources, including the Olympics website, but being a Team GB fixture, it had sold out and although there were tickets available on the website, they were not available. Anyone who has attempted to buy tickets from the site recently will know what I mean. A day later and one ticket had been found, so we (Master Jaded and I) decided to travel anyway and take our chances.

As for the event? Well it differed from the other two I had been to at this stage - like this.

Although, to be fair, it was fairly discreet and this was near to the coach parking area.
We had an opportunity to bag another set of Olympic rings.

And see a smart set of Mexicans (its their team bus) leaving their hotel

where a friend of mine was posted as an Olympic volunteer. He had phoned to say that he could get two tickets, for us two, and as we already had one, he came along as well.

There were helpful volunteers about, as with other venues, and fun loving policeman and sealed drains.

Not such good queue management as other venues and no airport style screening - so long queues for people with bags. I though this was handled badly, with un uniformed people giving out clear plastic bags for liquid containers (like you need at airports) but not explaining what they were for. A lot of people found out too late that you could take an A4 sized bag through the normal check-ins, but anything bigger required a search at a different queue.

The stadium was decked out in London 2012 colours, no mention of Cardiff anywhere.

As for the event - two full football matches for pretty good seats for £20 is very good value. Mexico - Switzerland was a good, challenging match. Team GB - Uruguay was a robust team versus a nervous home one.

One thing stood about above everything else. I've been to four events now and only at this one did I hear swearing or booing or disrespect for 'other' players. Sadly the Olympic spirit did not transcend the Neanderthal tribal nature of football. Sitting in a stadium filled with families and with a programme of matches comprising the four teams mentioned earlier and hearing "TOON ARMY!!" (and similar) bellowed out, booing of the opponents captain, and lots of swearing just grated. Morons.

Finally? Team GB won - just, and my Olympic Volunteer friend, who lives in my town, offered us a lift home, shaving an hour off the coach journey back.

matthew · « **Reply #64 on:** 06 August, 2012, 10:48:00 am »

I went to the Excel Arena yesterday to watch a Mens Teams Quaterfinal session. Germany Walked all over Austria winning in straight Rubbers (3-0, 3-0, 3-1).

Portugal (who put GB out) were playing South Korea (seeded 2) on the second table and took them the distance (3-0, 1-3, 2-3, 3-2, 3-0) from memory. The Koreans second singles player played a very defensive Chopping style that made for a brilliant spectical where the Portugeese would smash it and the Korean would put it back from 3+ meters behind the table and say try again.

Fabulous sport played in a good atmosphere where the only thing that grated was the compare trying to work the crowd into a noisy frenzy when the match had earnt a respectful enthralled silence until the end of each point.

Manotea · « **Reply #65 on:** 06 August, 2012, 10:51:48 am »

Miss Manotea the Younger is Not Volunteering (i.e., being paid, good for her!) with one of the catering companies near the Media Centre & Stadium. She heard the roar of the crowd last night when Usain was doing his stuff, and folks congregating and cheering below the BBC centre, so 'she was there'!

Jaded · « **Reply #66 on:** 06 August, 2012, 04:16:56 pm »

Just watched some snatches, photos to follow...

geraldc · « **Reply #67 on:** 06 August, 2012, 11:12:52 pm »

At the aquatic centre, I spent some time playing with my camera while supporting China. A chance to play with slow mo

http://youtu.be/tV0UnY7SrnA

geraldc · « **Reply #68 on:** 08 August, 2012, 01:41:05 am »

The park is a lot like expo, with lots of sponsor pavilions, so we spent a lot of time exploring it. The only thing we return to everytime, is the Coca cola pavilion, as you get free coke in a special collectors bottle, and they take photos of you holding a real olympic torch. We now have a stupid number of photos of all of us holding a torch. They make you stand on a springboard, but I don't know if they're expecting you to jump in the air, while holding the torch, but as they're worth 4k each, I don't expect that they want people to drop them from a height, so jumping would probably be frowned upon. The first time we went, we had to put on special gloves to handle the torch, but now they don't seem to care, and you can handle them with your bare hands. If you are in the pavilion when Team GB win a gold, all the staff (or future flames as they called) have to stop what they're doing and do a little celebratory dance. It's just like being in a cult.
The BMW pavilion is a bit naff, you just watch a film, and then they give you a free pack of BMW top trumps, and you get to gawp at concept cars. They also have an olympic torch on display, which I found very interesting, as it was the only torch I've seen close up that still had the gas canister inserted. The BMW pavilion is however the best place to take photos of the orbit and stadium.
The BP pavilion is terrible, they just bang on about how environmentally friendly they are, and thanks to appalling career choices, Michael Johnson and Jessica Ennis (along with other athletes I didn't recognise) act as the company's spokespersons in the promo film, and you kind of lose a little bit of respect for them. You'd think one of them would ask what the hell have BP done with deep water horizon. I think one of the lines from the promo film was Jessica Ennis saying how she has to deal with 7 events, but BP has deal with hundreds...However I did get BP to offset the carbon I used travelling to the games, although I don't know why they just didn't do it for all the visitors, rather than just the ones who log on to their site.
The BP cinema is curious, essentially you sit in circular cinema, while the floor literally spins you round very slowly.
By far the worst pavilion is Acer. A man dressed badly as a robot/futuristic man jumps out of the screen at the end of the promo film. I just burst out laughing as it was so bad.
The panasonic pavilion shows highlights of the opening ceremony and the previous days events in 3D, all it highlights is how pointless 3D is.

marcusjb · « **Reply #69 on:** 08 August, 2012, 07:27:22 am »

Second visit (during the Olympics) to the park last night to go to the velodrome this time. I was still impressed with just how well it all worked. From the moment you step off the train, you are directly very efficiently towards the entrance. The security took minutes to get through and the service men doing the job are supremely friendly and polite - I guess in the long list of shitty jobs you get in the services, this is significantly less shitty than most and somewhat safer.

The park itself is an impressive place, a quite astonishing acheivement, I just hope that somehow we can maintain it in the future and make use of the facilities. The flowers everywhere are really quite beautiful and really make the place very vibrant.

Unlike gerald above, we didn't look into any of the sponsors pavilions etc. - they all looked very Interesting, but I don't need a new phone or car etc.

Queues for food and drink were not excessive, and nor were the prices in reality. Yesterday we did go to the golden arches, a rare 'treat' - and the prices were the same as you'd pay on the high street I guess.

The most impressive thing of all is the gamesmakers though, they are so into this, they are clearly enjoying themselves enormously. For all of those (myself included) who generally think the vast majority of youth are a surly miserable lot, it was brilliant to see so many happy, engaging teenagers - they really are having the experience of a lifetime. I felt a pang of regret that we didn't do something crazy like taking the few weeks off work to volunteer - it would have been something else. But they are all brilliant - they are a credit to our nation and make me wonder how we've ended up so buggerred.

The two venues we have visited we're both astonishing (athletics on Friday, velodrome last night). The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible for such a huge space. The sight lines were good - though there could have been better placement or more video screens - one was obscured by the flame and the other one was behind us. It makes following some elements in field hard to follow - especially when they do weird things like show the field sport closer to you on the screen opposite you (so we could watch shot put either up close or on the screen, whilst the other end could watch discuss either up close or on the screen - whereas it makes sense (to me) for me to be able to watch discuss on the screen opposite me (as it is too far away for me to see with my own eyes). But it is a great stadium. I don't know about football in the future, I hope they can make it work once they chop the top tier off or whatever they are going to do.

Last night, velodrome - we went there in February for the world cup event and it was superb. So we were very excited to get there again last night. We had amazing seats on the back straight just as it turned into the final bend. The atmosphere really was incredible - particularly when hoy did his thing when I thought I might have gone deaf. There was little to fault with the venue and it probably ended up beng the most secure place in london last night once all the VIPs were in (not entirely sure who was in, but we could see various royals and politicians etc).

I hope that the velodrome is used in the future, especially to let people try track racing etc. as well as for competition. It really is an amazing venue.

We were pretty psyched to see the BMX track being tested yesterday as well - gutted to not have tickets though - looks amazing and the heights and speeds they jump are amazing.

Overall, we have really enjoyed our Olympic experiences, they were expensive, but we will never experience anything quite like that again in our lives. Not quite over yet - we're off to see Blur on Sunday as part of the closing festivities.

Good work everyone!

citoyen · « **Reply #70 on:** 08 August, 2012, 11:19:50 am »

A couple of pics from the triathlon...

The swim - all we could see was a seething mass of white water moving towards us at speed with a bunch of arms flailing about and green-capped heads bobbing up and down. Amazing sight...

Alastair Brownlee, well on his way to gold...

d.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #71 on:** 08 August, 2012, 11:23:39 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 08 August, 2012, 11:19:50 am

Call the park warden! Have them arrested!

Wowbagger · « **Reply #72 on:** 08 August, 2012, 11:31:41 am »

There are bits of the Serpentine where swimming is normally allowed. I think you have to pay to get in though.

citoyen · « **Reply #73 on:** 08 August, 2012, 12:44:25 pm »

Yes, the Serpentine swimming club is a bit further down near the bridge (opposite where the grandstand was). I made a point of including the No Bathing sign in the frame.

I must say it was an excellent setting for the triathlon, really showed off London to its best.

d.

hubner · « **Reply #74 on:** 08 August, 2012, 12:51:44 pm »

OK I know you need a separate ticket to visit the Olympic Park, but how much is it, how do you get one, can you just turn up and pay?

Their website is useless, I can't find any info and it doesn't even say anything about tickets:
http://www.london2012.com/spectators/venues/olympic-park/

EDIT
I've found it buried away in the tickets website FAQ

"Can I get a ticket to the visit the Park without watching any events?
There are currently no tickets available for entry only to the Olympic park itself across all dates."