The 'Rip-off Games'

Now, I'm firmly with the guy who said if the Olympics were being held in his back garden, he wouldn't bother to get off the sofa to look out the window. I've absolutely no interest whatsoever in a load of PE that goes on from 27th July until 9th September and it's thanks to Soppy Coe and Horseface Holmes that between 1st June and 27th September, I and my colleagues will be working staggered 6-day weeks and can each have a total of 2 days leave during that period

Apparently the torch comes through our village but, with great good fortune, I shall be at work, but did you know that each torch-bearer gets their own torch? And they have a chance to buy it afterwards? ...... at a cost of around £200 a pop.

If, in 1948 London held the 'Austerity Games', shouldn't this lot should be re-named the 'Rip-off Games', just take a look at some of the prices .. Hot dog - £5.90: Jacket potato - (from) £5: Pack of pork scratchings - £2.50: Yoghurt - £3.80: Fresh orange juice – £2.80: Cup of coffee - £2.40: and don't go thinking you can take your own drink because 100ml is all you're allowed, but you can buy 500ml bottle of water assuming you don't mind forking out £1.60. And that's after you've waited 3 hours to clear immigration, paid hiked-up hotel prices, squeezed yourself onto the crumbling inefficient public transport, sat in a traffic jam then waited to get into the venue in a queue so long that not only can you not see the stadium from where you are, but by the time you do get to your seat the event you wanted to see is over.

 

Im not really interested in it much either other than the fact that hopefully it will be good for the economy maybe??

 

I also can't understand why they need 8000 torches. I can understand the gas will run out from time to time, but you could always swap over and refill (before the thing flamed out).
If they didn't have the 2-3 minutes delay every 300 metres to light the next flame they could cut 11+ days off the trip around the country.
I think they should have taken the lead from Princess Anne and run with Miners Lamps.
That would have really been traditional - you don't see many 3' golden torches in these parts.

 

Does anyone know anyone who has managed to get tickets for any of the events?

Mr Kandy's sister has got four tickets to go and see the athletics whenever they are on and has also got tickets for the Paralympics but we have no idea as to how much this has all cost as it is supposed to be a big secret but Mr Kandy's dad and cousin let it slip that she has got the tickets,{they hate exercise with a passion} not that we are bothered as we would rather sit in the comfort of our own home watching any events we are interested in than fight our way down to London,and pay rip off prices for accomadation as Fidgetsmum has pointed out plus now i have a weak bladder would miss half of the event as i would have to keep queing up for the loos,although with only 100ml of fluids to drink i might be ok...

I do agree with what a lot of people are saying that considering we are supposed to be going through hard times in this country a lot of money is being wasted on the event when you have people in this country having to visit food banks because they can't feed themselves from day to day....

Also why is {Sir} David Beckham having anything to do with it as i thought he was now living and working in the States and hasn't lived here for a few years ....

Even the shops are full of stuff to do with the Olympics but by the looks of things not much of it is selling,a bit like the Jubilee stuff that the shelves are full of

They needn't have bothered with brand new miners lamps as i have one up the loft they could have used for free and Mr Kandy was just saying that the torches are even being transported for a lot of the way when they are NOT going through communities and did anyone see the coaches and other vehicles tagging along,which can't be any good for the enviroment

 

Isn't it supposed to bring money into the country and make money for businesses local to it?
(On LBC radio local trades people near the park were saying they tried to tender for things but never got a look in)

 

I hope they put some rockets on top of my house coz that would just be soooooooooooo cool!!!!!!!

 

was in the city today and was waiting for a bus outside a travel agent .... high prices ... so only the affluent can afford to go and see it live

I'll watch at home on tv, then at least I can watch the replays (over and over and over again)

http://www.thomascooklondon2012.com/Olympic-Finals-tickets

a ticket to the opening ceremony costs £5000+

http://www.thomascooklondon2012.com/Opening-Ceremony



bet you that prince Harry and his sidekicks will be there for free

 

Not really interested my self.
I do hope we manage to make it all look good though.
We have a habit these days of looking fairly awful to the outside world, lets face it everyone loves to stick the knife in these days regarding the UK.
Me included, but then I have to live here, so I can.

Its sure to be a rip off, but hopefully not as bad as the last one in China.

If it should generate a few quid, I very much doubt any ordinary people will notice it.

Like all these events, it will cause chaos, we had the "Tour de France" a couple of years ago, kind of "dont go near the place" effect on the local population.

 

I like the way 'They' are trying to make us feel uncomfortable if we do not go into raptures at the mention of the 'O' word.

Cheers, Tony.

 

Like many others, I'm not really interested in the Olympics and won't be watching any of it, (I'd rather be doing something useful in the garden).

However, there are spin off benefits for local businesses around the country in ways which are not always apparent.

Although I work mainly as a gardener in a large private garden, the property also includes top quality stables, paddocks and equestrian training facilities.

In the period leading up to the Olympics, for several weeks we are playing host to a small team of top international horses and their riders, who are using it as their training base in this country prior to the actual event.

The owners have spent a considerable amount over the past few months on refurbishing and improving the facilities around the site, which has provided plenty of work for local businesses.

While the horses are here, they will of course require food, bedding and so on.
They will bring with them an entourage of riders and grooms etc., who will be staying in local accommodation and eating and shopping locally while they're here.

We've been working for the past few months on ensuring all the paddocks are in top condition, and will shortly be planting up containers, baskets and beds around the site to create colourful displays for the summer (using plants supplied by local nurseries).
Again, this has all generated income for local business.

Remember, this is just to provide for about half a dozen horses and riders, who will be taking part in a single equestrian event, representing one country.

Multiply all this by the number of different sports and the number of countries taking part in the Olympics and I imagine it all adds up to a fair bit of extra income for the country as a whole.

 

There's been a major boost to the construction industry and there's all sorts of other benefits including a vast number of temporary jobs, but if despite all of that the UK's in recession it's going to be a bit of a shock to the economy when it's all over.

 

First Olympics I remember was Rome 1960 , Cassius Clay won Gold there. These days the Olympics are just too big to get a feeling for. They just fall a little flat for me . I'll just watch the ladies beach volleyball , as usual

 

I see where Trunky is coming from, but any job related to the Olympics is, as Scrungee pointed out, a 'one off' temporary one.

As for a boost to the economy? Well ... why do you suppose £4,000,000 has been invested in trying to boost domestic tourism this year? TV ads urge us to stay put with lines like "You won't see the Olympic torch in Crete or Corfu...." - which is precisely why people are leaving in droves, no doubt uttering the word "good" under their breath as they do so.

A recent analysis of London hotel rooms suggests hotels will be at less than 80% occupancy during the games, whereas, in a normal summer, that figure would be closer to 90%. A large part of my working life is spent talking to our various embassies around the world and in those countries from where a visa is required to enter the UK (109 of them), enquiries are, collectively, down this year by something in the region of 19%. In the USA (where Mr. F'smum spends a great deal of his time), anyone he's spoken to about visiting the UK has shrugged and said pretty much the same thing - 'London's so crowded and difficult to get around in a normal summer, why would we want to go when it's going to be 10 times worse?'. In addition, we have friends who run a B&B/Guesthouse not far from Stratford-upon-Avon - by now they're usually fully booked, this year their bookings are down by 30% and it's not just them, all hoteliers in their area are reporting the same, and why? Because when overseas visitors come they usually spend part of their holiday in London and part of it 'doing' the rest of England - since they feel they won't be able to move in London, not surprisingly very few of them want to fly across the Atlantic or half-way round the world just to go to Stratford (upon Avon), the Eden Project, Stonehenge, Cheddar Gorge or do a Beatles tour of Liverpool and all in the rain!

And while we're on the subject of Olympic rip-offs - if you haven't spent enough of your hard earned dosh, don't forget (if you've got Olympic tickets) you can go up 115 metres of twisted metal, otherwise known as the ArcelorMittal Orbit (or the 'Hubble Bubble') for a mere £15 each (concessions available). If you haven't got tickets (and who has, apart from Mr. Kandy's sister?), apparently you'll have to wait because 'the general public' won't be able to visit it until .... Easter 2014 - by which time no doubt, the price will have gone up to £20 each!

 

will be interesting to see how much the taxpayer forks out for the extra security, rockets on roofs, surveillance aircraft buzzing up and down, monitoring all mobile phone calls/hotmail and facebook messages, etc etc

add that to the cost of building the olympic stadiums, the olympic villages etc .... and what happens to them when the olympics are over?

I read a while back that countries that host the olympics actually end up spending more than what is generated

but suppose we will never know the real figures involved ....

 

I'm glad I live and work oop north where olympic fever wont reach us. I have no particular objection to it though. If it brings foreigners in to spend their money here, it has to be good for us surely.

To be honest, I think the military operation side of it is great. Its getting on for 70 years since Britain last had to use conventional military capability to defend home soil. This is a brilliant way to test if our military can still coordinate itself well enough to defend us. Sure there are exercises but they tend to be over the moors or at sea, and everybody whines about it complaining about the noise or the waste of money. Here is a rare chance for the full spectrum of our military and intelligence services to work together on a realistic exercise to defend one of our cities from an outside threat.

If the m.o.d announced they were deploying a full range of people and kit into London for a training exercise, and there was no significant event on, there's be hell on. Yet if someone across the sea decided to take a pop at us and our military failed to get it right because they were out of practice, there's be hell on again. This is a win win situation. The m.o.d gets to test out a 'defend the capital' type drill, learn from their inevitable errors, justify it, and all (hopefully) without any real act of aggression to respond to.