Eastenders - the Waterways edition

This year i have carried out a number of canal walks across London, covering most of the Regent's Canal and also the Limehouse Cut Canal. Yesterday i continued this theme walking several of the waterways of the East End.

The River Lee up from Bow Lock (where i ended last time, i wasn't in earshot of "Bow Bells" but within sight of Bow Lock!) to where it joins the Hertford Union Canal (passing the Olympic Stadium in doing so). Then along all of this short branch of the Grand Union Canal to where it joins the Regents. You can see the River Lee photos here and the Hertford Union Canal here.

It was a nice walk, the strong and low Winter Sun was a bit of a problem but highly preferable to the heavy rain on my last walk!

Olympic Feast!

Following my Olympic debut in Coventry to see women's football i headed down to London last Wednesday to stay with my sister-in-law for a few days (who handily lives in East London). I had a ticket for the volleyball but also managed to get a ticket for the badminton too just before i went down. Ironically both of my events were in West & North London while i was staying East, still the Tube would be quiet...

First the volleyball at Earl's Court on Thursday. That was great fun, at school the only bit of sport i was ever any good at was serving in volleyball (though i was reasonable at badminton). It was interesting to see how different the serve is in proper volleyball to how we played at school, its served a lot faster and harder though my serves always got past the net, unlike some of these guys!

The spectator area was fun at Earl's Court, it included this rather awesome statue of a female volleyball player. I wish i could have something like this in my garden. As for the games i saw Russia vs Tunisia and Poland vs Argentina in the men's competition. The latter was a great game with a really hot atmosphere, it seemed like half of Poland was in the arena cheering their team on. There even was a Mexican Wave, which i joined in natch.

The second event was the next day and was the women's semi-finals and the mixed doubles bronze medal match in the badminton at Wembley Arena. An early start though crossing London was no problem (the tube got a lot busier later). Badminton was the sport i tried to get a ticket for in the original ticket ballot last year, i failed on that occasion but was lucky to get a ticket when some extra tickets were put up for sale last week. I love badminton so was really glad to see this event, it was good to see Wembley Arena too as i've only ever been there once before, to a Waylon Jennings concert oh... about 20 years ago...

The two singles games were good, both won by the Chinese natch. The mixed doubles match was won by Denmark defeating Indonesia though sparking scenes of joy in the arena. A full set of my photos from the various Olympic events i attended (and some other related images) can be seen here.

Everything was so well organised and everyone involved so helpful and professional, i couldn't help feeling pride at how Britain has took on the biggest event in the world and has basically smashed it.

Let the Olympics begin!

Last night there was the spectacular opening ceremony of the Olympics held in London, i really loved it all especially the sheep, cows and smokestacks. It was like my recent MA module on the industrial revolution condensed down to a song and dance routine. My mind truly was blown, it was how it should have been for this country. Not the mass regimented armies of dancers and performers you get elsewhere but humour, quirkiness, chaos... but somehow it all works. That to be honest is Britain in a nutshell.

I shall be going down to London next week to see some volleyball but today i travelled to Coventry to see some Olympic football, womens' matches between Japan and Sweden followed by Canada and South Africa. This is the first time i've seen live football in fact and i had a great time. Coventry staged everything perfectly, even the security wasn't that much of a hassle compared to some of the dark rumours we had had before the Olympics started. You can see the photos i took today and at the Olympics in general here.

Let the games begin

Today i received my Olympic ticket which makes it all seem a little bit more real. I am going to see some volleyball on August the 2nd. Despite the fact my sister-in-law's house (which is where i will be staying) is really close to the Olympic park (you can see the stadium from the platform of the nearest DLR station) ironically i'm going to have to trek across London to Ears Court instead! As a nice touch though a free travel card has been provided for the day. I've got my train ticket to get to London already so now i am all set, just a couple of months to go...

Olympic tickets

The website for people to get their tickets for the London 2012 Olympics opened a few days ago. Well when i say "get" what i actually meant was submit an application for tickets. Later in the year people who submit an application for tickets will be informed if their application has been successful as if an event is oversubscribed people go into a ballot.

My tickets are for the badminton on a Tuesday afternoon so i hope there isn't too much competition for my tickets.