Disorganised and Unfair Olympics
The Winter Olympics in Vancouver have come in for a lot of criticism. I’m not going to be too outspoken, as we have the Summer Games in London coming up, but it does strike me that the Canadians have made some fundamental mistakes, that with hindsight could have been avoided.
They could have done nothing about the lack of snow, unless of course they could have found a way to move Europe’s and the United States’ unwanted snowfalls to where they were needed.
But to me one thing stands out. The Olympic flame is the centrepiece of any Games and they have surrounded their’s with a fence, that obscures it to the public. They say they were worried about vandals and the like, but it would not have been beyond the wit of the designers to protect it with say a moat and a low safety rail. I suspect if they’d asked the keeper of the monkeys at Vancouver Zoo, he would have had a much better idea!
They got a lot of others things wrong, like the finances, but then they did in Montreal too.
I would also criticise them for giving their own competitors more time to try out the tracks and courses, in the hope of winning more medals. I hope we don’t adopt the same attitude for 2012 as Games should be remembered for fairness not cheating.
But lastly, I will criticise them for one small thing, that would have been so easily overcome by a small amount of replanning. The medal ceremony for the ladies’ skeleton bob was held at three in the morning UK time, which was an absolutely wonderful idea for a once-in-thirty-years event for the UK. As it was 24 hours after the event, they could and should have scheduled it for a convenient time for the UK’s news networks.
But then they had expected a Canadian to win!
As I have said many times before, all major projects and events are often judged by the attention to detail by the organisers. Canada has failed with the details.
London 2012 must take note. According to this blog on the BBC, they are!
Skullduggery on Eurotunnel and P&O Ferries Websites?
I am in Holland and usually keep my travel plans rather flexible. If the weather is crap then I might go early or if the weather is good then the reverse might happen.
Last night, I decided that it would be convenient to have lunch in Den Haag and then drive to the ferries at about 16:00, catching the 20:00 Norfolk Line ferry out of Dunkirk for Dover. This would get me home about 23:00, which would be a sensible time, as it would mean I probably wouldn’t need to find any change for the Dartford Crossing. I’m not bothered about the money, as it is only a tiny proportion of my expenditure, but sometimes finding a 50 pence piece is not easy.
But I then found out at about 22:00 or so that the 20:00 was not running today. The previous one would mean I would miss lunch and the later one, is just too late at my age.
So I looked at Eurotunnel for a suitable departure. There was one at 20:40 or so at £73, which was just a little bit more than the ferry. The site declined my AMEX card, probably because I put a number in wrong, as I’d used it earlier in H0lland. So no worry, I’ll use another card. But when I rebooked the cheap price had gone and they wanted me to pay £127 or even more. I was so angry I couldn’t remember the real value.
So I checked P&O. I got a similar price, but after accepting it, when I went to add the credit card it had jumped from £50 to £100.
Now I know the prices go up at around midnight, but I was about half-an-hour before the witching hour and in the middle of an accepted transaction.
So I decided to skip lunch in Den Haag and take the 18:00 on Norfolk Line. At least I should be able to get a nice gluten-free meal on their ferries! I know from past experience that P&O regard all those with allergies as lepers.
This morning I checked the prices again. Norfolk Line was just a few euros more, Eurotunnel was £129 and the P&O web site was overloaded.
I know where I’ll be putting my business in future.
The Anonymous Widower 