Olympic Tickets
Everybody has had their views on the problems with Olympic tickets.
The difficulty in obtaining tickets depends on many factors.
The first thing, is that the various stadia are probably not quite large enough. But they were designed around the number of tickets sold at previous Games and of course within the more limited budget available for these Games.
I think too, that people like corporate sponsors are taking too many of the prime tickets. But again, because of the straightened times we are in, we need the sponsors to keep the costs down.
But the biggest problem we have an immense number of people who can get to the Games. Obviously, there are all those, who can get to London for the day, but we have to include all of those, who have a friend or relative in the city. Let’s say you are Austrian and your daughter works in London. With both the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee, this summer, what better time to come and spend some time in the greatest city in the world, even if you have to sleep on the sofa or even the floor.
Many of these people, like the Irish, the Scandinavians and some of the smaller European Union countries will never get to host the Olympics in their lifetime, and as they have a right to buy tickets, then why will they not come?
So London is probably the most convenient city to hold the Olympics. The only European ones that come near are Paris and Berlin. The next city, Rio di Janeiro may be a fabulous city, but it’s not exactly easy to get to. just like Beijing and Sydney.
We’re all suffering from excess demand and not enough tickets.
If the Olympics had gone to Paris, the same problem would have happened.
The Waitrose-Go-Round
I know that sometimes I buy some odd food, as many coeliacs do, but I’m finding getting what I need seems to be getting more and more difficult.
On Friday, I went to Upper Street, Islington to get most of my shopping, but yesterday, I had to go Holloway Road, or as I say, Jones Brothers, to get some of the rest. At other times, I find myself in Bloomsbury and Eastfield.
Currently, the products I find difficult to get are the St. Helen’s Farm Goats Milk Yoghurt and the Eat Natural Breakfast Toasted Muesli with Vine Fruits. I can get the latter in Sainsbury’s next door to my usual Waitrose. I’m not sure, but they may undercut Waitrose and shoppers have been ignoring it in the more expensive store, so the computer says they shouldn’t stock it.
But it all goes to make my shopping difficult.
A Comedian With Cerebral Palsy
BBC Breakfast this morning showed a comedian from Newcastle, with cerebral palsy called Lee Ridley, who works under the name of Lost Voice Guy. If he appears near you, I think he would be worth seeing and not for the curiosity value.
It reminds me of a time in the United States, where there was a blind comedian with a guide dog. I never saw him, but there is one in New York now called Brian Fischler. In the act I heard of, the dog got into it, by reacting appropriately to some jokes.
Wot No Fountains!
It is always reckoned that if you want it to rain on your event, you ask the Queen, as she is renowned for bringing the rain.
But the current drought has even stopped the fountains in Trafalgar Square, as this article in the Telegraph outlines. Here’s two pictures I took today.
The visitors don’t seem too bothered. The Queen’s bad luck doesn’t seem to be having any effect. It will of course bucket down at the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics
I’ve Got a Pet
But it’s only a mus musculus in the kitchen. Cheeky sod!
I think it’s more humane to trap them live and then take them to a research institute, so they can benefit all life.
How To Win a Motor Race
I had to laugh at this article on the BBC web site. It seems that Turkmenistan is one of those countries, where what the President wants, the President gets!
I notice that he got elected last time by 97% of those who voted.
A Discussion About Race and Swimming
I found this article called Why don’t black Americans swim? on the BBC web site and it makes a lot of interesting points and the comments from readers are fascinating.
I can’t criticise anybody, as I don’t swim, but all my children do or did and of course C was a very competent swimmer. But my parents hadn’t got a stroke between them.
I seem to remember reading an article about swimming rates in various nations and there is quite a variation between some countries, where you’d think swimming rates would be similar.
The Day Mrs. Thatcher Kissed a Sailor
The Times has an amazing story about how Mrs. Thatcher kissed a sailor, who was a bomb disposal expert in the Falklkands War. Most of the story is here in this article about Michael Fellows from Sussex Life, but it doesn’t tell how they dived under the Cabinet Office Table to see the map of the Falklands on the other side.
I suspect the story will be reprinted in other papers later.
The Grahame-White Aircraft Factory
This historic building is now part of the RAF Museum at Hendon and has been fully restored and added too, by moving the Watchtower to join it. The latter operation was shown on BBC TV.last night. The building contains aircraft from the First World War and earlier and they are listed here on the Museum’s website.
In some ways, it is one of the best parts of the museum. The BBC programme was very much worth seeing as it gave a deep insight into Claude Grahame-White, who in many ways has become a forgotten aviation pioneer.
The Anonymous Widower 