From the Match Factory to Eastfield
Today, as I went to the football in Ipswich, I took a video as the train passed the site for the London Olympics in 2012.
The video starts as the train passes the old Bryant and May match factory and continues until the new Westfield shopping centre at Stratford. It opens in September 2011 and will inevitably be called Eastfield.
The red-bricked former match factory is now flats and a few houses and is called the Bow Quarter. It is famous for the match girls’ strike in 1888, which was part of the suffragette movement and one of the defining moments in trade union history. A musical, The Matchgirls, was written and produced about the strike in the 1960s. The musical was written by Bill Owen, who later appeared as Compo for many years in Last of the Summer Wine.
The Olympic Stadium is now substantially complete or at least on time for its full opening later this year.
The red tower after the stadium is the ArcelorMittal Orbit.
The Aquatics Centre is next.
The recently completed London Velopark is to the back of the Olympic Park and is not really visible.
The video ends at the new Eastfield Shopping Centre, which opens in September. The owners as you can see are still calling it Westfield.
But of course it will be part of that new Olympic sport; shopping, based on the new Underground line; the Shopping line, which must be the new name for the Central line. You start at Eastfield, after arriving by train and perhaps even from Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam on Eurostar, before travelling to Oxford and Bond Streets and then taking the line onto Westfield at White City.
Note that the video was shot from left side of the train in First Class. My thanks go to the driver, who specially slowed the train, so I could get a better video and to the ticket collector, who didn’t interrupt me to check my tickets. If you listen carefully, you can here his voice on the video.
It would be nice to repeat this on a clear day from the DVT on the front of the train. It would hopefully be as spectacular as the video, I took from the High Speed Train on the way to Inverness.
One Up, A Few More to Go!
Today the Olympic Velodrome is being handed over. On time and on budget!
It looks good and I hope to be there for some of the action in 2012, as I said in an earlier post.
Let’s hope that the London Olympics set a new standard for project management and that all the venues follow this example of time and cost. After all the North and East London Lines, which will help take people to the games, set a precedent for this and the latest addition here, the Western Curve at Dalston, is expected to open soon.
I’ve Only Got a Gammy Left Hand!
My left hand is getting better, but I still have a degree of pain and lack of control in it, because of the stroke. But then Sarah Storey doesn’t have one at all.
But that didn’t stop her winning gold in the cycling at Manchester last night.
I think it decided what event I want to see in the cycling at the 2012 Olympics.
I’ve now registered for tickets.
If I do get to go, I’ll cycle there along the Regent’s Canal or through the parks. I may take the second option, as I can’t swim.
West Ham Appear to Have Got the Use of the Olympic Stadium
But the arguments will continue, as I indicated here. I said this in an e-mail to BBC Breakfast.
I’ve watched football in Moscow and it didn’t work there.
But as we have some of the best architects in the world and engineering and methods are getting better all the time, I’m sure that we can come up with a well-executed British compromise, of which we can all be proud.
Every difficulty should be looked upon as an opportunity, not a defeat.
What Do We Do With the Olympic Stadium?
The row about what to do with the Olympic Stadium in Stratford after the Olympics rumbles on apace.
The original plan to turn it into a smaller 25,000 seat stadium might be a wonderful legacy for athletics, but would it be the best use of it after the Olympics. There are perhaps a couple of meetings a year that could fill such a stadium, unless the World or European Championships are held in London. And knowing London and Londoners like I do, 25,000 seats would probably be too small. So we might have a white elephant that would require lots of continuing funding.
To have a dual-use stadium as West Ham propose may not be a good idea. Fans don’t like watching football over an athletics track and I can understand why. I watched Ipswich play in the old Olympic Stadium in Moscow and the view was atrocious. Especially, as I had forgotten my binoculars. I also went to Stamford Bridge, when it still had the dog track in place and that wasn’t good either. So I can understand the views of fans and Harry Redknapp, when they say football and athletics don’t mix.
But there is a more fundamental problem and that is that football (and cricket and rugby for that matter) rely heavily on providing a lot of corporate entertainment with boxes, restaurants and fast food bars. Athletics crowds are different, probably more knowledgeable and have different and conflicting needs. They also stay longer making a whole day of the trip.
There is probably only one mixed use stadium that works and that is the Stade de France in Paris. In some ways this illustrates the problems, in that the French stage football, rugby and athletics, whereas, in England, rugby has Twickenham and football has Wembley.
The question has also to be asked if athletics wants a spiritual home like football, rugby and cricket.
It probably does, but a 75,000 seater stadium would be a white elephant, costly to fund.
It could also be argued that it has a spiritual home at Crystal Palace, which has been the scene of some great days of athletics. But it needs to be knocked down and rebuilt, preferably to a size of 30,000 seats that could be temporarily expanded to stage World or European Championships. One of the other problems of the stadium, was that it didn’t have good transport links direct from North and East London. But this has been partly solved by the new East London Line.
In fact, it would be good for South London if the whole Crystal Palace site was properly developed as a sport and leisure park, to compliment Stratford. Very little has been done since the original palace burned down before the Second World War. And if Crystal Palace is properly redeveloped, why not do the same at Alexandra Palace? The famous race course is still there.
What we need is a proper strategy for London, that is properly thought through. In fact this is the main problem with the Olympic stadium in that it was built to a cost for a limited life, rather as part of a whole strategy.
I have just Karen Brady, the West Ham, Vice Chairman, on BBC Breakfast and she put a convincing case for their mixed-use plans, which would include cricket. So is this just one part of a strategy, which should include plans for North, South and West London as well.
And then there is the elephant in the room; Chelski. Arsenal have a 60,000 seat stadium and Tottenham will have one, whether they move to Stratford or not. They wouldn’t be able to develop at Stamford Bridge, but what about a new stadium, where HS2 connects to Heathrow at Old Oak Common?
So the problem is a lot bigger than just what you do with Stratford.
If You Think There Are Cheats in Sport, Remember the Nazis
There is a wonderfully inspiring interview with a lady of 90 called Dorothy Tyler in The Times today. She would have won the gold medal in the high jump in the Berlin Olympics, but for the count-back rule at the time. And that despite the Germans entering a man, Dora Ratjen, to replace their best female high-jumper, who was Jewish. She then went on to win another silver at the London Olympics of 1948. This time it was all fair and square and she was beaten by the first black female Olympic gold medallist, Alice Coachman. She said this of her defeat.
“She was from a very poor family,” Tyler says. “She used to have to pick corn and walk through the fields to school. We exchanged addresses after the competition and I kissed her when she won, which seemed to amaze everyone. One of the reporters asked: ‘How did I like being beaten by a black woman?’ I said: ‘As far as I was concerned, she was a competitor representing her country.’ ”
She eventually competed in the 1956 Games in Melbourne, but she never got the gold she deserved and would have certainly got under modern rules.
Now come 2012, she is an obvious candidate to present the medals in the women’s high jump in London. But I doubt she’ll be asked to do it, as someone from the the so-called great and good, will be called upon, because it is his turn.
This article alone made the purchase of The Times worthwhile.
You don’t have to be mad to support Ipswich, but it helps!
On Friday, I bought my train ticket to go to see Ipswich play Leicester at Portman Road, so if I had decided not to go because of the weather it would have cost me £23.55. I could afford that and knew that as I walked along the Ball’s Pond Road to Dalston Kingsland station, the weather didn’t look at all promising.
- Snow in the Ball’s Pond Road
I did get as far as the cash-point on the corner, but immediately returned home and then went to a pub where I had some lunch and some cider.
At about two, I thought that I’d go as snow often makes for good entertainment. So I retraced my steps to the station, bought a paper and then found that the station was closed. So I had to taske the alternative route, via Dalston Junction, Whitechapel and Mile End, where I got the Central Line for Stratford, to get the fast train to Ipswich.
The Olympic stadium looked good in the snow.
- Olympic Stadium in the Snow
But at least the Olympics are in August not the winter!
I actually fell asleep on the train to Ipswich, but that had nothing to do with missing the first twelve minutes or so of the match. The move has been tiring and I just needed the sleep. I completely missed the first goal and only heard the roar of the crowd as the second went in.
I just managed to see the third through the snow, but as most of the action for that goal happened just in front of me.
The second half was much of the same, as 16,728 souls peered through the snow.
Football in the Snow
But all thanks go to the referee, who resisted all efforts by the Leicester players to abandon the match. And of course to the ground staff, who kept the game going.
I had a wait at the station for a train back to London, but when it arrived it was new, warm and comfortable and arrived at its destination without gaining any more delays. It was then a tube to Liverpool Street and a taxi from the station to home. The only bad information I received on the journey home was from the charming policewoman at Liverpool Street, who said that the taxis weren’t running. But they were.
Interestingly, her colleague was in a uniform which said Politie, so he could have been Dutch. Are we that short of police these days that we have to borrow them from other countries? I made a mistake in not taking a picture.
But I suppose, when Ipswich fans talk over a drink in a few years time, I will be able so say “I was there!”
Isn’t life wonderful.
Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on Little Miss Perfect!
The nickname is not mine, but that of Simon Barnes of The Times in his article about the incomparable Jessica Ennis, who surely will be one of the faces of the London Olympics. Barnes talks of the burden placed on Cathy Freeman’s shoulders because she was the face of the Sydney Games. She took it well and still won the gold in her event.
Can Jessica?
Judging by the reaction of her parents and I think, her sister, as she won yesterday and she will have all support she can want in that direction. As I suspect she will from the media, who adore her and UK Athletics, who see her as a good bet for Olympic gold.
But as I said in the title, we must be careful to not put too much pressure on her.
I have this feeling though, that if we do, then it will make no difference to her. She’s been through a lot of adversity and problems to get where she has already. How many athletes have learned to jump off the wrong foot for a start to avoid injury? So perhaps the pressure we could add is minimal.
Has the Party for 2012 Begun?
I have been watching the European Athletics Championships from Barcelona and enjoying them tremendously. It seems to me that the athletes, who seem to be performing better than they usually do, are enjoying themselves immensely.
Is this the 2012 effect, because everybody wants to appear at their own Olympics? But it all bodes well especially as I suspect it isn’t just the athletes who are getting ready for the Games.
And talking of the Olympic party in 2012, is it going to be a bit different from the original plans, due to the multi-national and multi-racial nature of the UK.
Let’s take the Irish! They are a very keen sporting nation and have had quite a bit of success in the past and like to support their athletes. So London will also be Ireland’s games as well, as they will never get closer. There will be one hell of a party if any of their competitors strike gold.
I suspect too that other nations, with large immigrant commnities in the UK, will also join in and hopefully create a very vibrant Olympic atmoshere.
Towards The Olympic Park
When I left Dullingam, I had had the vague intention of taking the newly rebuilt North London Line, either to Richmond or Stratford to see the Olympic Park for 2012. Access to the line is just one stop away from King’s Cross at Highbury and Islington.
A few minutes later, I was on the platform there waiting for my brand-new train to Stratford.
What impressed me was the attention to detail. Look at this staircase for example.
Stairs at Highbury and Islington
Now I am not disabled, but the grip in my left hand is not good and I have some issues with my eyesight, in that I miss objects at a low level. But here the rails and step edges are in bright orange, so I had no difficulty negotiating them at all.
Have they also have decided that on an outdoor station, that flowers rather than art is the best way to decorate the stations. Note the hanging baskets shown here as the train arrives.
The Stratford Train arrives at Highbury and Islington
The trains are a far cry from the old stock that used to creep around the North London Line, when I used to take it from Broad Street to Willesden to get to Metier at Stonebridge Park. They were third rail electric trains then, but now they are fed from an overhead catenary. This is a first for London Underground or Overground, but it is so they can get freight trains from East London to the main West Coast Main Line.
Here a load of containers are trundelling towards Stratford and then probably up the Norwich line to the port of Felixstowe.
My train was on time and I took it all the way. The last part of the journey is through the Olympic Park.
Here the main stadium is rising towards completion.
The Olympic Stadium Rises
And this is the aquatic centre.
Aquatic Centre
It is all very different from when as a child, I used to go to Stratford to bunk the engine sheds to collect engine numbers. I don’t think kids do that any more!
At Stratford, you have several choices about how to continue your journey.
- North London Line – You could take the line across the city, with its superb views of central London, to have a walk in Hampstead Heath.Kew Gardens or along the river at Richmond.
- Central Line – This is the quickest way back to the City and central London.
- Jubilee Line – This will take you to Greenwich, Canary Wharf and the West End, through some of the most spectacular stations on the planet.
- Docklands Light Railway – This is the route for people, who like to explore. Get a good guide book and just go to a station and walk around what I say is the real London, with its markets, churches, canals and historic buildings. And of course, its rich tapestry of people!
I chose the last and took the driverless train to Canary Wharf.
The Anonymous Widower 