Yes, they are actually building stuff at last, having left it totally derelict for years while they argued over money.
Inevitably, all the promises of private investors have turned out to be the lies and fantasies we always suspected and they have run away screaming so it's down to us long-suffering taxpayers to bail out the event, which shall now be more along the lines of a local village sports day than the spectacular celebrations of the past.
Here's what we've been paying for so far:
Most of the site - as you can see - is still pretty much of a wasteland …
But the actual Olympic stadium itself is now well under way.This is partly financed by a football team in the US who is going to ship most of it over the pond after the Olympics, and we are truly grateful to them as otherwise we'd have been using the local dog track.
And here is Zaha Hadid's splendid swimming pool building.This is the only part of the original grand scheme still being built, and that's only because she is so ornery and shouty and the government is shit-scared of her.
Yay, Zaha! She's awesome!
I'll keep you posted as the work goes on.
18 comments:
now i'll have to go and look al that up, sugar! which team? what does her design look like? so many questions, so few answers...what a great way to spend a hot day! xoxoxo
Savannah: I have no idea which US club has bought it but when the games are over, all of the white part you see in the photos, together with 55,000 seats will be shipped off across the pond, leaving a more manageable 25,000 seat athletics stadium that … er … nobody in this country seems interested in buying right now.
As for Zaha's design, it will look like every other Zaha Hadid building in the world: mind-buggeringly awesome (I'm a fan).
xoxoxo
So, will you run and hide in another country while the Olympics are going on? Your poor homeland will be inundated with people, and you won't be able to put a single toe on that train of yours.
Robyn, I shall be working from home for the entire duration.
The Olympics site is beside Stratford train station, which currently deals with one train every fifteen seconds and is a constant and annoying bottleneck on my commute. During the Olympics the place will become totally gridlocked so I'm staying home.
When the Olympic committee came over here to see if our transport infrastructure was up to the job the government secretly shut down almost the entire rail and tube network while they whisked the committee members out to see the site. My journey home was delayed five hours so that they'd be fooled into thinking evereything would run smoothly.
It's going to be the biggest transport shambles ever.
It's really that bad, Dive? Sounds terrible. How do you know it's all so pathetic?
The athletics will be great, Lynn, and I can't wait to watch them, but most of the buildings are going to have to be cheap and re-usable as the recession scuppered all the grand plans. The pool is the only surviving building from the original scheme.
If you know of anyone who wants to buy the 25,000 seater stadium that will be left in Stratford when the rest is taken away, do drop them a line and let the committee know. They'd kinda hoped West Ham would buy it but they're not interested.
At least the East End will have a fine swimming pool complex afterwards.
The olympics hoo-haa really is a bit out of control isn't it? I'd say more but I'll just get hot under the collar.
I'm actually looking forward to it, Mme, though it's a shame the recession hit just at the wrong time so it won't be spectacular like Sydney or China.
At least the actual sports themselves will be worth watching.
Well sure but it must follow suit that if the equipment and housing is as feeble and inadequate as you say, the sports themselves will inevitably suffer? Quite alarming.
Not at all, Lynn. The playing facilities will be excellent, it's just that there will only be one "trademark" building and a huge bill for the taxpayer.
Hmm. I propose that MPs who have been abusing their expenses i.e. our cash, should pay some of it here and some to charity.
Thanks for mentioning Zaha Hadid's work. This opened a whole new world to me. I've been looking at images of her work. Wow. What interesting and beautiful shapes.
I would like to have seen Zaha Hadid's Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion.
One of these days I would like to see an Olympic event. We get the swim trials here on the prairie, and the first time I saw Torres swim....boy howdy.
Yes, I agree with LL re: Zaha Hadid; I'd heard of many architects but not her and now I'm off and running to look at her stuff. Thanks for the introduction.
Looking forward to seeing more as the work progresses....slowly.
Lynn: MPs will continue to abuse their expenses and misuse taxpayers' money as long as they are in office, and when they leave they will be replaced by equally grasping thieves.
The honest politician is an oxymoron, and all the others are simply morons.
Lupine Lady: So glad you like her. She's mad, bad and usually angry about something but she produces amazing and inspiring buildings.
Cali: Me, too.
Maria: Even though my trains will be totally unusable during the Olympics I intend driving down there to watch what I can. The big, public events like marathons and triathlons at the very least.
Cynthia: Zaha is cool. Andy (see various blog posts in the past) did a few months of contract work for her a couple of years back. She had him working eighteen hour days and drove him like a slave. He hated the work but came away totally in love with her. She has a somewhat overpowering personality.
When the building site looks a little more complete I'll post some more photos.
Well tell me something I don't know, Dive! lol I propose they pay back those stolen amounts into this area, amongst others and not just lost into an unfathomable and untraceable pot somewhere!
It looks increasingly like they're going to get away with paying back only token amounts and then changing the rules to allow them to keep on stealing stuff in secret.
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