One Year To Go

The countdown clock for the London 2012 Olympic Games from today will be measured in days rather than years. It will be one year today, that the Opening Ceremony for the 30th Modern Olympics takes place in the Olympic Park in London.

Many news organisations have mis-reported this day, by saying the games will start in 365 days, all forgetting that 2012 is a leap year.

The above picture was taken last Saturday (23rd July 2011), and is 7 pictures that have been stiched together to make a panorama of the Olympic Park as seen from the Greenway.

 

A Trip Around the Olympic Park on the Floating Cinema

As part of the London 2012 Olympics Open Weekend, I won a trip on the floating cinema.

The tip included seeing the premier of a short film called “Drift Street” by Michael Smith.  The film was his directorial debut, and concentrated on the changes that the Olympic Park development could have on the local community.

I actually felt the film was a little negative. Michael had moved to the area, as he liked the run-down, derelict look of the area, which as he says always encourages artists. However, he chose to live in the area because of this, but what about the people who had no choice, those that were born and bred in the area. Do they not deserve to live in a place that is clean and tidy, and actually have money spent to improve their local environment?  You can see the film HERE – it lasts around 12 minutes.

As part of the trip, the boat sails along the canals of the Olympic Park. It gave us some interesting views of the construction work that is still going on:

The Orbit up close:

The Aquatic Centre:

and finally landscaping work:

To see more pictures from this trip, please check out the my flickr photostream.

Commuter of the Week 24

Here is my favourite commuter of the week. It looked like she was rehearsing for a presentation. Also, I did like her pink hair – just a pity it doesn’t show to well on the above picture.

To see more of my Commutergraphy pictures, click HERE

Another Customer Who Logged Onto The Right Website

Alexandr and Sergi are really pounding the streets, thanking people who successfully logged on to Compare the Market.com rather than Compare the Meerkat.com. Here is their latest visit:

I love these adverts.

 

Team GB’s First Qualifier for London 2012

Congratulations to Kerri-Anne Payne, who by winning the 10km Open Water event at the Swimming World Championships in Shanghai, become the first British athlete in any sport to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Kerri-Anne, who is 24, has had quite a successful swimming career already; a two time World 10km Open Water Champion, who represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics in 200m and 400m swimming events as well as the 10km open water event, where she came in second place earning a Silver medal for Great Britain.

So good luck Kerri-Anne next July!!!

Commuter of the Week #23

This is my favourite commuter of this week. Also, I think he is my first crossword player. He really looks stumped!!! I wonder if the answer to 5 Down was “Voyeur”?

To see more of my Commutergraphy pictures, click HERE

Yuri Gagarin

This is London’s newest statue, a memorial to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. It was unveiled yesterday (14th July 2011) to mark Yuri Gagarin’s visit to London.

On 12th April 1961 Yuri Gargarin became the first man in Space.  His 108 minute flight in his Vostok 1 space capsule, made him an instant hero. Off course the Soviet Union wanted to boast about its achievement of getting a man into space, that they took Gagarin on a World tour. His visit to London came weeks after a similar visit by JFK, and  an American correspondent reported with undisguised shock, that the crowds were as large and as enthusiastic for Gargarin.

Gargarin was afforded virtually the same trappings as a head of state on an official state visit. He had lunch with the Queen, a meeting with the then Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan and was driven around in a Rolls Royce with the number plate YG1.

So much was Gargarin worth in propaganda terms to the Soviet Union, they refused to let him go into space again. This was a big disappointment for Gargarin. Unfortunately, in his attempt to get back on to the space programme in 1968, when flying a training session in a Mig Fighter Plane, the plane crashed, and he was killed.

This statue is outside the British Council offices on The Mall, and was a gift from the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos.

First Crop of Baby Orange Tomatoes

First Crop of Baby Orange Tomatoes, originally uploaded by gary8345.

I am really pleased with what I think is a huge crop of tomatoes. This crop is from two plants. Despite this huge haul, there are even more tomatoes to come.

As for the taste, they are quite sweet, and I am looking forward to eating these over the coming days.

Commuter of the Week #22

Commuter #281, originally uploaded by gary8345.

Do you think I got caught? It certainly looks like he knew what I was doing. It’s quite a menacing look he is giving me. However, I actually think he was totally oblivious to what I was doing. He was giving every one the “evil eye”!!!

To see more of my Commutergraphy pictures, click HERE

Warm Up

Work has began on the warm up area for the Olympic Stadium. It will also be where the competing athletes will assemble for the opening ceremony for the games on 27th July 2012. A few months ago, this was the view you would have seen:

Now, with all the major building work complete, there is no need for concrete mixers, so the sight has now been cleared, ready to be turned into a warm up track:

It will be interesting to see how this project progresses.