Olympic Silliness

Went to a meeting today with the 'Five Host Boroughs' organization, out in Stratford (the land that style forgot). They have this huge mapping request for all sorts of Olympic related hoohah, and, apparently, Hackney has a good name, so they want us to do their mapping. Sounds interesting--but what was most interesting was watching their great-but-vague-ideas and partnerships-are-fabulous schpiel run up against Ewa's need for firm plans, deadlines, lists, etc. I just sat back and watched them squirm while she peppered them with questions about project plans (eh?), budget options, la la la. I guess that's why she's manager--she gets to think about all the yucky bits and I get to sit back and watch the ensuing terror and pandemonium.

So, the Olympics are going to be held out in Stratford (http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=stratford%2C+e15&countryCode=GB#map=51.5402,-0.000981432&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:51.5402:-0.00098:14stratford,%20e15Stratford,%20London,%20England,%20E15%204), which truly is a horrendous place full of tower block council estates, one-way highways, and all the general 1950s and 1960s horribleness this country was able to create (and that's a lot). The Olympics folks are planning to 'regenerate' the place, and to leave a 'lasting legacy'. Yeah, right. First step: knock it all down and start again! True, they did manage regeneration in Barcelona, but the Spaniards are better at thinking of big-picture type things than are the English, who have apparently never seen a problem they couldn't dissect until it becomes unsolvable. I took mean and sadistic pleasure in asking them about links between physical and social regeneration (they are really only interested in the physical, which is a big part of the problem--one doesn't necessarily lead to the other). Anyway, it is all very nice, in theory, but I still really wonder how this country is going to manage to turn the biggest shithole in London into something that people will want to visit, and a place people will want to live. Miracles do happen though...

Not much else today really--I woke up at 655 because Robin was bounding up and down the hallway like some sort of crazed rodent (he had to catch a train), so I've been a zombie all day, and the Christmas exodus seems to have begun in earnest in the office. The general level of productivity has been plummeting (and there wasn't much of it to begin with, this being government and all!). Hey ho...