A Tour of the Olimpic Park

I was invited on a tour of the Olympic Park. Just to clarify... I was invited not because I am such a VIP :) I just happen to live very close to the Olympic City and the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) responsible for developing and building the new venues and infrastructure for the 2012 Games invited some people living close to the site.

The tour departed from Stratford Regional Station at 6pm. Before getting on a bus, I had to show my tour invitation and a driving licence to prove that I am actually ME and not some Jane Doe trying to steal some confidential information from people working on the site ;)

After my identity was confirmed, I happily sat in one of three mini busses, prepared my camera and impatiently anticipated the magical event along with 35-40 other lucky individuals excited to see what was going on in their neighbourhood.

It took us approximately 8-10 minutes to reach the Olympic Park. Security on the Park is very tightly controlled and all participants had to show their photographic identifications again. What is more, one of the security officers walked into the bus with a search dog, checked everyone’s bags and made sure no one was bringing anything suspicious to the Park.

And we were in...

The tour lasted for about an hour and, unfortunately, everybody had to remain on the bus for the duration of the visit.

I was really impressed, I must admit...

I had the opportunity to see how the major venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are developing and taking shape. Even though the whole place still looks like a huge construction site, it was a really nice experience.

Our tour guide, one of the chief managers of the site, shared with us some very interesting facts about the Park’s development.

We learned that building and preparation of the Olympic Park consists of four phases:

Phase 1, called “Planning and set-up”, involved planning, setting-up, preparing budgets and timetables for delivery.

Phase 2, called “Demolish, dig, design”, included clearing and cleaning of the Park. The ODA cleared the land, demolished hundreds of buildings across the site and moved the powerlines from the overhead steel towers into tunnels running underneath the site. By the end of summer 2008, the Park was prepared and ready for the big build.

Phase 3, called “The big build”, is the major stage. The “big five” venues of the Olympic Park will be constructed and built over the period of 3 years (between summer 2008 and summer 2011).

Phase 4 consists of test events that will take place between summer 2011 and April 2012.


The 2012 Olympic Games are being planned closely with the long-term improvement of the region. After the Games, a new area will be incorporated with the surroundings of the Park. Local community will benefit from a new park, new homes and outstanding, world-class sporting facilities. It sound promising considering the fact that East London has been a rather underdeveloped area and improving the region means more fun for us all :)

Construction has already begun on the new infrastructure, utilities and transport links in and around the Olympic Park, as well as on the Olympic Village, Aquatics Centre and the Olympic Stadium.

The Olympic Village

The Olympic Village is going to provide accommodation for thousands of athletes, team members and officials from all around the world during the 2012 Olympic Games. It will include restaurants, shops, medical services, leisure facilities and large areas of open space. After the Games, the Olympic Village will become part of Stratford’s regeneration project and will provide thousands of new homes for sale and rent.

The Aquatics Centre

The Aquatics Centre will act as a gateway to the Olympic Park. The venue will accommodate two 50m swimming pools and a diving pool. Up to 17,500 fans will be able to watch athletes taking part in Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Modern Pentathlon and Water Polo competitions. After the Games, the pools will be open to use by local communities.

The Olympic Stadium

The foundations of the Olympic Stadium have been completed and work is now being carried on the upper seating structure and the roof. The Stadium will take the shape of a bowl and it will allowed 80,000 fans to watch Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as Paralympic and Paralympic Athletics. After the Games, 55,000 seats will be demounted and taken away. The Stadium will be transformed into a 25,000 capacity Athletics Stadium and will host a variety of sporting, cultural, educational and community events.


According to the Olympic Park leaflet I have been given, other venues of the Olympic Park during the London 2012 Olympic Games will include:
- Hockey Centre with 20,000 seats for fans wanting to watch Hockey, Paralympic Five-a-side Football and Paralympic Seven-a-side Football;
- Eton Manor with 10,500 seats for the Wheelchair Tennis fans; 2,000 seats for the Paralympic Archery fans and training facilities that will later be transformed to a tennis, football and hockey facility;
- IBC/MPC (the International Broadcast Centre/ Main Press Centre) that will host 20,000 of the world’s media in state-of-the-art facilities;
- Basketball Arena with 10,000-12,000 seats for Basketball and Handball finals, Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball fans that will be dismantled after the Games and reconstructed elsewhere in the UK;
- Handball Arena with up to 7,000 seats for Handball, Modern Pentathlon (Fencing) and Paralympic Goalball fans which will later be converted into multi-sport arena;
- Velo Park with 6,000-seat cycling Velodrome and a BMX Circuit with 6,000 temporary seats. After the Games, facilities for road cycling and mountain biking will be added and the Velo Park will be left for community to use.

It is all very exciting and I cannot wait for tickets to go on sale... I would love to see the Opening or Closing Ceremonies (or both :) as well as to support athletes from my country with the hope of winning at least 10 golden medals in the 2012 Olympics...

Fingers crossed...

Horses

The last time I sat on a horse was when I was a teenager. One hot summer, I was staying at my aunt's summer house in Rokitnica, Poland. The horse belonged to one of the local farmers. It was one of those big, working horses and I could not really tell whether I liked it or not. However, the idea of sitting on it was very tempting as I had not sat on a horse before. I was probably 12-13 years old and had no idea how to get on a horse, what to do and how to behave. And, let's be honest, the farmer had no idea either. The horse was just a tool for him... it was just a hard-working animal used only to make the farmer's life on a farm easier.

Anyway... not knowing how to get on such a big horse, my cousin and I came up with an idea. We took an old, wooden chair and placed it next to the horse. I stepped up on the chair and, to this day I do not know how, I got on the horse... I must admit, I did not like that new feeling at all... The horse was too big, it was uncomfortable and unpleasant to be sat on it and I felt really awkward about the whole situation. I think I got off the horse quicker than I had got on it... I did not like this whole experience at all and have been rather hesitant and skeptical to being around horses ever since. I do not think I have ever stood close to a horse since that day...

I realised how wrong I have been this whole time last weekend...

Slawek and I visited the Horse Riding Centre in the Lea Valley Regional Park on Saturday. And I have completely fallen in love with horses...

Two horses in particular caught my attention. Even though they were rather resentfull at first, I somehow managed to gain their trust. First, I picked some grass. Holding my hand flat and keeping my fingers together, I slowly reached out and handed the grass to one of the horses. I repeat that a few times. Then, I let the horse to smell my open palm hand. Once the horse realized I was not going to harm it, I slowly and gently touched it... the horse readily accepted my touch. Its hair was long and soft... it felt nice and warm to the touch of my hand...

While training my German Shepherd, I realized how important body language is when interacting with animals as it reflects our leadership abilities. While making a physical contact with the horse, I tried to hold my head up high, made careful and deliberate movements and kept an eye contact with it all the time. In the end, the only way to gain a horse's trust is to get it to accept the idea that it is okay to let you touch it.

It was one of the best feelings I have had for a while. Being able to feed them, touch and caress them was a great experience. I will definitely visit the stables more often now. And maybe one day I will even be able to learn how to horse ride... I would love that!

Blackberries

We went blackberry picking on Saturday again. The day before, I had collected 10 small jars with the idea of making blackberry jam and blackberry syrup.

I think we picked more than 4kg of blackberries. They were big, black and really sweet. I rinsed them with water when we got home on Saturday afternoon. I, then, put them in a big pan, powdered lots of sugar on top and left them for several hours (in this case, for the whole night). Next morning, the blackberries were covered with sweet, yummy syrup. I squashed some juice from a whole lemon, carefully stirred the blackberries and boiled them on a low heat for few minutes. I put them in jars while they were still hot and I poured the remaining syrup in 3 glass bottles. Surprisingly, from 4kg of blackberries, I got only 5 small jars of jam...

We are definitely going blackberry picking next weekend!!!

Oh, one more thing. Of course, we took Angie with us as well and, to my biggest surprise, she loves blackberries!!! How strange is that?!