Tuesday 17 July 2012

Olympic rings




A set of Olympic rings have arrived in London and hang from the walkway above Tower Bridge. This has coincided with a new and unexpected Olympic irritant that has been inflicted on London. It is neither connected to my inability to get the boxing tickets that I am so desperate to buy, nor to the Olympic road lanes for the ‘Olympic family'. But it is transport related.

Our Mayor, Boris Johnson, has recorded various messages to be played at London stations advising us to be good citizens during the games and to be patient. The fact that you are late for work or may miss that all important job interview is to be counterbalanced against the excellent PR opportunity the Olympics have provided Boris. My hope is that the sound of Boris’s voice combined with the trauma of using public transport will have a subliminal effect on Londoners a form of “guilty by association”.

He even had the audacity to be at the opening of London’s new cable car. When asked why a £25million project is now estimated by TFL to cost £60million (making it the worlds most expensive cable system ever built and one that London does not need) he just ruffled his hair, fumbled through a list of irrelevant excuses and did the usual ‘play the fool to catch the wise’ routine. The expectation is that Londoners will regard him as a lovable rascal. Well the routine is becoming as irritating as the advice being broadcast at our stations.

This is a man that has never been known to miss the opportunity to have his dishevelled persona appear in the press or on TV.




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