Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:59 am  

nantwichexile wrote:

In fairness I guess that applies to a lot of places.....but thanks for the advice. I take it you have actually been to Rio ? I'll be coming to you for recommendations on places to stay, visit, dine etc

I was there in 94 mate with the RN so Hotel wise not a clue.
The usual tourist haunts are well worth it and most usually eat anywhere along the coppacabana but the usual rules dont go anywhere empty and if possible where the locals are eating.
In terms of names mate we'd been at sea about a week when we got alongside so the 5 day visit is still quite blurry but i do remember the local "chav" element carrying machine guns when we took a wrong turn on our way to play footballl against a local amateur team!!
The locals are very friendly some TOO friendly keep yer hand on yer wallet im sure RTN can give the names of places.
A great place but stacks you dont see on "Wish you were here"!

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:36 am  

rhinoms wrote:

I was there in 94 mate with the RN so Hotel wise not a clue.
The usual tourist haunts are well worth it and most usually eat anywhere along the coppacabana but the usual rules dont go anywhere empty and if possible where the locals are eating.
In terms of names mate we'd been at sea about a week when we got alongside so the 5 day visit is still quite blurry but i do remember the local "chav" element carrying machine guns when we took a wrong turn on our way to play footballl against a local amateur team!!
The locals are very friendly some TOO friendly keep yer hand on yer wallet im sure RTN can give the names of places.
A great place but stacks you dont see on "Wish you were here"!

They never tell you about the pickpockets in Barcelona either

Thanks for tips. You were in the RN ? Respect ....All I ever wanted to do at secondary school was to become a pilot and fly RAF Harriers. I failed the medical and had no contingency plan.

Should have stuck to my original primary school dream to be a zookeeper: Johhny Morris being my young impressionable inspiration

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:01 pm  

G1 wrote:

Genuine question, anyone who was negative pre-Olympics had a change of heart?

Sort of. My cynicism about the rampant profiteering, corporate whoring and the attempts LOCOG have made to destroy the Olympic ideal remain intact.

However, luckily the athletes arrived after much waiting around. And they've been amazing. Not just the British ones. It turns out that when you get literally thousands of men and women turning up to pursue dreams of glory and sportsmanship in return for no money, not even the attempts to sell that spirit to McDonalds, Coca Cola, Samsung and Procter and Gamble can stop it being remarkable.

I would still prefer it if more than half of the 80000 who witnessed first hand those unbelievable events in the stadium on Saturday and Sunday had been members of the public who acquired those tickets by applying for them like everyone else.

The socio-economic debate will rage on. In sporting terms the Games have been sensational. May it continue.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:39 pm  

G1 wrote:

Genuine question, anyone who was negative pre-Olympics had a change of heart?

The jury is still out for me.

Its not about the sport, the sport is superb and I am loving it, it was always about the cost and the tangible and the huge untangible legacies.

Of course I'm not naive enough to believe that sports funding in GB would ever have benefitted from a £10bn tidal wave of money, and I'm cynical enough to think that if Paris had won these Olympics then sports funding in GB would have continued to have been cut as I believe Seth has pointed out in the past so to suggest that his organisation would have been better served by just having the money instead of the Olympics is fanciful.

The real tangible benefit will come next year when (from memory) 1800 apartments get released to a housing association with an instruction to rent them out at "affordable rents" and the same number are released to the market to be sold at full valuation, the association are currently inviting applicants to apply for interviews with a view to start occupying in the summer of 2013 - whether the definition of "affordable rents" match the max capped housing benefits for London remains to be seen, if they don't then we know where the housing association are coming from.

From what I read of the scheme they have some quite radical ideas for what will basically become council house tower blocks (to put it crudely), with a resident caretakers living on site to handle day to day problems, if they can achieve a good balance of private/social housing and maintain the estate as it looks now then that will be a huge tangible benefit and a blueprint for every local authority to follow...

...and be incredibly ironic that the government in charge of re-introducing the concept of social housing was a Tory government.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:47 pm  

El Diablo wrote:

Sort of. My cynicism about the rampant profiteering, corporate whoring and the attempts LOCOG have made to destroy the Olympic ideal remain intact.

However, luckily the athletes arrived after much waiting around. And they've been amazing. Not just the British ones. It turns out that when you get literally thousands of men and women turning up to pursue dreams of glory and sportsmanship in return for no money, not even the attempts to sell that spirit to McDonalds, Coca Cola, Samsung and Procter and Gamble can stop it being remarkable.

I would still prefer it if more than half of the 80000 who witnessed first hand those unbelievable events in the stadium on Saturday and Sunday had been members of the public who acquired those tickets by applying for them like everyone else.

I love your ideals but you need to be a little bit more pragmatic about who this big wonderful event you're so enjoying is paid for.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:53 pm  

G1 wrote:

I love your ideals but you need to be a little bit more pragmatic about who this big wonderful event you're so enjoying is paid for.

Yes. But, it has been pretty flashy hasn't it? It's a bit socialist of me, but I do have to wonder whether you could have staged a less showy (but still sportingly excellent) Games with considerably less corporate wonga, for the same public/lottery wonga. I appreciate that this is not the way the Olympics roll nowadays.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:58 pm  

You could, let's face it, still make an awful lot of money in sponsorship without making over half the seats for the men's 100m final unavailable to the general public.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:16 pm  

El Diablo wrote:

Yes. But, it has been pretty flashy hasn't it?

I'm a playa. I like bling.

Braap braap.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:41 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

From what I read of the scheme they have some quite radical ideas for what will basically become council house tower blocks (to put it crudely), with a resident caretakers living on site to handle day to day problems, if they can achieve a good balance of private/social housing and maintain the estate as it looks now then that will be a huge tangible benefit and a blueprint for every local authority to follow...

...and be incredibly ironic that the government in charge of re-introducing the concept of social housing was a Tory government.

Not really. It's Livingstone's scheme, no matter how many times Boris pops up on television.

Re: Olympic Torch Farce : Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:06 pm  

craigizzard wrote: Not really. It's Livingstone's scheme, no matter how many times Boris pops up on television. He won't have been anywhere near the setting up of the admin team for the handover and over-seeing of the housing association though, not for several years. Anyway ... http://www.eastvillagelondon.co.uk/ Triathlon Homes ... http://www.triathlonhomes.com/ If they invite Cameron along to open the first "affordable rent" apartments you'll see a man smiling with his mouth but with his ears ringing from Thatchers bollacking that morning

craigizzard wrote: Not really. It's Livingstone's scheme, no matter how many times Boris pops up on television. He won't have been anywhere near the setting up of the admin team for the handover and over-seeing of the housing association though, not for several years. Anyway ... http://www.eastvillagelondon.co.uk/ Triathlon Homes ... http://www.triathlonhomes.com/ If they invite Cameron along to open the first "affordable rent" apartments you'll see a man smiling with his mouth but with his ears ringing from Thatchers bollacking that morning