In message , at 14:56:31 on
Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Recliner remarked:
No-one involved in the ceremony seemed to have any ID showing. Did they
have some sort of screening that assumed that once people were judged
safe to be inside the perimeter, you could trust them to behave
themselves where they went afterwards?

I thought some did have badges showing?

I couldn't see any.

After the mysterious 'woman in red' mix-up in the opening ceremony,
they probably did want to keep others segregated from the athletes.

That's why I asked (and also the general issue of people doing what
they've been rehearsed to do, rather than going off on their own).

ps Anyone else think Posh Spice looked less than excited about the whole
thing?
--
Roland Perry

On 13/08/2012 14:20, Recliner wrote:

Yes, it over-ran quite a bit, just like the opening. Apparently the
main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes
took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated -- they
were gazing around the stadium and taking pictures while dawdling
along, instead of the brisk jog that the organisers had perhaps
expected of athletes.

Foreigners in London who move slowly in large groups and pause to take
photos of everything. Who would ever predict that such a thing might
happen?

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In particular, all four routes south from the Trafalgar Square area have
been shut to cars and taxis from 6am to midnight every day, meaning
anyone trying to get from the west end to most of south London faces an
impenetrable two-mile east-west scar in London's road network from Hyde
Park Corner to the eastern end of Aldwych.

Quite a lot of this kind of stuff, to great detail, is laid down in
the T+Cs set by the IOC.

The only opportunity to argue the toss is when bidding, which is a bit
risky and not to be recommended when you are still trying to win the
bid.

Once the successful bid has been announced everything becomes
contractual and you're stuck with it.

The main reason for the empty seats is that a large percentage are given
away free to sponsors and national (as in "other nations") Olympic and
sports organisations.

The various sporting associations are allocated seats so their
officials (mostly volunteers) and competitors can get to see some of
the Olympics as well.

Obviously, at the start of the games, many of those are still busy
with their own events but, as the games progress and many of the early
events are concluded, they can find time to take in the rest of the
games and the problem of empty seats is then lessened.

That's why I asked (and also the general issue of people doing what
they've been rehearsed to do, rather than going off on their own).

ps Anyone else think Posh Spice looked less than excited about the whole
thing?

Those of us blessed with miserable faces are usually OK and smiling on
the inside.

She certainly did not seem too comfortable stuck on top of that car,
which was hardly hanging around, with only a handrail and a pair of
nine inch heels to hang on to - hanging on for grim death more like.

Well, he gets a very bad press although I've always admired him (much
better than both successors), so well done to Tony Blair (and Dame
Tessa) for over-ruling the do-nothing 'management of decline'
merchants and mounting a successful bid that started it all.


Blair was indeed OK.

Unfortunately that grotesque undemocratic fiefdom that is the union
baron Labour party, that he was hamstrung with, insisted on Gordon
Moron Brown as back seat driver to totally f**k up everything he
touched.

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

ps Anyone else think Posh Spice looked less than excited about the
whole thing?

There was a tweet about that. "They can't bear to speak to each other so
couldn't share a taxi", or something like that.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message
,
at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley
remarked:

I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just
about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may
have finished a minute or two earlier.

The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats
empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving
early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all.

One of the aerial shots before the end showed crowds moving outside the
stadium, tending to confirm that.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:27:01 -0500,
wrote:

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message
,
at 05:58:33 on Mon, 13 Aug 2012, Stephen Furley
remarked:

I caught the last 45 minutes or so on the BBC website; it was just
about 00:20 when coverage closed but I think events in the stadium may
have finished a minute or two earlier.

The TV pictures towards the end showed about a quarter of the seats
empty. Which is why I'm more inclined to think it's people leaving
early to catch a train, rather than never having turned up at all.

One of the aerial shots before the end showed crowds moving outside the
stadium, tending to confirm that.

It also looked to me like many of the athletes had departed as well.
Although they were 'kettled' in their respective flag segments by the
lightbulb bowler volunteers, I assume they were allowed to slip out
when there wasn't any traffic on the 'road'.

On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:48:45 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 13/08/2012 14:20, Recliner wrote:

Yes, it over-ran quite a bit, just like the opening. Apparently the
main delay with the closing ceremony is that the thousands of athletes
took much longer to file into the stadium than anticipated -- they
were gazing around the stadium and taking pictures while dawdling
along, instead of the brisk jog that the organisers had perhaps
expected of athletes.

Foreigners in London who move slowly in large groups and pause to take
photos of everything. Who would ever predict that such a thing might
happen?

I know -- shocking, isn't it?