Our Olympic Legacy

 They are only minor inconveniences really, in the great scheme of things. After it is all over, in 2012, everything will be so much brighter in East London.

Very locally - on Wanstead Flats - the birds will be able to return to their feeding site where recently police had been feeding, and we shall have – perhaps – a newly re-renovated Jubilee Pond – or some other upgrade to the damaged or run-down local environment.

The Olympic site seen from Wanstead FlatsIn and around the Olympic Park, we shall have – right on our doorstep and putting even T*!*co's in Wanstead to shame – the biggest place to spend money in Europe, and facilities beyond or wildest dreams for exercise, leisure and recreation. There will be wonderful places to live, too.

And all of this in exchange for a couple of years of not daring to risk travel on the tubes or underground at weekends, or again on countless weekends and holidays not being able to travel between Liverpool Street and Romford other than by 25/86 bus. However, in exchange for missing a couple of years of visiting London on our days off, or visiting our friends on their days off, we shall be able to get from Stratford to anywhere in the world – easily.

Orbit Tower - artist's impression, and definitely artistic licenseAlso, the Bow Back Rivers was of course an evil area, with scattered remote dwellings, dingy small businesses, pungent canals and broken lock-gates. The animals and plants that grew there were strange - relics of some bygone age or weird introductions that should never be allowed in a green and pleasant land. The birds were reclusive, hiding away in nature reserves like Bully Point (fancy calling a nature reserve Bully Point!) or just nesting there out of the way of people. The odd visiting graceful swan or otter were intruders – too fine to be seen by the few people that ventured here to explore this unknown part of London. Even the meadow-land that existed here was a product of man's interference, surrounded by the twists and turns of a run-down cycle trackway.

All of that will change – has changed; we shall have glorious shrub-lined walkways along waterways flowing with the freshest Lee waters, where canoeists perhaps can wave to the promenaders. There will be proper wildlife, introduced by means of careful plantings and seeding where alien species are those chosen to give colour and scent to these new surroundings. Our leisure will be designed for us – we needn't do any walking to explore – everything will be signposted or leafleted – we shall know exactly how far, how long and how easy.

And all of this will be overlooked by a wondrous 114 m. / 374 ft. high structure for us to wonder at and to overlook us for the rest of our lives!

Quote from Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham*: “...Inevitably, however, as we have to make large scale cuts, I fear the Olympic legacy and the transformation of people's life chances in the East End may be in jeopardy”

Didn't expect that!

* “Mayor's view”, thenewhammag, issue 211 7-21 January 2011

Paul Ferris, 11/1/11