the roads are getting nearer

Thursday, July 07, 2005

` Thursday, July 07, 2005

So it's official. Londoners were ecstatic yesterday (according to CNN/BBC/Fox and what-nots) over the triumphant marginal win (54 votes to 50) over longtime rivals Paris to host the 2012 Olympics. This brought back the memory of strolling along Canary Wharf in south London just a week ago, amazed at the numerous banners beckoning "London for 2012" along the waterfront esplanade.

While on my business trip there in the past week, the manager had very kindly declared the half of last Thursday to be "Team Sightseeing Day" for the uninitiated, like myself. After a brief 7 minute ride on the Thames rivercruise, we landed at St Catherine's Dock and travelled the long pavement on Southbank admiring the sights and sounds of the city up till Waterloo.

Highlights included a brief visit to the Tate Museum, which was once a derelict powerhouse presently converted into a modern art museum (Frida Kahlo's works were being displayed), touristy photos taken of the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the London Eye (pardon my ignorance, but I had always imagined it as a building instead of a massive Ferris Wheel!). We ended up having a barbeque in a very pretty garden of the manager's place in Clapham South. Only for the skies to open up just when I was about to step out of the Canary Wharf subway station.

I have to admit this but for once, I was rather impressed with the sheer beauty of the old-versus-new layout of the city (apparently, they keep the facade of old buildings when a new one is constructed!). My visit here 10 years ago and the February trip were fraught with cold rainy weather and grey skies. No wonder the travel guides insist on paying visits to the UK in summer.

Hopefully, winning the Olympics bid will not translate into an overly aggressive modernisation of a very unique city like London. I read and heard about Beijing sprucing up its image in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics, which was probably a good thing, having spent 3 dreary winter months there in 2002 and thinking that so much of the city could do with a little spring-cleaning. A pity I'd missed out on the hoopla that surrounded the IOC meeting that was hosted in tiny Singapore, with all the dignitaries and sport stars. It must have been such a huge event that businesses involved in the convention must be laughing all the way to the bank now. On the side, I wonder if the day would come for Singapore to place a bid to host the Olympics. That would really be something for the history books.

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