Posted on 06/05/2012 10:56:24 AM PDT by C19fan
The boom to the economy that the Government hoped the Games would bring to the capital appears to become a bust with tens of thousands to tourists spurning the hiked prices, congestion and heightened security. While bookings for July and August are down by 35 per cent on last year other European capitals appear to be prospering from Londons gloom.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I wouldn’t go just because I wouldn’t want to deal with englandistan’s population at present.
I used to look forward to the Olympics, but I don’t even watch it anymore. The Commie Media and their propagandizing, OVERcoverage of everything has ruined what used to be a singular event.
It is SURE, once again,to be a festival of political correctness, inclusiveness, diversity, manufactured, dramatic storyettes, trumped up “triumphs over adversity”, “reality” vignettes, and in general, Leftist political commentary led by the smarmy, self-satisfied midget Bob Costas.
Kicking the ass of your opponents? What’s that?
We made a one-night stopover in London a couple of weeks ago while en route to Dover for a cruise. Due to the Queen’s Diamond Jubiliee and Olympics, prices were astonishingly high. If I’d known that in advance I’d have made very different plans. The devalued dollar plus British profiteering will keep American tourists away.
The biggest turn off is how so full of themselves the IOC has gotten and the costs involved. The UK is paying $15 billion to host the games, I am not sure if that includes security costs, when it cannot afford to build ships for the Royal Navy.
hotels raising prices 100-300%....?
I can skip that!....Cheers mate!
I grew up in SE London. We went over to London in April to see my daughter who lives there now. The traffic is appalling. I cannot imagine what it will be like with many out-of-towners struggling to get across the city in their cars. Tourist tend to stay central and don’t have cars. The only hope is that they effectively suspend the congestion charges.
As to the price gouging, it is the same the world over. Caveat emptor. It is one of the prices of a free market economy. God forbid they have a Blumenthal solution to the problem.
Glad I stood in Shakespeare’s steps, but been there, done that. Never again. Too many other neat places to be.
Atlanta even spent millions of dollars for TV cameras all over the place ... most of which are inoperative now.
You nailed it for me. When it became more about what personal things the Olympian had to overcome, rather than their sport and performance, I tuned out.
When I was a kid, I had to refuse to accept a bowling trophy when the team my mom and I were on won it, because it would have jeopardized my ability to compete in the Olympics as an amateur. Now pros can compete.
I loved the amateur status aspect of the games. Now it’s just like watching professional sports. The whole mystic is gone.
Used to be you’d watch the kids walking in and get real pride. Now you watch the pros walk in and fell more shame than pride.
I remember Magic Johnson and crew playing for our basketball team against nations with young kids who weren’t professionals. I was never in my life more ashamed of an aspect of our national image.
Magic outperforming some kid from Nigeria, now there’s real class.
When that bomb in Atlanta didn’t go off and kill a hundred people, you could see the dissappointment in Costas’ face. Little bastard thought he was gonna be the next Jim McKay.
One tip: avoid the flagship NBC channel and stick with watching events on the "overflow" channels. They tend to do a much better job just showing the sports and not trying to turn the event into a 2+ week chick flick.
I was in London in May for ten days and had a very good time. I didn’t even think about getting a car and got around fine on the Tube. Weather could have been nicer but overall not bad. The food though, yes, it was bad.
Good.
We wouldnt want to deal with someone’s whose grasp of the UK is so ludicrous.
We are in the process of building the two new aircraft carriers.
Yet the 92 Dream Team are lauded in the US.
I agree with you. That team was always going to win. I never saw what the hype was about. The 1980 Lake Placid team is REAL American heroism: college kids, not pros.
After the first time I went to England, I'd rent a car at the airport and take the M4 west or the M1 North. It might make a difference that I already live in a city. Went to a lot of places where I never heard an American accent.
Oh, the food isnt that bad.
Ok, English food is not the best, and even in the UK, Scottish and Irish and Welsh produce and meals are usually better, but it dosent deserve the pasting it gets from the US.
I was in London six weeks ago, and had fine food, from a ‘greasy spoon caf’ to the (three star) hotel restaurant.
I prefer the Winter Olympics, because for the most part, because of the nature of the sports involved, with the exception of Hockey, it is for the most part still mostly amateurs.
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