What A Summer

Olympics Scrap Book, a set on Flickr.

What a Summer it has been for me. I have been working on the biggest project in the UK this summer the London 2012 Olympics.

I have been working for G4S, I know but I needed a job, helping to provide the security to the Eton Dorney rowing site. I will publish my thoughts on G4S later, however I would like to share my photo scrap book of the time I have spent at Eton Dorney.

I arrived at the site on 9th July and have been there ever since. My feelings about G4S will be dealt with in a later post, however my feelings about the Olympic and Paralympics can be summed up by the lump in my throat that formed when I heard the national anthem followed by David Bowie's Heroes at the last medal ceremony of the Rowing Paralympics. I felt an intense pride at having worked at a world event which the wider TeamGB, athletes, organisers, volunteers, staff, security guards, military, police, builders, and general public worked so well together.It seemed to be a moment when we could be proud to be us, proud to be a chaotic, multi layered, multi peopled, slightly cynical, and disorganised nation that can really pull it out of the bag when we need to.

It will be a long while before we see days like this again.

Crumbs I'm Busy

No posts for ages. Still very interested locally, but am working at a very large international event for a company that has been much in the news.......so am up to my neck in it. Will post my thoughts of the debacle when the large event's over. But in the mean time here is opening ceremony of the big event I am working at.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01l4ldk/

And the mad begining

Breaking My Balls!

 As a cyclist I am very sensitive to pot holes and cracks in the road.

In Crescent Road, East Reading round the corner from one of our local Ward Councillors there is a huge constellation of pot holes which cause enormous runctions when I cycle along the road.

The pot holes are so deep that my testicles are violently crushed every time my bike lurches in to them. Its not as if they, the pot holes not my testicles, are avoidable, they lie across the centre of the carriageway and give cyclists nowhere to go while avoiding parked cars and nutter drivers who refuse to give way.


It is probable that my local Councillors are happy to see my bollocks  broken, however I wonder why these inch deep craters have not been properly dealt with. As you can see from the pictures there has been an attempt to patch them however the fix is lamentable and  they remain a lethal trap for any under confident  cyclist.


I have reported the pot holes to the Council and hopefully they will be sorted shortly, but I wonder why they have been left in such a sorry state. Its not as if they aren't obvious surely they must be a priority, if not on testicular health grounds on road safety grounds. I hope for the sake of my bruised undercarriage they are sorted soon and will be monitoring the state of the road closely.

Your Caring Sharing Coop

The Erleigh Road Coop has just come first in the competition for medium sized Coops.

It is, you could say, the best Coop in the country. We are very lucky in East Reading around the junction to have such a good selection of good shops. There is the larger Coop on the Junction, great shops opposite Alfred Sutton and on Erleigh Road chemists, green grocers and a fantastic offie.

My wife and I have more or less given up going to the large supermarkets on the edge of town, while they are sometime cheaper I find the whole atmosphere so massively depressing that I would rather pay a bit more and shop every day.

The Coop can be a little eccentric on occasion, but it has most of what we need to enjoy great meals and the odd treat. The staff are always cheerful and I seem to bump in to most of my friends there. The more of us that support the local shops to more likely they are to thrive, they are always colourful and if you can stand the fact that quite a few of the customers are still in their pjs its a great place to shop.