All posts by caroline

The moment is finally here – London 2012 opens this evening!

London 2012, ,

So todays the today and the London 2012 Opening Ceremony is this evening as the games get under way (shush, don’t talk about the football :P) !!!  I have so far managed to avoid most of the information (official or unofficial) that has come out about it so am a bit nervous and excited at the same time – I want it to be spectacular, go off without a hitch and show off how good Britain is at the same time.  No pressure Danny Boyle! 😀

Of course the day started with as many people as possible ringing bells at 8.12am for 3 minutes as designed by Martin Creed.  I was there in my flat with my official iPhone ringtone but even after opening the door I couldn’t hear any other bells which was a bit disappointing.  I have seen from Twitter and the news though that there were bells being rung in my town but I guess the sound didn’t travel that well!

Now we just need the weather to hold and everyone to have a good time.  Lets all celebrate the LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES!! Woo hoo!!!

Sportsworld Collection a breeze

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So after all the Cosport problems with collection, I was very nervous that today would be the same as Sportsworld collection began especially as that was the only way you could get tickets from them.

I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I’m very happy about it!

My Other Half arrived and there were 4 people being served and only her in the queue.  However she didn’t have long to wait as someone came down to serve as well and dealt with her straight away.  All tickets were in packs ready for people to collect, and after ID had been seen the agent ran through all the tickets one by one to confirm they were correct even confirming the seats were together.  All this with no fuss, and in an airconditioned office.

Within minutes she was out and ringing me to let me know that tickets were in hand – fantastic!  See Cosport its not that hard to do!!!!

TeamGB and the Olympics start today!

London 2012, ,

After all the waiting, the sports of the 30th Olympiad start today at 4pm with TeamGB women taking on New Zealand.  Unfortunately I’ll be at work but thats not going to stop me from watching no way!!  Thanks to SlingPlayer I can connect up to my Sky Box at home and stream it to my work PC in a window and carry on with my work at the same time – yey for Technology and an understanding boss!!

There has been much written about the standard of Womens Football in the press and online by fans of the mens game who often fall into ‘the must all be lesbians’ or ‘its a terrible standard compared to mens’ camps.  First, no not all women footballs are lesbians, but so what if some are?  It doesn’t make a difference to how they play, like it wouldn’t make a difference if a mens footballer was gay and at least they don’t have to hide the fact that they are.

Second, yes Womens football is different to Mens just like Womens Tennis is and Womens Golf is etc etc.  You have to appreciate the sport for what it is and who is playing it.  Most womens teams work on a yearly budget that is about the same as some premiership footballers get paid in a day, and most women footballers have to have other jobs in order to support playing yet they still have the drive to succeed and do it which they should only be applauded for and supported (I myself have given money to the Newcastle United Womens team who recieve NO money from the mens club but who are ‘graciously’ allowed to use the name and strip though they have to buy it themselves).

Yes, sometimes womens football looks a little less skilled even at the top level but it takes time to increase skills from the grass roots up.  The teams now are leaps and bounds over what they were 10 years ago, and that is only going to improve as more and more people play and they get more support and coverage.  Of course, if you know your history at one stage (in the early 20th century) Womens football was more popular than Mens and therefore the FA banned them from playing, so you can’t blame womens football for being ‘behind’.

So lets get behind TeamGB and womens football in general and celebrate it for itself, not try and compare it with the mens game!

Cosport fiasco continues

London 2012, , ,

How can one company get it so wrong?  I didn’t think the Cosport Fiasco could continue in too many more ways, but apparently it can!

For those poor people who they couldn’t deliver too, today was the first day that people could go to their ‘will call’ pick up centre and it looks like they’ve completely underestimated how many people would turn up on the first day and don’t have the tickets to hand.  People are reporting (already) having to queue for ages to get into the centre, and even when inside the tickets are ‘upstairs’ and they need to wait for them.  Some people are still waiting in the ‘holding’ area a couple of hours later – ridiculous!  Hope this isn’t the same with Sportsworld pickup on Wednesday…

In addition, I’ve had an email today asking me to confirm that my ticket order was received – isn’t that what the FedEx tracking was for???  I guess it could also be because they don’t know whether they’ve sent the right tickets given the (non existent) checks they seem to be applying to orders…

I’m still a bit nervous about having got sponsor tickets from them too, event though they shouldn’t have sold those. I’ve checked on Twitter  (via @pearcesport whos a very useful source of info – follow him!) and apparently although Locog are aware, consumers who have bought in good faith will not be affected and the tickets are still valid.  I should hope so too at £150+handling+exchange rate a ticket!!!

Cosport – a company that I will definitely not be dealing with again if I can help it and who I hope are investigated fully by the IOC.  Poor poor organisation and customer service!

One week until the Opening Ceremony!

London 2012, , ,

This time next week I shall be sitting in front of my TV waiting for the Opening Ceremony to start and finally London 2012 will be ON!  Am thinking about having a ceremony party, but might end up with people talking all the way through it and we can’t have that… 😉  I’ve tried very hard not to read too many of the stories about what is going to happen so I can enjoy it fully but I just hope its FANTASTIC and a really good example of what Britain is and can do.

Roll on July 27th!!!

Chosen my camera at last – Panasonic Lumix FZ150

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As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been searching for some time for a new camera to take to all the Olumpic events I am going to.  Basically I didn’t want to take anything as expensive or heavy as my Nikon D40 DSLR with its telephoto lens (not that I’d be allowed to take it into some venues anyway – yes Wembley Stadium I’m looking at you!) but I wanted something better than a compact as I wanted to take zoomed in and sports mode videos and pictures.  Plus I needed something with a decent zoom as I have no idea how far I’ll be from the action!

I spent ages looking at online reviews and comparison websites, as well as going into shops like Jessops and Currys.Digital and basically just driving myself and my other half mad as I couldn’t make up my mind.  I eventually decided that I probably wanted a bridge camera, but then it was which one.  Initially I’d thought about the Nikon P510 but some reviews online (and YouTube videos) showed that it had trouble focusing when zooming in over half way of its enormous 42x zoom so despite my love of Nikon that was a no-go.

A lot of the reviews mentioned that the Lumix FZ150 was the best bridge camera, and I was tempted towards that but a) it was over a year old and b) it had the ‘least’ zoom of the cameras I was looking at, so I went on to consider the Sony HX200 and the Canon SX40.  On testing the Canon in Jessops though, it became obvious that it was a bit heavy and that it too was having trouble choosing a focusing distance so the instore rep wasn’t able to convince me to choose that one.

This is when YouTube really came into its own in helping me make a decision!  Thanks to anyone being able to create and upload a video for free there were loads of people who’d done reviews and examples of both cameras so it didn’t take too long to work out that the Panasonics zoom was good enough for what I wanted so I was definitely leaning towards that one.

My other half wanted me to be sure so we went down to our local Jessops and had a look at both cameras, and tried them out.  We also drove one of the sales people mad for over an hour whilst we asked questions and then asked about deals – it was worth it for him in the end though as I bought the Lumix FZ150, a case and two 16Gb memory cards so hopefully he got good commission!

We went out the next day and I did some tests to make sure I was happy with my choice, and other than a few issues with the default video recording mode (was HD so wouldn’t upload to Flickr or YouTube) I’m really happy with it.  Roll on the Olympics so I can bore people with all my pictures and videos!! 😀

I’m Olympic Mad – I’ve seen the Torch Relay twice!

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My friends and family knew that I’m a bit sports and therefore Olympic nuts, but now its confirmed – I’ve seen the Torch Relay twice in 2 days including getting up an hour earlier than I would normally do.  I am definitely mad! 😉

The first day I saw the relay was in Hove Park on Monday evening.  I arrived about an hour and a quarter before the torch was due and had a wander around the few stalls that were there, including trying my hand at the Tombola on the Rotary Club stall but I didn’t win anything.  As there wasn’t anything else to do (having not realised that you could go ON to the BBC bus!), I decided to pick my spot and setup my large Team GB Union flag hanging from the tape lining the route.  As the weather was a bit inclement, it kept blowing off so I finally found a use for my Team GB and Paralympics GB supporters scarves by using them to tie the flag to the tape! 😉  Picking my spot so early meant I missed all the sponsors vehicles and freebies, but oh well!

As the time got nearer to the torch arriving, more and more people started lining the route through the park, including a family next to me with some bored kids who kept standing further and further forward until I couldn’t see anything that was coming!  Very annoying, but I just about managed to stop myself from saying anything to them, as it would probably have made things worse!

It seemed like an age, but suddenly people were pointing their cameras and cheering as a torchbearer went past with two of the security team.  I thought it was a bit odd, as the torch didn’t appear to be lit, and everyone was a bit confused as there’d been no fanfare before they arrived.  The annoying family next to me (and a few others) decided that had been it and left!  Turned out it was just the next torchbearer getting into position by running along the route as it was easier (and less muddy) than attempting to go round everyone!

With the family moved, I could see much further up the path and just a few minutes later the torch came into view and before long was alongside us and then past!  Over in a flash as it were, but I’d seen it after waiting and wanting too for so long and I’d managed to get some pictures and videos! 🙂

As soon as the torch had passed, everyone started to disperse and as it didn’t look like anything was happening at the SameSky Sky Dome, I decided to leave and go home so that I could take a look at the pictures and videos to make sure I was happy with how they had come out from my new camera.  I wasn’t counting on getting stuck in gridlock around the park for over 30 mins, but I should’ve expected that!  I had originally planned on walking to the park, but given the weather I’d decided to drive which was obviously a bit of a mistake…

Having seen the torch relay go past, I went home thinking I probably wouldn’t go see it the next day as well but come going to bed I was setting the alarm for 6.45am so that I could be up in time – madness I tell you, madness!

This time I scouted out where the flame was going to be passed from one torch to another and made my way down to the nearest one which just happened to be only 5 minutes from our flat.  Again I got there rather early, and there weren’t too many people around but at least it was sunny!  This time the sponsors vehicles went past where I was standing and I got my freebies from Coke (a small Torch Relay branded bottle, and a tambourine) and Lloyds TSB (ribbons to wave).

Once the next torchbearer turned up everyone wanted a photograph with her and the torch so things got quite busy and then the torch was coming – woo hoo!  Was quite interesting to see the Torch and the ‘Torch Kiss’ close up, and gave me another opportunity to sort out taking videos on my camera (something that hadn’t worked out too well the evening before) and pictures again.  Not entirely sure it was worth getting up so early for, but then I’m an Olympics nut so what else could I do??? 😉

They’re here, They’re here!

London 2012, ,

Finally my Cosport tickets have arrived!  I’ve been tracking them via FedEx since Thursday and then this morning I noticed they were out for delivery.  Just before I came to work there was a FedEx guy outside my block of flats giving directions to someone and then he wandered off!  After a slightly mad dash around the development to find him (he was still trying to help the lost student as it turned out) I got my package.

After all the problems that I’d heard about, I did open it slightly concerned about what I would find.  Luckily for me I have all the tickets that I bought and they are EVEN TOGETHER so I won’t have to wave to my other half from across the stadium for the closing ceremony!  There are also Travelcards but no Spectator Guides, but I can live with that!  My closing ceremony tickets are from Norway (at least its EU!) but my Canoe Slalom ones are hospitality ones – naughty Cosport!

So I at least can breathe a huge sigh of relief that these tickets have arrived and they are pretty much ok.  For all those who have seats not together, haven’t arrived at all, or incomplete orders I feel for you and hope you get it sorted before the Games!

Crazy fans at the Tour De France

Sport,

Being an event thats held over such large distances, protecting the riders from the fans is always going to be hard at the Tour De France.  Every year there seems to be incidents that just make me wonder about the mentality of some ‘fans’.  I understand the excitement of seeing the cyclists and the peloton as it shoots past on the flat or goes past relatively slowly on a climb, and I know that some of the idiots are motivated by appearing on TV even if it is doing something idiotic.

However, who in their right mind would want to step out in front of the peloton (as happened in the race a few years ago) to take a picture, thereby risking a big crash (as happened a few years ago)?  Why would you think that waving a flag in someones face as they struggle up a hill would actually help rather than hinder?  Other incidents that I’ve seen (or heard about) this year include a rider being punched in the head as he went round a corner near the top of a mountain because a spectator was gesticulating, and today Bradley Wiggins got scalded by a flare waved in his direction as he went past.  Are these people all mad??

I don’t know what can be done about all these (and other) idiots, but for goodness sake people try and bring some brain power with you when you are watching the race.  The riders work very hard every day for their teams and teammates and for the chance of winning a stage or a jersey and the last thing they need is for some idiot to ruin their race for them…

Oh and by the way – aren’t the Brits doing well!  Hope Wiggins wins it this year 🙂

Two weeks until London 2012!

London 2012, ,

Today marks two weeks until the opening ceremony for London 2012, and I’m already quite excited about it and the two (plus!) weeks of sport 🙂  I’m also quite excited about the fact the Torch Relay finally comes to my home town on Monday next week.  Unfortunately I didn’t get tickets to the evening celebration, but hope to get to the torch route and wave my Team GB scarf and flag!  Now whats the weather forecast… 😉