MY OLYMPIC DIARY – TUE 31st JULY

TUE 31st JULY

Today was a stress free day. I wandered around the music and comic book shops in Soho before I took the Central and DLR over to Canning Town. Why???? Canning Town is simply some housing estates and empty land waiting to be redeveloped. Well, it has long been one of the more neglected and deprived areas in London (much like Barnsley then?) but it is now ripe for redevelopment.

Recently,  a competition called Meanwhile London organised by the Mayor or London and the Mayor of Newham took place with the prizes being area of lands waiting to be redeveloped. Ash Sakula Architects’ winning entry was Caravanserai. Their five year long project will see them bring to Canning Town a trading post inspired by the traditions of the Silk Road, which will acts as a base for many community projects focusing on sharing skills, arts and youth enterprise. I paid a visit to the site and chatted with the site manager there…

It is a wonderful project that inspires as much as it frustrates; especially when I see so many empty units and unused spaces in my own town. Caravanserai is the perfect example of what should be done with these spaces.I’ll be writing much more about the project when I settle there for a few days in early September.

Next door was another winner of the competition. Industri[us] is an ‘up-cycle’ festival, which also has green space, a performance area and world food stalls. Both sites have weekly and monthly events and both are totally funded by donations and people’s free time.

And that is pretty much it for my first Olympic London trip. Other than managing to sneak in viewing Dark Knight Rises for a second time Tuesday night; all is good. The train ride home was much better than the one there. I managed to read the very last Wallander book and have three cups of tea. I will be glad to get home tonight though; missing the lady and the cat.

Back again next week for the Wrestling.