Transport for London (TFL) have been bandying about a statement left, right and centre asking ever-so politely if 30,000 commuters wouldn't mind awfully not using the Tube for three weeks next summer. There's a big version of a sports day on, you see, with lots of parents and uncles and aunts coming to see it, and apparently the headteacher-types or governor-types forgot to send a letter around last term, so they haven't had enough time to get the extra ice lollies. Or trains.
All of this is ridiculous, of course, but it is a nice, heart-warming tale in one sense. The stoic, brilliant response of the average British commuter asked about their intentions for next year, whether they will work from home as the government ask or ignore the, ahem, suggestion from TFL. So far it seems there is a fat chance that the commuters will pay attention. It's been, oh so acutely and cunningly, observed and labelled by the BBC as a big, terrifying "scare tactic"- and so far, it's just inspired obstinance. Fair play. Why should they shift aside?
Let's look at the, ahem, suggestion. Work from home. Well, there are issues with this idea, I'm not going to lie. I'm unemployed and have the problem that I'm sat around all day. What if I was at home with actual work to do? Procrastination would ruin the world. Even if people acquiese to stay at home, self-discipline or the lack thereof will render the three weeks of the Games worthless. Plus you'll get a lot of people who can't work from home and therefore won't be doing so. And productivity for those who "video conference" their work will be in the shitter- scheduling half an hour with Bob from Ideas won't come anywhere close to three hours chatting to Bob from Ideas as he works opposite you, with three or four possible plans coming together nicely.
As British reactions go, I like this. I say stay strong. Although, if enough people decide not to flake out and write off three weeks' work, there will be issues.
Every morning there'll be feral commuters and tourists trapped in the system leading each other in choruses of this-
Crucially, though, how has this happened? How have TFL out of the blue said "X amount of thousands of people need to stop using the trains across these dates, k thx bai"? This should have been dealt with when London made their initial bid for the Games. There were only three things that should have happened at that point, all three of which would have removed this idea that the locals and commuters should have to cut their daily routines apart. One- whoever was in charge of the bid proved that London had an infrastructure that could handle the influx of spectators and fans. Two- whoever was in charge of the bid proved that, while at that present moment there wasn't sufficient infrastructure in place for the influx there would be by the time the games were here, and work was already imminent. Three- the Olympic leaders(Olympians? Or were they a sub-group of ancient gods?) should have awarded the bid elsewhere on the grounds of insufficient preparation and incapability to host the Games.
This instance where the infrastructure clearly can't cope, the bosses apparently knew it couldn't cope, and the public are being informed that they will be the ones quite literally kicked off the train at such short notice should have been stopped at that point. It wasn't. And you know what will happen?
This time next year, mark my words, there will be news bulletins at six in the evening and ten at night leading with a story similar to this. "Ninety four delegates from the Arab Emirates, America, Taiwan and the Netherlands were delayed on the Underground for an hour and a half, rendering their delegate tickets useless when they reached their event." And why should they get there faster than us? They've already got the roads, with green lanes for buses and Olympics business only.
Normally I despise little vox pop, talking head moments on televised news. Today, though, they were pretty welcome, showing the attitude of poe-faced "not us, thank you" camaraderie uniting everyone. It shows that this time next year we'll be relishing these little daily failures in the infrastructure, and they will be daily. I know I will. I'd direct you to the rerun of Twenty Twelve being shown on BBC2 on Tuesday evenings- satire and the biggest project London has faced go hand in hand brilliantly. It will be the same in real life, too. There's nothing the Brits love more than it going a bit wrong.
And just in case you're interested, here's a series of links to a whole bunch of news stories, not just the BBC (who I have grown to distrust of late) but others too. Enjoy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14420229
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14392867
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14216438
http://www.peach-report.com/Latest/737286/2012-olympics_chiefs_warn_of_london_disruption.html
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-olympics/article-23975631-how-olympic-games-gridlock-will-hit-roads-and-tube.do
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-olympics/article-23975122-londoners-urged-to-travel-differently-during-games.do
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