So what is all this 2012 business?

Hey -- this is a bit of a back burner. Certainly don't want to force upon anyone events which will trigger mass hairwashing or other such eco disasters.

I sometimes cycle around the 'Bow Back Waters' partly out of it being a nearby, erm, nature spot to Hackney, but also to educate myself on the extent of the planned Olympic develpments. I've remarked to Trevor that this area holds the same fascination for me that pre and post Wall areas of Berlin have. Veritable no-man's land whose topography will be rewritten within our lifetime... in the next six years actually if they don't fuck it up. Which they will, but that's another subject altogether. Whether you're pro or anti all the 2012 hype, there's a lot of change on the way.

I've cobbled together some aerial photos from work along with some bits from 'Hackney Today's' Olympic maps in an attempt to show future and current realities. In the area itself there are paths you can walk or cycle that really are quite surprising, and additional journeys can be made up to Hackney/Walthamstow Marshes or down to Docklands near the modernist Thames Barrier Park. The latter path is the 'Greenway' which is an elevated path above the Victorian sewer crafted by one Joseph Bazalgette which extrudes the shit of the metropolis through East London. I find amusing [more so than necessary] that in our modern era one Peter Bazalgette is responsible for bringing 'Big Brother' to this country. Could the two possibly be related? Or just a scatological coincidence?

Remembering the hairwashing fiasco, I'm not suggesting an actual date for these Stratford-and-beyond excursions, but just thought I'd add it to the burgeoning cultural agenda.

xkev, your East London correspondent