One soggy day in November

The Velodrome cladding is in place...

...and the same for the Handball Arena, which is now the Copper Box.

Some pretty wintry leaves to the west of the Stadium.

A very soggy Olympic Village, facing west from Leyton Road.

A sunny summer day...and the tower design emerges

No apologies for yet another Velodrome shot, as it really is a lovely building (looks like some much-needed clean-ups of the River Lea in progress, too).

I need to get myself booked onto one of these bus tours to see the building work from closer quarters.

It looks like they've finally settled on a design for the tower, as the Planning Permission notices are up around the perimeter of the site.

A map of how it's all going to look (from the ViewTube on the Greenway)

Today I was on foot and public transport, for once, so a slightly further back view of the stadium (from the westbound Central Line from Stratford to Liverpool Street).

Two years to go

*excitement*

*smiles*

More photos coming soon

What's gone up whilst I've been away?

As previously mentioned, I've been travelling in Asia for a couple of months, so I was keen to get out to see what had changed whilst I was on the other side of the world.

Preparations are being made on the Eton Manor / Hackney Marshes side, west of the Velodrome, which I believe is going to be a warm-up area.

The Olympic Village (left) and Basketball Arena (right) have shot up...

...but it's good to see the Ropey Pub on Leyton Road is still there! (albeit with a large amount of Olympic Village casting a shadow over it).

The Stadium (left) is structurally all there (from the outside, at least), but work continues on the Aquatic Centre, and there looks to be a new bridge going in in the foreground.

Special guest appearance: Beijing 2008 Olympic Park.

I've taken myself off travelling over the other side of the world, part of which included Beijing. So I thought it only right to go and have a bimble over to the 2008 Olympic site, and post a few pics.

From closer up, you can see the stadium structure within the bird's nest exterior

Smoggy haze over the Aquatic Centre

The landmark tower

It's just a shame that the Aquatic Centre is already starting to look a little sorry for itself, with some of the bubbles popped.

Ticket registration now open

There's a new splash page on London2012.com this morning. You can now register your interest to buy tickets over on the official ticketing site.

The LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) press release confirmed:

• More tickets will go on sale for the Olympic Games than originally stated – increasing from 7.7m to 8m


• More tickets will also go on sale for the Paralympic Games – increasing from 1.5m to 2m


• 75% of tickets will be available directly to the public via a ballot process


• Tickets will go on sale from spring 2011


• There will be a fair application process through a ballot


• Prestige hospitality tickets will account for less than 1% of tickets on sale


• More information on pricing will be issued later this year


• The ticket ‘sign up’ registration scheme is now open at www.tickets.london2012.com or by calling 0844 847 2012

March 21st 2010

These days, as soon as you cross the Eurostar bridge (just west of Leyton Asda) onto the Eastway, you can see stadia rather than wasteland.

Progress at the Velodrome, from about as close as you can get.

The Media Centre, just west of the main gate on the Eastway, seems at a relatively advanced stage.

Three shots from almost the same spot at Lea Bank Square. Facing southwards, showing the Olympic Stadium...

...looking back northwards towards the media centre...

...and eastwards to see the concrete pillars for the Handball Arena are growing out of the rubble.

From the canal bridge behind the Big Breakfast House, you can start to see...

...they've "topped out" the Olympic Stadium, with all the lighting gantries now in place.

The view northwards, from the south-east corner of the site on the Greenway.
L-R: Olympic Stadium, Velodrome (distant), Olympic Village, Westfield shopping centre, Aquatic Centre.

Roofing the Aquatic Centre (with the new Westfield East shopping centre behind).

The beginnings of the hockey stadium, and the north side of the Velodrome. Taken at gates 1 and 2 (just south of the A12 on Temple Mills Lane).

Sunset over the Velodrome. From the Eurostar railway bridge on Temple Mills Lane.

It's not the Winter Olympics is it?

Well, it was snowing so I thought I'd get a different photos. Today's blog post was bought to you by some very careful cycling (on chunky off-road mountain bike tyres) as I really didn't fancy ending up in a freezing cold River Lea...!

The Velodrome shell

A slushy north side of the Media Centre from under the A12 facing south...

...and a snowy west side of the Media Centre from the River Lea.

The Handball Arena emerges from the snow.

The Olympic Stadium, taken from its south-west corner on the Greenway.

The new Westfield shopping centre and (more importantly) a chance to see the complexities of the Aquatic Centre roof.

Those balmy July and August days strolling around the Olympic Village feel a little bit far away right now, but it'll be here sooner than we know.