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Updated 59 mins ago
By
Omulo Okoth in London
TRANSPORT: The red double-deck buses take between 30 and 40 minutes
from Auxbridge in Heathrow Bourough to White City and Ealing Broadway
Station. The transport is so smooth and travelers so disciplined that
it is a veritable culture shock and rude awakening in equal measure to
a typical Nairobian. There are seats reserved for the old, pregnant
women and people with disability. I take this bus number 607 with a
friend. The driver eavesdrops into our discussion and happily
announces (to us) that he is a Kenyan, too. Abdulahi Ali's home is in
Garissa.
BIZ HI-TECH: You remember Hitesh Modi? He was an opening batsmen for
Kenya in three ICC World Cup competitions. He was also the only
cricketer to have participated in the same World Cup with his father,
Subash in 2000 in London. Hitesh is as adept with business matters as
he was swashbuckling with the bat in that golden era of Kenyan
cricket. He is running an off license shop in Buckhinghamshire, some
30 minutes outside London. He is among the horde of Kenyans preparing
to cheer their compatriots at these Olympics. There are many Kenyans
working or studying here. They keep tabs with issues, especially
political matters, back home through social media and other channels.
MEDIA: The London 2012 Olympics Main Press Centre, the nerve centre of
media operations here, is an imposing edifice, a three-storey building
the size of the entire Nyayo National Stadium. It has departments like
technical, transport and logistics and shopping areas for merchandise,
pharmacy, banks, postal services, cafeteria, lounge etc. There are
other Media Operations satellite centres in all venues and one does
not need to return to the MPC to file copy. However, to get internet
access, journalists have to part with Sh25,000.
HAKUNA MATATU: A country without matatus can be a paradise for
government. There are no transport chaos and no threats to strike each
time the State wants to rein in them to bring order. Fast trains
overground and underground make life here far much easier, especially
if they are all over the place. One can imagine Nairobi with such a
network, 10 trans operating between Githurai-Kasarani-Ngara route,
another 10 along Uthiru-Kangemi-Westlands, another 10 along
Kawangware-Dagoreti, Woodley-Kenyatta Hospital, Embakasi-Mombasa Road,
Dandora-Buru Buru etc. Add to this hundreds of city buses and trams.
One does not even need one's car. It will ease traffic jams, our
environment cleaner and make life in our city less stressful and very
tolerable.
LOCOG'S BLUNDER: The Local Organising Committee for these Games
found themselves in serious trouble after the South Korean flag was
mistakenly hoisted during a football match between North Korea and
Colombia.A big screan at Hampden park in Glasgow showed their photos
next to the flag of their hated southern neighbour. The team from the
communist North, which fought a bitter war with the South and is ruled
by a dictatorship, walked off in disgust ahead of their 7.45pm games
on Wednesday night, the media here reported. It was postponed for more
than an hour. Locog promised to issue an official apology.
CELEBRITY BECKS: The snub by the national team of David Beckham has
dominated the Media here, although the former Manchester United star
footballer has announced he will play a yet-to-be announced role
during today's opening ceremony. Fellow celebrities and the public
have been twitting incessantly, wondering why Becks was snubbed and
calling national Olympic team officials unprintables. Becks has
assumed the snub and is continuing with his promotional commercial
activities for the Games. His smiling face is all over the City of
London billboards, some in designer suits, others in sneakers and
'unfinished' denim etc.
SENT PACKING: A Greek Olympic team triple jumper, Voula Papachristou,
was sent home on Wednesday after posting a racist joke on Twitter. She
was expelled from, the country's Games team and sent back home for
what the media described as a tasteless tweet about African immigrants
in Greece. She offered 'heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate joke',
adding: "I never wanted to offend anyone. I would like to apologise to
all my friends and fellow athletes who I may have insulted or shamed,"
reported the media.
TRANSPORT: The red double-deck buses take between 30 and 40 minutes
from Auxbridge in Heathrow Bourough to White City and Ealing Broadway
Station. The transport is so smooth and travelers so disciplined that
it is a veritable culture shock and rude awakening in equal measure to
a typical Nairobian. There are seats reserved for the old, pregnant
women and people with disability. I take this bus number 607 with a
friend. The driver eavesdrops into our discussion and happily
announces (to us) that he is a Kenyan, too. Abdulahi Ali's home is in
Garissa.
BIZ HI-TECH: You remember Hitesh Modi? He was an opening batsmen for
Kenya in three ICC World Cup competitions. He was also the only
cricketer to have participated in the same World Cup with his father,
Subash in 2000 in London. Hitesh is as adept with business matters as
he was swashbuckling with the bat in that golden era of Kenyan
cricket. He is running an off license shop in Buckhinghamshire, some
30 minutes outside London. He is among the horde of Kenyans preparing
to cheer their compatriots at these Olympics. There are many Kenyans
working or studying here. They keep tabs with issues, especially
political matters, back home through social media and other channels.
MEDIA: The London 2012 Olympics Main Press Centre, the nerve centre of
media operations here, is an imposing edifice, a three-storey building
the size of the entire Nyayo National Stadium. It has departments like
technical, transport and logistics and shopping areas for merchandise,
pharmacy, banks, postal services, cafeteria, lounge etc. There are
other Media Operations satellite centres in all venues and one does
not need to return to the MPC to file copy. However, to get internet
access, journalists have to part with Sh25,000.
HAKUNA MATATU: A country without matatus can be a paradise for
government. There are no transport chaos and no threats to strike each
time the State wants to rein in them to bring order. Fast trains
overground and underground make life here far much easier, especially
if they are all over the place. One can imagine Nairobi with such a
network, 10 trans operating between Githurai-Kasarani-Ngara route,
another 10 along Uthiru-Kangemi-Westlands, another 10 along
Kawangware-Dagoreti, Woodley-Kenyatta Hospital, Embakasi-Mombasa Road,
Dandora-Buru Buru etc. Add to this hundreds of city buses and trams.
One does not even need one's car. It will ease traffic jams, our
environment cleaner and make life in our city less stressful and very
tolerable.
LOCOG'S BLUNDER: The Local Organising Committee for these Games
found themselves in serious trouble after the South Korean flag was
mistakenly hoisted during a football match between North Korea and
Colombia.A big screan at Hampden park in Glasgow showed their photos
next to the flag of their hated southern neighbour. The team from the
communist North, which fought a bitter war with the South and is ruled
by a dictatorship, walked off in disgust ahead of their 7.45pm games
on Wednesday night, the media here reported. It was postponed for more
than an hour. Locog promised to issue an official apology.
CELEBRITY BECKS: The snub by the national team of David Beckham has
dominated the Media here, although the former Manchester United star
footballer has announced he will play a yet-to-be announced role
during today's opening ceremony. Fellow celebrities and the public
have been twitting incessantly, wondering why Becks was snubbed and
calling national Olympic team officials unprintables. Becks has
assumed the snub and is continuing with his promotional commercial
activities for the Games. His smiling face is all over the City of
London billboards, some in designer suits, others in sneakers and
'unfinished' denim etc.
SENT PACKING: A Greek Olympic team triple jumper, Voula Papachristou,
was sent home on Wednesday after posting a racist joke on Twitter. She
was expelled from, the country's Games team and sent back home for
what the media described as a tasteless tweet about African immigrants
in Greece. She offered 'heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate joke',
adding: "I never wanted to offend anyone. I would like to apologise to
all my friends and fellow athletes who I may have insulted or shamed,"
reported the media.
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