London 2012 Hackney Citizens’ Diary: Day 1

Home-made bunting in Homerton. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

No people, no people, no people, #Hackney has been super peaceful for over 24 hours. Shalom.

— RuthStivey (@RuthStivey) July 28, 2012

Hackney future champions twitter.com/Ldygaelle/stat…

— Gaëlle Tavernier (@Ldygaelle) July 28, 2012

Canal Boats – Hackney – Getting into the Olympic Spirit . twitter.com/amanda_J_hewso…

— Amanda Hewson (@amanda_J_hewson) July 28, 2012

12.00 noon: Sarah Birch writes:

“With the Games finally launched, life in Hackney tries to go on as normal. The regular Saturday markets are a-buzz; Hackney Homemade, Broadway, Ridley Road and others.

“London Fields Lido is also proving popular in the heat”.

I was swimming. Outdoors. In London. Surreal in this rainy country. #lido #hackney #londonfields #swimminginstagr.am/p/Nn72lFkjfE/

— Ela Krawczykowska (@aaliyah_ela) July 28, 2012

Love the wild flowers in the Olympic Park. Great atmosphere and no queues at Eton Gate (walked from Hackney Wick). twitter.com/SquirkRodent/s…

— Carron Brown (@SquirkRodent) July 28, 2012

1.00am: Kevin Rawlinson writes in the Independent:

“Long before they even began, the London 2012 Games became – in the minds of many – deeply immersed in and reliant on corporate sponsorship. And there were many in Hackney’s Haggerston Park, in east London, where thousands of locals not able to get their hands on tickets came to watch last night’s Ceremony, who felt that the non-ticketed, non-sponsored party was more akin to the ideals of the original Olympics than the shindig going on just up the road in Stratford.

“Hackney Council organised a celebratory party – Big Screen at Haggerston Park – and, like at the Olympics proper, the much-maligned security firm G4S was on the door and there were long, slow-moving queue. But, once the ceremony started, people simply started jumping over the fences.

“’Come on, let’s get friendly, it’s the Olympics,’ shouted one man.

“Stewart Thurlow, 28, from London, said: “I wasn’t too bothered until tonight and then today the build-up made it all hit that it was happening.
“’This more like what they proposed originally. It is about Londoners coming together. The whole run-up has been quite corporate; as the torch went past, you had Coca-Cola handing out bottles’”.