Olympics - London Empty and Hasting & Margate eateries pay tribute to the Olympics

 Olympic London empty
 I had been dreading the Olympics.  Living next to the Olympic park I thought I would not be able to leave my house.  My road had half it's parking removed on one side with double yellow lines, so I thought it would be full on Olympic traffic even though its a very quiet back street.   Not only is my road empty - so is the whole of London - quiet eerie.  Not only have tourists stayed away, Londoners seem to have left town.  The little left residents parking in my street is virtually empty as is the rest of the streets around me.   By making sure I avoided intersections with new restricted or no turns I have been enoying the empty roads going into the Tate and the South Bank several times.  I feel sorry for shops and taxis etc as they are all losing business.  My friend John has just told me that places like Leicester Square are very busy - perhaps the Prime Minister's plea to everyone to now come to London rather than stay away, is beginning to work - I just checked the BBC traffic camera between me and the grounds - the main Olympic route the A12 is still pretty clear.

Hastings - The little tearoom next to Hastings Arts Forum (used to be called Jam Jars I think with a window full of jars you could add to)  runs a knitting club on Thursday evennings.  The kintting group have knitted a wonderfully fun and funny Olympics window display for the cafe.   Look out for the pink and white chairs in front of the pavement, opposite the new seafront restaurant, Azure) if you want to pop in for a chat with the friendly owner and locals.

Bet the ridiculous Olympic logo police don't know about these - Couldn't get rid of the reflections

Gymnastics amongst the rings.

Even Margates' Turner Contemporary Gallery has given itself an Olympics paint job.

Yes I know you can barely see it - the pink stripes on the gallery at the back - but I was enjoying my Fish and Chips too much to move.