The Olympics: A Ticketless Tantrum

Am I attending the glitz and glamour of the Olympics opening ceremony? No. I’m not. Am I going to be watching lots of toned men run around a 400 metre track? No. I’m not.

In fact, I won’t be attending any of the events at the most famous games in world as they descend upon London. The reason? The ballot was not kind to me.  

I don’t have a single ticket and, whilst I’m disappointed I won’t be part of the excitement and I’ll have nothing to tell the grandkids, I can’t say I’m too surprised. I’m sure I’ll wander up to the Olympic village during the goings on and have a peek at what my taxes have been paying for these last few years, get rammed onto the tube by an unsavoury selection of spectators and sit on a bench my hard working cash may well have paid for. Maybe I’ll even hear some cheering from the stadium form all those smug people the ballot favoured. Bah Humbug!

Like many other cash-deprived folk, I applied for the cheapest category of tickets. But I was still terrified as the withdrawal date approached that I may be plunged into my overdraft and not eat for a week. I needn’t have worried. The date has come a gone and I find my bank balance safely lingering near the zero figure without a minus in sight.  It’s very unbecoming of the Olympics committee to leave me on the edge like that.

They emailed me today to inform me that I wasn’t successful (shocking!) and offered me a second chance to apply with priority over luckier folk who have already been allocated tickets. Hang on a minute… if there are tickets left, why didn’t they just allocate them all at once? Why do I have a second chance? Surely Boris isn’t mental enough to have left a few in his desk draw that he has since stumbled upon? Honestly, I’ll call Office Depot and get them to assist him with his filing situation, I bet my council tax refund slip is in there somewhere.

Londoners have waited a good few decades for this kind of action in the city and I’ve no doubt I’ll be dead and buried by the next time around. I’ll probably get a better seat from the clouds!

Image by ell brown courtesy of Flickr