The Countdown Has Begun

It is officially 499 days until the London Olympics. I should have written this post yesterday as 500 sounds so much more exciting, but 499 it is. I missed the fireworks and hoopla as I was at my last Art Law class at Sotheby's Institute. But looking out the classroom windows I did manage to see the trees and buildings in the area light up with the color of the fireworks. I read they did a similar celebration when it was 1000 days until the Olympics but I missed that one also. Maybe I was indifferent because 1000 days seems so, so far away. I would imagine most people would lose interest in a 1000-day countdown around day 817. Eventually, you just get tired of counting 1000 days. But 500 seems...closer. First of all, duh, it is closer. Second, 500 days is less than 2 years away. 1000 days, although less than 3 years, is hard to compute. 365 + 365 and then some more...it's more than 2 years, less than 3, far away, who cares, math makes my head hurt.

For me, the countdown is significant as I always told people I would like to live in London at least through the Olympics, and then who knows. Now, with the Olympics 499 days away, they seem so close, yet so far away. Close, in that they start next summer, about 16 months from now. Far, in that they start in the middle of 2012, and it feels like 2011 just started. I'm not sure if Dave has ever liked my answer of living in London until the Olympics. When they start he will have lived here 4 years, I will have been here 3. Four years is a long time. It's "starting to feel permanent" long. It's "should we renew the visa/apply for permanent residency" long. It's "we have a whole new life here, and we are 3-4 years removed from our past life in San Francisco" long. I moved to London 21 months ago, and those 21 months flew by. I fully expect the next 16 months to fly by as well.

Part of me wants to stay in London and experience the Olympics only because I have put up with all the crap the city is doing to make the city Olympics-ready. All the tube shut-downs, street work, crossrail construction that have been wreaking havoc on the system should for the most part be finished by the Olympics. Not the crossrail though, that won't be done until 2034 I think. Since we live so far away from the Olympics site, I will have to enjoy the fruits of London's labor if I venture over to see the games. How fun it will be to ride on the tube without disruptions, stop at stations previously closed for over a year, ride down bus lanes that had been detoured. I'm only joking. I really don't expect the tube to be disruption free. Ever. If it's not a person under a train it's a faulty signal, and I don't expect the Olympics to cure those problems.

So we shall see where the next 16 months takes us. Maybe right to Stratford for the opening ceremony!

P.S. - when you type the word "Olympics" a lot, it starts to look really weird.

Picture from Metro.co.uk