Miltary + Olympics will make London an unfit place for kids to live?

[bochead]

I want to remove my household from London during the olympics as I have no desire to see my child live under seige for a month.

Am I being unreasonable to think that so many troops on the streets, a warship, ground to air missiles etc + all the congestion of the event will make parts of London unfit for ordinary family life. The announceement of a warship and military patrols on the Thames was the last straw for me.

I think it'll be a threatening environment for children in those parts of London closest to the Olympic venues, and am looking for alternative accomodation for the event elsewhere in the country. This is based in part on my experience of this summer's riots. We went camping rurally at the time & as a result my own child did not experience the worry and upset that many of his peers did.

Are others thinking of escaping the Olympic mayhem for the sake of their child's wellbeing?

kewcumber i'm sure it does. I just hate the noise and faceless people. To each their own

I've had a good think about this, and I reckon that if you ask the organisers to think of the children they will probably be quite amenable to moving the whole thing to Paris. After all, what are huge cities for if not to provide an idyllic upbringing for children.

You get used to the noise Coccyx (silence sounds a bit freaky to me now!) and the people aren't faceless. Burka's excepted, they all have a face... I know all my neighbours and my son goes to a local community school a short walk away, all his friends live within a mile, I could manage without a car if I had to, late night shopping within walking distance, good buses and tubes and free museums.

I'm not a London girl by birth but wouldn't live outside now certainly until after DS has left home.

Not all bits of London are faceless. I live near Kewcumber as it happens. I know my neighbours and I feel part of a community but not smothered.

That said the idea of trying to get to work or anything whilst it's on is not for me. I will be in Cornwall or somewhere else miles away from all the action. If I can rent my house out (it's close enough for the tennis) so much the better.

I've done a (very) tiny bit of Olympic volunteering but I don't fancy the chaos of the actual games so I feel I've done my bit.

Now I don't actually know Kewcumber but I bet we have some mutual friends or at the very least acquaintances

I don't have a car either. Bloody love London.

Oh you have got to be kidding!

I wanted to delay our house-move (or at least keep the flat and rent it out) when we heard that London was going to host, so that we could be living in London during the Olympics.

How exciting it will all be! Yes, congestion will be an issue, but TBH you live in London you accept that you have to cope with congestion.

Children will not feel threatened by the added security - not unless you tell them to be. It will be a fantastic adventure for them, and the battleship moored in the Thames will be no scarier than HMS Belfast, and 20x more romantic.

I, too, lived, studied, and worked in London during the various terrorist eras. While I was never directly caught up in them, I more than once waited with my mum for my brother to come home from school in central London 3h late after an incident. And we never allowed the terrorists to decide for us how we were going to live in our city.

What I wouldn't give to still be living in London next summer!

OP, I think from your post YABU.

However, had you said, why are all Londoners paying extra council tax for the Olympics, only to find that they have no tickets to view the events and that (take Wandsworth Borough for example) many major roads are being restricted for 4 weeks before the events even start just to ensure maximum chaos for all of us residents, how can all that be seen as a positive thing, then I'd have thought you were being more reasonable.

As it is, the armed forces etc are an asset in manning/patrolling the events and in the very worst case scenario, would certainly help the emergency services save lives. My children see uniforms (and guns) as very exciting .... Certainly, not under siege.

Do you want to do a house-swap with me for the duration OP?

I can offer a gorgeous Surrey cottage with the added bonus of a hermit in the grounds. SarahStratton is envious of my sofa as well.

Gosh TRL are you me? It was only yesterday I was frothing about the extra council tax, road closures and few benefits for everyone

London is the best city in the world. Fact.

But who has said that the troops will be armed or in any way making people uncomfortable. AFAIK they will be doing security checks mainly, and there will be some explosives/bomb disposal goups but they are hardly going to be on view all the time are they?

Nah, you're right. Us lot in the armed forces are all baby killers, we shouldn't really be allowed out of our barracks.

You insulting moron. Have my very first

I'd be happy to house swap!! I'm in Geneva which is fab in the summer. If any Londoners are interested in escaping the mayhem please feel free to PM me!!

wanna swap. I'd love to live in London but could never aford it in a zillion years.

No idea why you are fretting about your child seeing the military.

TRL - yup that sums it up for most residents.

Extra council tax, hassles with living near building sites in the run up (not that I don't support regeneration of former wasteland cos I do), congestion, schools having to alter term times etc and not even a ticket to see the para-olympic archery for our troubles - pah!

The VIP transport routes for "officials only" will make parts of London seem like a 3rd world dictatorship rather than the vibrant multi-cultural melting pot I know and love. In my bit of the city we do know our neighbours and have a strong sense of community, normally it's a fantastic place to live with lots of parks & stuff to do at low cost for families, and great informal support networks.

I'm used to short periods of disruption caused by the annual marathon or the odd security alert etc, but this will be on a whole different level. The daily grind of just getting around will be a PITA for 4-6 weeks, long enough to ruin a summer.

The idea of a house swap sounds good actually - will investigate that.

I grew up surrounded by soldiers, military patrols, tanks and helicopters, was I supposed to spend my entire childhood feeling threatened? That's news to me, I felt safe as bloody houses.

It will be a temporary inconvenience. God forbid your kids might find the actual events exciting and inspiring.

A 3rd world dictatorship? Do you realise how offensive and how completely over the top that sounds?

How old are your children?

I can see the Olympic stadium from my bedroom and I think you're being a little OTT. We don't know what it's going to be like really.

'The daily grind of just getting around will be a PITA for 4-6 weeks, long enough to ruin a summer. '

actually, YABU. and should get a teeny grip. My child will spend the entire summer in hospital in plaster from armpits to ankles.

I lived on an army base of one sort or another for most of my childhood, so I'm not really au fait with the civilian fear of military people and their kit.
I did spend a lot of time when young being afraid of the Irish and avoiding anyone with an accent from there.
But do what you think best OP, YABU but most fears are groundless and not logical.

I dont think the OP is being totally unreasonable, I live 10min from Olypmic site and plan to 'escape' London. I've already requested those two weeks off as I dont want to be stuck at a station for hours because I cant get on a tube and unable to collect the kids. Seriously Tfl cant cope at the mo, let alone with millions of extra journeys for the Olympics. I'm sure the OP doesn't seriously think the military will open fire on kids but I remember going to work the day after the 7/7 bombings and in the preceding days. The police presence at the tube stations was phenonemal and you did get a real sense that London wasn't quite London anymore and was under 'siege'.

Stratford has always been an unfit place to live, its a danger zone already you can't go out there after dark.