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Great blog. So far since arriving 4 days ago we now know from Adrian Warner about hearsay things that may happen in London for 2012. That Seb Coe may have bitten off more than he can handle, even being a world class statesman and olympian, and that hip replacements have been postponed and that there are queues everywhere. Great reporting on the pulse of a town full of 5500 athletes and trainers, 10000 press, with free hospitality , free cars and much more, that goes far beyond the line of duty. With countless free Parties, and great entertainment and a city full of buzz, we all await the next great comment from a clearly overworked Mr Warner.

It would be a fantastic idea to show the action on big screens across the country so that everyone can feel involved.

I live in South Wales & hope to see some of the events but realistically I am not going to have the means to spend over 2 weeks in London so it would be great to watch some events with Friends at a local park.

Hi Tiger Rose - there are 18 big screens in the UK in the UK showing action from the Winter Olympics 10am-8pm - including ones in Swansea and Cardiff.
The locations for 2012 have not been confirmed - but fingers crossed for you!

I really hope they do more to get people outside of London involved in 2012, and maybe the screens can be part of that. Living in Scotland I feel that only lip service has been paid to the idea of it being "Britain's" Olympics. I hope that they are successful, but it's very depressing to hear stories of regional sport and cultural funding being cut to pay for the London games.

I completely disagree with realpersonuk, I have gained insightful details of the Olympics that would otherwise have eluded me, Keep up the good work Mr Warner!

I went down last night to Robson Street, downtown Vancouver, and there really was a great atmosphere there. Whatever the hitches elsewhere, and the cynicism among some Vancouverites about the games (the cost and so on), with the big screens, events, the ice rink at Robson Square, and so on, there is the feel of a continuous street party in the city. It's quite refreshing and the buzz is contagious.

I can tell you from working in Leeds that Big Screens work there - they do it regularly in Millennium Square. You probably use Roundhay Park if you wanted a big one in a Park somewhere.......

The one thing which is different between UK and Germany in summer though is the temperature as the sun goes down. Not quite as balmy, but as long as you dress appropriately, should be fine!

Other thing you could do of course is to liaise with folks like Emirates Stadium who regularly screen Arsenal away games at club deck for those that want. I'm sure they'd consider it too.....

I was lucky enough to be at the Vancouver Games and I was underwhelmed by the Fan Zones downtown, (although I never made it to Richmond). I remember thinking that it would be something that London would do much better, but now these plans have been announced I'm not so sure.

The LiveCity site in Vancouver was little more than a collection of soulless corporate 'pavilions', where you could queue up to find out about the latest mobile phone. I'm sure there will be a (contractual) element of this too in London. Not very 'Woodstock', but that's not Boris's fault.

They had big big screens but what coverage I saw there during the day often seemed like an afterthought - on delay, parochial and uncoordinated.

The summer games are so much bigger, London is so much bigger, that the Games would really benefit from a thought-through programme of live coverage on these screens, with the emphasis on the sport and not the sponsors. We also need to cater for local fans of other countries and all the thousands of visitors by showing all the great stories of the Games, not just the GB athletes.

I'm not sure these limited sites will live up to those expectations.

In the end though, these live sites will be deemed a success if it's sunny and a waste of money if it rains for two weeks.