Over to you, London

I was at The Mall (in front of Buckingham Palace) today for the London 2012 party.


That's right, now the eyes are on London after the great performance by Beijing.

With colleagues who are working on the project

Beijing has raised the bar for hosting the Olympic Games so high that it will take a lot for the next city to come out with a better show! Fortunately or unfortunately, the next city is London. I said "fortunately" because you need a city that is known for its arts and culture to compete with the stuff that Beijing has shown the world and London has the right sort of diversity, capability and capacity to do that as compared to the other short-listed cities in 2005, say Moscow or Madrid.

I mentioned "unfortunately" because of reasons that you and I would know by now. Raising the bar means London has to do much more to meet the heightened expectations of the world. This may mean more cost and more cost means more money from the taxpayers.

Guess who's that? I was surprised to meet him in this country when he should be in Beijing for the closing ceremony!

If today were an indication of how London would perform in 2012, I think this City can do it. I say this in all fairness even though the sneak preview of London in the Beijing closing ceremony was not what I expected. I thought they could do better.

Really, can you remember anything about it?

The only thing I can remember about the performance is the "transformer" bus and a very ecstatic lad for getting a ball by David Beckham! In fact, some UK politicians are pretty pissed over the 3-minute video shown over in Beijing.

Yes! Beijing snubs foreign media and does it again with the footprint of fire for the closing ceremony.

London's excitement has only begun. Even as Beijing is playing host to the Olympics, London has already made itself look like a host city as if the Games were starting next month. Tate Modern for example, has already put up a roadshow of Team GB for London 2012, and the London Eye has recently turned into the colours of the Union Jack to mark the event.

Open-air Britain United showcase in front of Tate Modern

London Eye in the colours of Union Jack

Today's performance at The Mall was just as impressive. Two big events were scheduled to happen in London today; the Notting Hill Carnival and the London 2012 party. If all 40,000 places for the party were filled while another competing event was happening not far away, that means a lot for 2012.

The next four years will be crucial. I hope the support and spirit of the people will be maintained or continue to grow until then. I really hope to take one of the seats for the opening and closing ceremony of London 2012. Oh well, we'll see...

For now, Beijing is done and thank you so much for a fantastic event. Now it's over to you, London!

The crowd for today's party at The Mall

Il Divo

Red Arrows painting the sky with the colours of the Union Jack

Yes, Michael Phelps was here today. So happened I was standing right in front. I was surprised when he looked towards me and showed his medal, as if he knew I was going to ask him for that! Haha..

See this and remember.

Look familiar? People just take everything and anything in this country. Isn't it scary? And they are just children!!