Why I Love the Olympic Games

Something remarkable has been happening in London over the past week. I'm sure you've seen something alluding to it. It's not exactly hard to miss. The excitement, apprehension, tension has been building ever since that day in July 2005 when Jacques Rogues uttered those words - pronouncing 'London' very weirdly, but pronouncing that we, this fair city, would host the world's greatest sporting event. Its been a challenge and a spectacle, we've had an economic crisis in between; detractors have come and told us that its a waste of money, will cause transport in London to fail miserably, will be like a police state with all the security. But it has begun. And, by god, it seems to have gone brilliantly. Here below are just a few reasons why I love the London 2012 Olympic Games

• People in London are happy and talkative. In most countries this wouldn't be a surprise, but in London, where people have perfected their 'tube face' this is a complete change. I've had conversations with complete strangers on the train, spent an evening sitting and screaming at a big screen with people I've never met before and been amazed by the smiling and happy faces of Londoners. Yes, perhaps there's more tourists, but I even hear those dressed in suits dicussing how exciting Mo Farah's win in the 10,000m was, or how British Cycling is a force to be reckoned with!

• The Games Makers. Watching them attempt to hide their grins at standing behind the 100m finalists reminded me of how incredible these people are. When in the Olympic Park last Monday it was the Games Makers, who give up their time and sometimes money, that stood out for me. They were polite, cheerful, incredibly pleased to be there and proud. Its wonderful to see.

• The Olympic Park is beautiful. From trees and flowers to waterways, the transformation of a desolae piece of East London into a beautiful parkland is fantastic. The stand-out part of it, however, has to be the fantastic architecture. Slightly blighted by the seating, the Aquatics Centre is an absolute triumph, as is the Olympic Stadium. However, the best in my eyes is the gloriously shaped Velodrome - with its beautiful golden roof and red sides it sits in a fantastic position at the height of the Park. It should win some award, surely?

• We get to reclaim national pride and the Union Flag from the far right. Now, look, I've never really been patriotic. I don't go for all this pride in my country lark, I was born in the UK by luck and whilst I absolutely adore living here its not the be all and end all of my life. However, its really quite wonderful to see the Union Flag being used to celebrate pride, acheivement and happiness for once, rather than the hate and prejudice that it has come to symbolie recently. The left in this country tend to keep away from flying the flag or showing any form of national pride; we need to start seeing it as an important symbol of freedom, equality and hard work. Every time I see someone draped in a flag, with it painted on their face or nails, or a business flying it, I no longer think 'oh god, crazy right-wing nutter at ten O'clock', but I'm filled with a sense of community.

• London Transport has survived. In fact, more than survived, it has triumphed. Apart from minor delays caused by signal failures, I have heard of no trouble getting around London in the past two weeks. I took the central line from Bank past Stratford during rush hour recently and, whilst it was busy, it was no problem at all. We should applaud TFL and all other transport operators for their meticulours planning and organising to make sure that London's tired and old transport system was up to scratch for this fantastic two weeks.

There are going to be people reading this who think I've been taken over by pride and given up on my questioning ways because I've been star struck. They would be right. But not because I wasn't concerned the Olympics would go wrong. I was. But it has been such an incredible triumph so far, not only because of the success of TeamGB but for all the many fantastic sporting moments, that I cannot find it in me to criticise.

Bring on the Paralympics!