New "Get Ahead of The Games" Tube Cartoon

Another ad from TfL's ‘Get Ahead of the Games’ series to ensure that tourists, Londoners & commuters can effectively plan their journeys during the Olympic Games. Part of me sees how the ad people behind this would have thought it was funny.  "Ah let's put a rowing boat in the Tube cos it's long".  However, considering you'll be hard presssed to squeeze yourself on a London Underground train during the London Olympics the humour falls flat.


Also none of the athletes will be using the Tube to get to stadiums (well if they wanted to set off two hours before they were due to be there, they might). When London last hosted the Olympics in 1948 athletes actually travelled in on ordinary London buses.

Also to reduce the financial burden on the UK, all participants were asked to bring with them their own food, towels and sportswear. Apparently the US team upset their fellow competitors by turning up with steaks, chocolate and real coffee. These "luxury" foods hadn't been seen in the UK since 1939.

Paul Collins has written a book An Olympic Summer : Transport for London in 1948, based around some fascinating historical photographs. It records the British transport scene during that summer of 1948 when the world travelled to England and the immediate post-war road and rail networks were put to the test.

Back to the ad, I'm looking forward to seeing more from the series though. The website promises to make the poster ads available for download and rather optimistically suggests: "Why not pin up the poster in your workplace or at home as a reminder to plan ahead and make your journeys easier during the Games?" !!!

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