Eyes On London: Sunny skies and a hometown hero

Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

A PAUSE FOR CYCLING

Front pages in London on Monday morning are taking a break from Olympics runup coverage to focus on a non-Olympian sports triumph: Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins, one of the city's own.

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Now, after becoming the first Briton to win cycling's showcase event over the weekend, Wiggins is headed home to go for the Olympic gold.

"Everything turns to the Olympics and I'll be out on the bike tomorrow and I've got an Olympic time trial to try and win," Wiggins says.

- Greg Keller and Simon Haydon - Twitter (at)simonhaydon

OLYMPIC PARK GLIMPSES

AP's Fergus Bell is wandering Olympic Park as part of a preview tour. His latest observations:

Right now I am standing in the North part of the park overlooking the River Lee and the velodrome. My guide Matt, a sustainability manager during games time, tells me that where I am standing was, seven years ago, home to more than 200 derelict buildings, cars and tires.

The River Lee, which looks clean and refreshing, used to be housed in a concrete channel. That is all gone now and has been replaced by a wildflower meadow full of bees, birds and butterflies. And the flowers are not colorful by chance; they have been engineered to be blooming during the games.

- Fergus Bell - Twitter (at)fergb

COMMUTER GRUMBLES

Londoners love to grumble about getting around town, and the grumbles are reaching fever pitch with the imminent arrival of more than 1 million Olympic visitors.

The biggest target: the "Zil" lanes, named for the Russian limos that used to sweep along Moscow's main boulevards. They don't open until Wednesday, but taxi drivers are demonstrating in central London later today to show their displeasure. The lanes are aimed at easing the transport of officials, journalists and volunteers from their central bases in London for the 10-mile (14 kilometer) trip to Olympic Park.

London's "Tube," the underground service that transports millions every day, hit problems on the main lines to the Olympic Park on Monday. "Door problems" on the Jubilee Line was one explanation. "Body on the track" was another. Unfortunately, the "body on the track" line is not rare these days; it has become a favored method of committing suicide.

- Simon Haydon - Twitter (at)simonhaydon

SOMEBODY'S WATCHING YOU

"Sinister. Disturbing. Creepy. Frightening. The official mascots of London's Olympic and Paralympic Games - Wenlock and Mandeville - have been called all of those things, but organizers are hoping to tack on a more positive title: merchandising magic." - AP London's Cassandra Vinograd on London's Olympic characters.

She adds: "The futuristic-looking pair have popped up all over London, casting their one-eyed gaze at tourists and locals alike from posters, statues and a slew of Olympic merchandise ranging from key chains to cutlery. Bloggers and other commentators, however, have been skewering the duo for scaring children and projecting a creepy surveillance-state image of the Olympic games."

- Cassandra Vinograd - Twitter (at)CassVinograd

SUNNY SKIES

The city so famous for gloomy weather that there's actually a raincoat named after its fog is awash in blazing sunshine and warm temperatures Monday morning. And the outlook is looking good for the next few days - a welcome surprise to some Londoners, who have learned to expect the worst from their weather.

The forecasts suggest that Friday's outdoor opening ceremonies, though, may not be quite as lucky. Americans might want to consider bringing their London Fog raincoats along.

- Ted Anthony - Twitter (at)anthonyted

NEED A JOURNALIST?

As of Monday morning, more than 13,600 members of the media have validated their Olympics accreditations. That's more people than some small cities. And lots more to come in the next few days.

Bottom line: If you're coming to the Olympics, prepare to be interviewed.

WHICH WAY, NOW?

Signs to the high-speed Javelin train at London's St. Pancras station are confusing. Many arrows that look like they're telling people to proceed "straight ahead" are actually intended to mean "up".

After ending up outside and clearly in the wrong place, I asked directions from the policeman standing underneath the sign. He told me that they were indeed confusing and they had spoken to management a number of times about fixing them.

No response so far, he said.

- Fergus Bell - Twitter (at)fergb