For readers who, despite it all, have yet to visit Stratford, east London, let Obiter paint a picture.

On one side of the main through-road is Olympic Park, Europe’s biggest urban shopping mall and an international railway line (which from Stratford goes all the way to Kent). That’s the side you’ve seen on the telly. Sadly, there’s the other side, where the old Stratford Centre looks on forlornly, like one cat watching another cat bathe in a hot tub of cream.

So thank goodness for Essex firm Birkett Long, a construction specialist, which has advised contractor Sorba (UK) in its creation of the ‘Stratford Shoal’ - a visual treat that helpfully hides the forgotten half of the Olympic host centre. The titanium structure, part of a multi-million-pound project to spruce up Stratford town centre, reaches 17m high and has 73 leaves which move in the wind.

On the subject of Stratford, spare a thought for Corper Solicitors, situated a mere 400 metres or so from the Olympic Stadium. Partner Andrew Bolton tells Obiter the journey to work has been a little more fraught than usual, with parking out of the question and a million people turning up on his proverbial doorstep every day. ‘Put it this way, there are some elements of the Games I’ve not been looking forward to,’ he says.