Countdown to the 2012 Olympics

If you happen to visit London's Trafalgar Square over the next few months, amid the fountains, marble lions and pigeons all overlooked by Nelson on his Column, you will see an electronic clock counting down to July 27. That is when the Greatest Show on Earth, aka the Olympic Games, gets underway here in London.

The problem is that we are following on from China, which had a very clear objective when it hosted the games four years ago in Beijing. Not only would it run smoothly, it would be a projection of an emerging global superpower. Money would be thrown at the stadia - who can forget the spectacular Bird's Nest, the stunning Water Cube or the opening and closing ceremonies? It was an awesome moment to be in the stadium watching the fireworks, the dancers and musicians, and the sheer scale of the choreography.

And of course the other thing that the Chinese could throw at the games was people - hundreds of thousands of them. I remember going to the stadium early one morning, and there were teams and teams of men brushing the trees - I kid you not: clearly it had been decreed that the foliage must be luxuriant green. The bus station had too tight a turning circle for the hundreds of brand new buses -- so new roads were created overnight. As one of the famous sports goods manufacturers would have it, impossible is nothing.

So fast forward to 2012, enter London, here in austerity Britain, where unemployment is rising and growth is rather more sluggish than a pair of weary legs at the end of a marathon. And yes, budgets have been pared back -- no Bird's Nest round here -- but let us not be gloomy: our Olympic Park is nearly ready, it has come in on budget, there are now fewer than 200 days to go, and the world's greatest athletes are honing and toning their skills and muscles in readiness.

OK, let me have one complaint - despite my best efforts, I have only managed to get tickets for the beach volleyball. I failed to get a single athletics, basketball, swimming or cycling ticket - so if you've got any spare, I would love to hear from you. This is Jon Sopel - that's J-O-N S-O-P-E-L for CBS News in London -- willing to pay top dollar.