Of course, the Olympic Games are not exactly in that category, but there have been signs over the past few weeks that the number of visitors coming to see the events may not be as vast as originally hoped - or planned for. Those taking part in the Olympics Arts Festival are crying that sales have been pathetic. The marina at Rozelle, set up to accommodate the luxurious yachts of the super-rich, hardly seems to have many applicants at all. Ultimately, that is the greatest achievement of this whole Olympic effort. The organisational glitches along the way were inevitable in an enterprise of this size and with its tight deadlines.
None seems to have done any lasting damage.
It has brought together a nation that sometimes seems a scattered collection of villages and done a lot to calm down that perpetual pejorative, Sydney-centric. Virtually everyone in Australia has had the chance briefly to be part of the action. The enthusiasm with which the torch relay has been greeted has been an antidote to the cynicism with which, in the Australian manner, many of us have treated all the rhetoric and hoo-hah surrounding the Games. They will do it a lot of good if protests are dignified and conscious of the fact that they, too, are part of Australia and this celebration. And may Transport Minister Carl Scully do his bit by ensuring no Olympic trains run off the tracks, no drivers are blind to red lights and timetables are more than wish-lists.