The Beijing 2008 Olympics is officially 'over' on the evening of 24th August, when the closing ceremony takes place in their enormous 'bird's nest' stadium. London gets a few minutes in the ceremony as part of the Handover, which will be shown on big screens hastily put up in London and across UK cities.

This happens to be on the early afternoon (in UK time) on the Sunday of the big august bank holiday/Notting Hill carnival weekend.

What better reason, then, to have a knees-up? Announced a couple of weeks ago, Olympic chiefs are hosting a big event on the Mall for 40,000 people and "some of the biggest names in music". Tickets - which are free, courtesy of olympic sponsor Visa - will be allocated randomly, and you can apply for up to four here, but only until this Wednesday when the draw closes.

Now we all love a good party (and indeed a freebie) so we were the first to sign-up for the draw. But key questions linger - we all remember the huge 2004 event on the Mall during the bid to bring the Games to London, but can this party deliver on that early promise, now the Games will officially be "ours"? Plus that fuzzy pledge to feature "some of the biggest names in music" seems a bit unproven when we don't know any of the line-up yet...

Still, it's worth the gamble in our eyes. Mind you, if performers end up being Bryan May, Johnny Mathis and Take That, don't blame us - just hand over the tickets to your mum and head for carnival.

Image from london 2012