After the party

Posted on Aug 13, 2012 by cliverh

I think I knew deep down that it would be a fruitless endeavour. The euphoria surrounding the Games carried on to the final day and the closing ceremony and we decided to get up to town to see something. Having failed in all attempts to get tickets for anything Olympic, and after my experiences as a Games Maker, thought it would be nice to do something ‘off duty’. So it was to watch the Closing Ceremony broadcast from the Olympic Stadium, due to start at 9.00pm.

So train to Waterloo, decided on Victoria Park, Mile End, Tower Hamlets, whatever.  It is the first (and probably only time) I’d ever been on the ‘Drain’. This is the underground line from Waterloo to Bank, known as the Waterloo and City line and is normally used by bankers and city types to get to ‘The City’ in a hurry. It’s an odd line compared to the  rest of the tube network, because it only has two stations  and the train runs between the two of them and no-where else. When you look at the labyrinthine workings of the tube system in its entirety, the Drain is simple in the extreme.  I could say it has to be so as not to upset or fool the bankers but I won’t go there.  Anyway from Bank on the dreaded Central Line (it’s always getting signal failures and shutting down), to Mile End and a 15 minute walk to Victoria Park.  There was humanity everywhere and it didn’t bode well when we joined the queue to get in.  Victoria Park was one of the places (including Hyde Park and Woolwich) which were providing ‘free’ access to big TV screens, courtesy of BT, where the Olympic experience could be shared with thousands of others who hadn’t got a ticket. A fruitless exercise as it turned out:

We queued for 30 minutes and moved forward about 30 feet towards the ‘security’ check.  At this rate the whole show would be finished and we would not see anything and have to turn round immediately to go home.  The queue was good-humoured but restless, with multiple rejoinders from a Tannoy’d announcement that no food or drink or sharp objects were allowed through the security check.  This was repeated about every 3 minutes or so and became very annoying.  I should preface the next bit with the knowledge that I know about security checks and safeguarding the public, but really was the overkill at this event absolutely necessary?  The queue was moving forward inexorably slowly and we were getting more frustrated by the minute by the lack of forward movement.  The security checkers were probably being extremely fastidious about their jobs and searching every nook and cranny of everyone’s possessions for contraband.  The fact that you could buy alcohol and food inside the park was I suppose irrelevant to the searches; were they looking for nasty stuff, or illicitly hidden food and drink? I personally think the latter, so that the operators of the park concessions could make the maximum profit selling their perhaps less than savoury wares, rather you take in your superbly assembled and packed picnic.  There’s obviously no contest, a rat-burger from a greasy spoon at inflated prices, or a lovely fresh sandwich or salad and bottle of £4.99 plonk from home?   No, I get it about security, but I thought on this occasion, perhaps it was somewhat zealous, after all everyone there wanted to celebrate the Olympics, didn’t they?  But I suppose that’s the way of world in these unsettled times, any mass gathering will require someone to check that they haven’t got nefarious means about their person.  It’s all to the credit of our fellow queuers that they remained cheerful and willing to wait some time to get in. We decided after 40 minutes enough was enough and made our way out. I stopped and asked a ‘supervisor’, read ‘bouncer’ how long would it take to get through security. His reply was about 1-1/2 hours. By that time it would be all over bar the plaudits, so it was a correct decision.  I then tried a different tack. I had taken my accreditation (Olympic security pass) with me just in case. When proffered to the security man to see if I could get in via the gate reserved for the great and the good, he said yes: result! Except of course that Fran, not having one, could not go with me.  So we trudged away from the entrance, out of the park and along the pavement back towards the tube. A couple of lads stopped me to ask them to take their picture with one of them’s camera, which was very trusting of them, I could have run off with it,  but instead complied and took said photo.  ‘You been to the park?’ queried one. I told them the queue was 2 hours long, oh they said, we’ll go anyway. Must be local with time to spare.  Anyway we found a pub and bought drinks and watched some of the closing ceremony on one of the 6 large screens they had in there.  After about 45 minutes it was getting very crowded and hot, so decided to make our way home, in not very good temper.  Luckily I had recorded the closing ceremony, but it’s not the same as being there.

There is always the Paralmpics I suppose.

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Protected: And in the end….

Posted on Aug 11, 2012 by cliverh

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The final stretch

Posted on Aug 9, 2012 by cliverh

Plenty of discussions today on TV, and on line about the legacy of the Olympic venues.  No doubt LOCOG have had a legacy plan in place for a long time; they have already said the Olympic park will close after the Paralympics and open again next July as a local park. It seems a shame to just close it immediately after the 9th September closing of the  Paralympics because there are many thousands of people who love to see what their taxes have been spent on, not just the lucky ones who were able to get a ticket to see the games.  Personally I would like to see it stay open for say a month after the end of the games, charging a nominal fee to get in. There will still have to be security in place, but this could be much lower key and would prevent vandalism and theft.  It will also show the country that the park is accessible to all.

A gratuitous picture of a lily from our back garden:

Another day, another day off.  Girding my considerable loins for my last day.  Sad, but happy in other ways. Sad that my experience is coming to the end, happy because quite frankly I’m tired, and didn’t realise how much the walking and standing would take it out on me.  Now I’m no lardy, I go swimming and cycling many times a week, so for my age I consider myself fairly fit.  But, this Games Maker adventure has taken its toll on my body.  All together….aaah. The day off has also been rewarded by a bit of better weather, so some sunshine for today, at least.

There is one good thing to look forward, the organisers have invited us to an end of Olympics get-together on the Sunday, when I hope to bump into the people I worked with over the last two weeks, and have a photo session.  Then it’s off to one of the parks, probably Victoria BT live park to watch the closing ceremony and catch the fireworks from the Olympic stadium.  Then on Monday it’s back to….normal life, which for me is mainly at home, doing what I like to do all day, every day.  Ah, retirement is bliss.  Catch me tomorrow night, if I don’t collapse as soon as I get in.  Five fascinating facts about taekwondo…..zzzzzzz:

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Back to work…oh dear

Posted on Aug 8, 2012 by cliverh

The sport connection in the Olympics is sometimes tenuous, for example how is synchronised swimming or board diving a ‘sport’. The scoring in these activities depends on the vagarities of the judges, so if they are having an off day, their decisions could be reflected in the score they give. I realise that the Olympics cover cultural events as well as sporting ones, but isn’t it stretching the imagination to call synch swimming, gymnastics etc as ‘sports’ when surely they are artistic interpretations of movement; discuss. It would be like judging two ballet dancers doing Swan Lake. I can imagine the commentary:
‘….and ‘ere we ‘ave the principal ballerina from Ukraine (oo sewed on all her own sequins) and her partner fresh from the shot put, dancing the dying scene from the ballet, oh, bit if a slip there, the male dancer looks like ‘e’s done himself a mischief, but they score 95.7, putting them in 3rd place for the medals …..’
OK perhaps I exaggerate a bit but competitive sport should be about who passes the finishing line first, scores the most goals or chucks something metallic the furthest, nest pas?

After two days off it was hard to get back into the stream and take up where I left off on Sunday. Today was not my finest hour. I felt tired and irritable all day, despite having a good night’s sleep, so you can never tell. To cap it all I was back in table tennis for the third time, you can only have so much ping pong, luckily I was back of house checking credentials of the athletes and others wanting to get into restricted area. I was lucky enough to meet my first sleb (celebrity) of sorts today in the shape of Paul Drinkhall, the GBR table tennis player who lost his first round match last week. Interestingly my partner on this particular post was a young man from Stuttgart who was here to improve his English but volunteered from Germany and has been in London since March. I doubt his English could improve a great deal because it is already very good. Denis flies back to Hamburg on Friday to take up a post as a life guard on the north German coast for three weeks. Ah the freedom of youth. The seating bowl was packed for the bronze medal play off involving the team from Germany against Hong Kong China (is that an independent country as far as the IOC are concerned?), the former winning their second bronze medal in table tennis, which pleased Denis. During a break in the matches, the arena announcer, an Irishman by the sounds of it, found and interviewed Dame Mary Peters (NI) who won the pentathlon Gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics, one of only four GBR won in that Olympiad. She was also one of the champions who handed over the lighting of the cauldron in the opening ceremony to a young athlete. It was lovely to see Mary and hear her positive message for the future of her sport.
So I make no secret of my lack of enthusiasm of table tennis and was rather glad when the shift ended and I went to have lunch and get home. Ah the bliss of sunshine, I managed to catch some rays in the dying embers if the afternoon, and read the new edition of ‘Private Eye’ which was surprisingly upbeat about the Olympics, coupled with the usual snide comments to counteract this or perhaps they were being ironic again? Never can tell with PE, but it’s still a fun read, although probably not as hard hitting or controversial as it used to be. Apologies for the lack of photos today, forgot the camera, told you it was a lousy day! Catch you on Friday.

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The bliss of a day (or two) off

Posted on Aug 7, 2012 by cliverh

Well to say I completely relaxed yesterday is an understatement, I actually got to watch some Olympics in the afternoon.  Thanks to my lovely wife Fran who has pampered me and kept me going; it’s the families of the  competitors and volunteers who should also be recognised, without both sets there would be a very poor Olympics.  Looking at Beth Tweddle’s parents on the the Beeb this morning, what dedication and support, but then it’s their daughter, so they have a vested interest.  Good luck to Beth if she decides to retire.

Another day off today and some odd jobs to do, but mainly girding myself for another shift tomorrow.  I have a feeling that I will be quite sad when it is all over,  I am still excited about my last two shifts knowing  that I have been part of the Olympics. My daughter and son-in-law were in the opening ceremony as dancers and she has also been part of the medal presentation ceremony team so it is quite a family affair. You never I might even be interested in Rio 2016 if they are looking for volunteers, after all I have the experience.  I’ve been to Brazil a couple of times and if you think London had a challenge with the riots a year ago, I have no idea how they going to tackle the favelas and the gangsters in Rio. The place has an edge of danger all the time away from the tourist spots. I was there during the Carnival in 2006 and there was policemen on every corner and intersection near Cococabana and Ipanema beaches throughout out the whole carnival period.  Still it’s an exciting and vibrant place with the food and the music, and of course the statue of Christo Redemptor and Sugar Loaf mountain as major tourist attractions. Let’s hope the authorities can nail down any problems there and make it as trouble free as London has so far managed to be. A short blog today, I will be back tomorrow.

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Too tired…..8th day and counting

Posted on Aug 4, 2012 by cliverh

Well, it’s happened eventually and despite my promise to my dear reader and myself I cannot do any justice to writing my blog tonight. It’s now 8.30 and I’m going to bed soon for another early start.

That was Saturday night, so I’m going to catch up with the last two days events, having now got two days off until my next shift on Wednesday. Elsewhere you read about the exploits of our sports men and women, but boy was I wrong about the lack of talent in our team, including the 400m silver from today; it’s a great achievement. But my take is on the more observed parts of my Olympics and the quirkiness of what happens during it.  So.. Saturday started in the usual way which I won’t bore you with, save that it was later start which was a nice lie-in, until 6.30!  I was allocated to boxing on that day, and there were ten bouts in the early session.  The weights ranged from 56kg to 82 kg and they were all feisty little fighters. I was again allocated in the seating ‘bowl’ the main job of which is to help people to their seats, resolve seat conflicts as they arise, and when everyone is settled, you can watch the sport. Bargain!  The session was 3 hours long and there were some good bouts including the Irish chap winning and a good match between the Brazilian guy and the Cuban No 1 seed, who lost narrowly in points. If the judges score identically so the points are equal, they employ a ‘count-back’ system to see which way the points awarded went in each of the 3, 3 minute rounds. At the end, we were released so started to make my weary way home, but three events were leaving at the same time so upwards of 30,000 people were leaving at the same time, again.  Another coffee and another wait on the balcony. So, a good day of watching the boxing, and as a I mentioned a late finish, and another early start:

Some random bloke

My group of fellow Games Makers

The ring before the battles

Sunday sprung nice and early but not so bright, I was on the 7.36 from the local station so not too late a start. The start of the wrestling today and I arrived at the Excel half an hour early – a record!  Quick cuppa and then in to the briefing in North Arena 2, which was used for the judo previously and had been transformed into the wrestling arena.  Sadly I never got to see any of it because I was allocated to ticketing.  This involves scanning the spectators tickets as they enter into the ‘spectator zone’ which houses everything for their corporal needs, food, toilets etc and don’t need to leave that area until the gates open and they can take their seats.  Ticketing is manic!  The barriers opened at 11.00 and they start coming at you, in a trickle at first then whole chunks of crowds coming at you all eager to rush through to get their seats, which they can’t do straight away as the gates into the arena don’t open until later.  So they mill around the spectator zone and spend their money  and wait, but of course I don’t see much of this. When the competition starts at 1.00pm theoretically everyone should be in their seats, but amazingly people were still coming in right up until about 3/4 of hour of the session to run. You would have thought paying that much for the seats would have meant taking full advantage of the time available, ce la vie. It was totally mad for 3 solid hours, with not a moment for a drink or almost to take a breath.  ‘Morning, how are you?’ ‘Buggies round the corner thanks’. ‘Sorry this ticket is for the later session’ ‘Have great time’ ‘Enjoy!’  Yes I know corny and ‘smiley service culture’ but it works, and people come back to you in a friendly way as well, with many asking if we are enjoying the games, how do you become a volunteer, do you do long hours etc etc.  Of course those whose first language is not English struggle a bit more to banter but their smiles say everything.  I have not an idea how many people I scanned through but the arena probably holds 10,000 and no doubt it was full.  We had 7 lanes of ticket scanners and they were busy all that time so the figures must have been approaching that.   Then a quick lunch break, but it’s a good 10 minute walk to the workforce rest area, enough time to chomp some grub and then back again.  In the time I’ve been doing the Olympics, and with the all the walking, I’ve lost 8lb! So here’s tip, reduce your carbs and walk loads, it works.  Got away on time and took this picture from the balcony of our workforce rest area, a view of Excel looking East:

Uneventful journey home, except of course the interaction between the public and me. You are always an ambassador for the Games when in uniform, as I know from my RAF days, so respecting this is easy for me.  You also get into conversation with many other Games Makes travelling on the tube or rail and talk the different areas they are employed in. Some unfortunately are in roles where they will never get the chance to see any sports so I count myself as very lucky that I have been able to see all the sports at the Excel even thought they would not be my first choice of viewing. But to say ‘I was there’ is enough for me.

So just a week left and the sports are becoming less and less as they finish. A tennis Gold and another one for Ben Ainslie who I met at work when he was sponsored by my company BAE Systems.  Nice guy and I have a picture of him with his signature, may be worth something later.  Talking about sponsorship, it struck me that the Beijing Olympics had advertising hoardings at all the venues and the sponsors were really ‘in your face’.  Catch a flashback on the tele and you will see what I mean. At London 2012 however, sponsorship symbols are hidden. Yes, the main players are well known and you may catch a glimpse of a well know product but not on the hoardings and banners around the venues that can be seen by the TV cameras.  This is I think a great tribute to LOCOG who no doubt made a conscience decision to do this. Some large corporations think they can take over the pictures with blatant advertising, but personally I don’t want it.  Well another day another dollar, two days off then Table Tennis on Wednesday, Taekwondo on Friday and that’s it!  I think I might carry on the blog after that, but if someone tells me don’t it’s boring, I’ll ignore them. See you later.

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And God rested….but not here

Posted on Aug 3, 2012 by cliverh

The 7th day Adventists consider Saturday as the sabbath, and the Jewish faith regard Friday night and Saturday as the Shabbat on which God created the Heavens and the Earth in six days and rests on the seventh. Well the seventh day of the Olympics is generally accepted as when the competition really starts, after the lesser, but not less popular, sports involving a ball, generally have already settled the medals. The first Friday is the start of Athletics competition, where perhaps for the first time in many Olympiads Britain has not got an outstanding team, with the exception maybe of the heptathlete, Jessica Ennis.

After two days off, it was a bit of struggle to get back into the swing of getting up to early to catch a train, but with a later start time it was a much more relaxed journey into the Excel. My task today was in the fencing arena, where we were watching some blokes trying to stab one another with swords, called variously epee, sabre and foil. It was all a bit over my head I’m afraid but it seemed very quick, with the combatants thrusting their weapons of choice at opponents who were dressed in a curious mixture of Star Wars type helmets complete with flashing red and green lights and what appeared to be armoured pyjamas, but what do I know? I’m not trying to sound ignorant but this was my first experience of fencing, except for repairing the bottom of the garden, and I only am only reporting what I saw. In any case if you want a sports report, read the paper or watch the box. We were in the seating area for competing athletes of whatever discipline, the ‘Olympic Family’, and Honoraries, the former being someone employed by the movement and the latter, former Olympic participants. We also directed the press and photographers to their respective seating areas. Not nearly as interesting as dealing with the paying public, because they are much more focussed, in the case of athletes, in seeing the opposition on the field of play, and meeting old friends and taking photos in the case of the others. Again the paid-for seating was filled to capacity which was very good for the image of these Olympics, and will go a long way to cement these celebrations as one of the most successful ever. Still, it was a short shift, so I was able to leave in the early afternoon, and decided to do something else on the way home.

The Excel is one of the most successful exhibition and event venues in London, and to expand its access, someone decided to build a cable car highway to join the Excel with the what is now called the North Greenwich Arena (NGA), previously the O2, and before that just the Dome. For something that was a temporary ‘tent’ in 2000, appearing in a Bond film and others, and was meant to last quite a short period, the NGA has lasted well and is now presumably a permanent building. The cable car was built quite quickly and was sponsored and paid for mainly by the Emirates airline and is quite rightly called the Emirates Cable Car. For the princely sum of £3.20 (with Oyster Travel Card) you get a 5-8 minute ride across the Royal Victoria dock to adjacent to the NGA. Here are some of the photos I took on the journey:

The Old Docklands

The Thames

The O2 (NGA)

Errr….Me!

Canary Wharf

Unfortunately the ride was over all too soon, and we ‘landed’ on the south shore of the Thames, seeing the Thames barrier, City Airport and the whole landscape in East London from our view point 600 feet above the river. It will I think be a major attraction and it was a brilliant idea to build it there, well done whoever was responsible. The NGA is home to the Gymnastics and Handball, and is a very busy area. Luckily it was a very sunny, warmish day and it was a pleasure to get some fresh air, and take in the scenery.

As I said at the start, today the medals which only require the human body or in some cases a thrown weapon, start their competition and embody the true spirit as envisaged by the Greeks all those centuries ago. The other Olympic sports are perhaps later add-ons to give more universal appeal, but it is mostly considered that athletics are the Olympics. Discuss. Boxing tomorrow, morning start, early evening finish (for me that is) and wrestling on Sunday. I really appreciate your comments, good or bad, so please leave some using the comments click below. Thank you.

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The Longest Day (so far)

Posted on Aug 2, 2012 by cliverh

The whole country is Olympics mad, it’s as if nothing has been happening in the world except those events at all the venues.  Kofi Annan has resigned, European markets have fallen and Gore Vidal, the political outsider and man of letters has died. My favourite quote of his?:  ‘It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.’  How apt for the Olympics or indeed any competitive endeavour. He wasn’t much of an author apparently but he had a waspish sense of humour and was related to the Kennedy family, who he didn’t get on with.  But his bon mots live on.

I’ve come to the conclusion that being a volunteer is harder when you are retired. I’ve got out of the working habit, but it all ties in with being an Olympic Games Maker.  This particular blog is a day late for reasons I shall explain later.  When I volunteered all that time ago, little did I realise how much it would take out of me. I must be walking, I don’t know, many miles a day, as I said before the Excel is huge, over 600 metres long and it takes 20 minutes or so to walk from end to another.  This plan gives an idea of the layout:

At the left hand or western end is the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station Custom House serving the entrance of the Excel. At the other eastern end is DLR Prince Regent which is the exit so that the pedestrian traffic flows one way in and one way out of the Excel.  The central area or Boulevard is where all the entrances to the various Event Halls are so the pedestrian traffic is to-ing and fro-ing all along this area. At any one time it can hold 70,000 people and this where I got caught out last night.  Having watched the Medal Ceremony for the Ladies Table Tennis (after I had finished my shift), I thought that’s it, I’m off home, having started at very early doors this morning:

Unfortunately another two events decided to finish at the same time so there was potentially 25-30,000 people in the Boulevard at that time.   Just like road traffic, there was a traffic jam and the exit towards Prince Regent was chock-a-block back to about a third of the length of the Boulevard.  I tried to join the queue and get to the DLR but it wasn’t moving. I thought, no this is going to take a long time, so walked back to the workforce rest area, which is near the entrance to Excel, grabbed a coffee, sat, and watched the people below for about half an hour.  Judging the time was right, leaving another couple of Games Makers I was chatting to, I made my way back to the exit having covered a return distance of probably a mile just to do so. No wonder I felt knackered having already walked a lot the rest of the day!  The DLR was fairly light, but the Jubilee line train was pretty full, and again I got into conversation with a chap from Lincoln who had been to the Olympic Park to watch something, can’t remember what but he was most interested in my uniform, what I was doing and how come I got involved. The feedback we get from these people is just as important as that which we get from the punters in the event areas. Always very positive, and always gratefully received.

Yesterday I was again in the Table Tennis arena, this time not involved directly with the spectators but doing the equally important, but quite tedious, job of monitoring various entrances into the restricted areas where the public are not allowed.  The good thing about this role is that the people you are dealing with are mostly sympathetic to the fact that you are stood, or sometimes sat in a position where often you might not see anyone for some time, and offer you drinks and snacks to keep you going; always welcome.  Luckily we are rotated around so you don’t stay in one place too long.  It was a long day and actually not doing much makes it feel longer, just like in my working days when I remember the same feelings of how the long day was dragging.  That’s not the case here though because in certain positions quite a lot is going on. I saw the interview by an American television network with the winning Chinese lady in the table tennis right in front of me.  London mayor Boris Johnson was going to go past but I never saw him, and finally I saw the medal ceremony so it was good day, but very tiring.  Actually the shifts have worked out well, in that the day off I have today is just right and needed, recharging the batteries for my fairly short shift on Friday when I am in the fencing arena, although I can’t for the life of me see some heavy blokes nailing fence panels to upright posts, sorry poor attempt at humour.

So Gold at last for the host country! Congratulations to sideburn Brad, the rowing girls, the shooting guy and the canoeists.  I don’t like the emphasis on the ‘table’ of medals and whether we are going to get more golds than last time, or the time before or another country. Does it matter? Surely just taking part is enough and if medals come out of that, so much the better. I also find the jingoism present in the media over the top. Why is the Olympic television provider  concentrating almost exclusively on GBR? Yes, I know they show other countries matches, but some of these have been quarter or semi finals getting into a fascinating position only for the Beeb to switch to a qualifier where the plucky Brit has come 8th.  Yes, yes I know there are 556 ‘streams’ (why can’t they call them channels) showing ‘all the sports, all the time’, but has anyone really got the time to watch them all?  Answers on a e-mail postcard please.

So to answer why this blog is a self-imposed day late, when I said I would write it every night? I was just too damn tired and thought well, with a day off I’ll do it then, and I have. No complaints please.  Night night.

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3rd Day – and counting

Posted on Jul 31, 2012 by cliverh

I’ve been reflecting on life in general as I trundle my way to and from my chosen voluntary job. I find the train is a wonderful way of having nothing to do except sit and look out of the window, or contemplate something deeper.  It is quite a cathartic process waiting to be taken somewhere by train, because at the end of that journey is another one, whether to a place of work or home, and that involves more movement and travel.  So the relative peace and quiet of the train ride (except other noisy people – which can be blocked out), is a good place to think.  Not that much thought passes through my brain at 5 o’clock in the morning.  Anyway it’s a calm start to the day where the rest of it will be hectic.

So, yet another sport is introduced to me via these Olympic Games – Judo.  I had no idea about how it works, what the scoring system is and who its top players are; and still don’t know that much.  The judo at the Excel is probably the most popular spectator sport at this venue, which has, apparently, been full for all sessions of judo, and the crowd can get noisy and raucous, much like football supporters with chants and stamping of feet. This was particularly so today when a Georgian judoist (?) was fighting against another chap, can’t remember who, and there was about 50-60 Georgians in one section of the seating doing just that; stamping, shouting and cheering on their countryman.  All to no avail of course because he lost.  They all then trundled out, disgruntled, and the place became a lot quieter, but not necessarily as interesting.  In my short experience at these games it has never failed to amaze me how much enthusiasm there is for each particular sport, the crowd get really involved and don’t normally stick to partisan lines.  Watching some of the other sports on TV has shown the same thing, especially Basketball, Volleyball and most curious of all: water polo.  Each to his own I say.

A short shift today, finishing at lunch time, so the journey home was mid afternoon and not so crowded on the tube, always a blessing.  I was again ‘in the bowl’ meaning the audience area, showing people to the their allocated seats and helping out where possible with queries about many things, including in some cases, the rules of the sport being watched and who the favourites are.  Sorry can’t help you with those questions, I’ll try to find out. We are actually what could be termed the ‘face’ of the games and the ones the audience see most of amongst the staff. It’s easy to build a rapport with those closest to you. They ask you to take group photos of them, and take photos of you, and since English is not the first or indeed any of the languages spoken between the two parties, it’s done with hand signals and signs.  It all works out in the end though.  Keep smiling and keep being helpful, that’s the way to do it. And everyone you meet is so, and I hate this word normally, ‘nice’, but it fits the attitude of the paying customers, who have paid I don’t know how much, but they are entitled to a good experience and that is what we as Games Makes try to deliver, and I think we do it successfully.  Judging by what I’ve read in the Evening Standard, they agree with that sentiment, as an article in yesterday’s edition heaped praise upon the volunteers for the unselfish and unstinting effort to the cause.  Couldn’t agree more; I feel especially proud of being a Games Maker and knowing that in years to come I can say to anyone who wants to listen, I Was There.

The only picture of any use I took today was this one showing the judo arena before anyone had come in, being prepared for the day’s events.  Tomorrow I am back in the table tennis arena and will find out then what job I’m doing, but it will probably be along the same lines. After that I have a day off and back in again on Friday.  I hope that my ramblings have provided some entertainment, if not  why not let me know via the comments drop down below or send me an e-mail, you know my address. I’m hoping to cobble this blog together and make it a journal of the whole Olympic Games experience, from my point of view. You never know it could in the form of a e-book or paperback book in your local book store when I get round to compiling it, which will probably be a long way off.  Be lucky.

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2nd Day – Table Tennis!

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 by cliverh

Let it not be said that table tennis, or wiff-waff as Boris Johnson calls it, is boring or slow. It is one of the quickest sports in the world with the ball taking just half a second to go from one side of the table to the other.  It’s good as a spectator sport as well, because you can see the ball, and the way it whizzes around the playing area.  Incidentally, wiff-waff was the term used by Victorians who invented the game and used to play it on the dining table with a ball made of cork.  So Boris wasn’t that wrong as it turns out.

My second shift was due to start at 06:45 so it was the 05:14 train from Guildford this morning. Gulp, that took some effort to get up and get to the station at four thirty am. The same trouble the night before, getting to sleep knowing you are getting up that early stops blissful slumber from creeping in. But the journey went smoothly, this time I went to right station and got off at Custom House for the Excel, through security and off to the briefing to see what my job was for the day, and it was a plum!  I was in the team showing people to their seats in the Table Tennis competition and generally assisting with getting the public sorted out and settled for the games of which there are four being played simultaneously.

The gates open, the public pour in and the session, which lasts four hours, gets under way. The Playing Arena holds about 10,000 people but we are allocated a small section to look after with other teams doing their area.  There are four games going on, all at the same time, and the one between the People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was a real needle match with the Korean man winning (sorry don’t know the actual result!). At least the flags shown for each country were correct.  The British chap lost to the German (sounds familiar) and the climax of the morning session was the match between the Japanese guy and the Greek guy, the only match left still playing, with it going to 3 games all and the deciding  game fought hard, eventually the Japanese guy being the victor.  The crowd were cheering the underdog at any time and it was a fantastic atmosphere.  The crowds were big as well. The morning session started at 10.00am and it got pretty full, of course most were there to watch the Brit chap and some left after his match.

The feeling of bonhomie and feeling that you are doing something useful is still there only more so. In contrast to yesterday when not a lot went on, today was exciting and interesting and was what I really wanted to take part in the Olympics for.  The kindred spirit between all the volunteer games-makers is palpable and we greet each other with a knowing  nod or other acknowledgement when we are travelling in to or away from the venue.  And talk, that is one thing we are all good at and probably why we were the 70,000 chosen out of the 250,000 who applied. The reasons for applying are many and varied. In my case it was just to take part, but most of the small team I was in today are either waiting to go to university or are in various stages of their course, including graduation, and their reasons for taking part are as diverse. Some want to put something ‘interesting’ on their CV, or to gain the experience of working with people. Some are on gap year and wanted to fill a part of that in, and some just wanted to ‘do it’.  Whatever the reason, all the volunteers are doing it for the love of wanting to do something for the country without and that is no bad thing, especially when you read about the greed of certain sections of society.

I hope this blog is being read, I would love some comments back via the comments section, when it is viewed.  Tomorrow is judo and again I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure it will show another facet of this fascinating experience.

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