Olympic shifts underway and celeb spotting!

After all these months of training, waiting, travelling to and fro from London Town I've finally started working at the greatest show on earth!  And what a first couple of days its been.  Worked 19 hours over the last 2 days, exhausted.com but the excitement, adrenaline and celeb spotting had made it all more bearable. 

Day 1 - up and out travelling to the Olympic Park at 5.00am.  Jumped on the tube and noticed half a dozen other volunteers also on the tube, quite surreal, this early and we dominated the train!  Arrived at Stratford International and wow, masses and masses of volunteers everywhere, scurrying towards the Olympic Park.  Could already sense the excitement and we all made our way to the security check!

    

It's off to work we go!

Once all the back of house tasks had been completed, all staff deployed, it was time to let the waiting public in! 

The calm before the mega army of people!

I had to take the obligatory pic!

Wow, in masses they certainly came, all full of excitement, with flags, banners, costumes, snapping pics, what a carnival like atmosphere. It was amazing, this is what we'd been led to expect, but you don't really appreciate the atmosphere until you are in the thick of it.

Spectators as far as the eye can see!

Inside the Aquatics Centre the atmosphere was just as amazing as outside.  Spectators as far the eyes could see, flags waving, people screaming with excitement, cheering on the swimmers.  This is what I had come to witness!  The entire roof erupted as Rebecca Adlington entered the pool, OMG, I was there and managed to not only soak up the atmosphere but also got some pics as well!

Check out the swimmers, including Rebecca in the pool!

Check out the view - OMG!

Yay, she successfully qualifies by finishing first in her heat!

The heavens opening around lunchtime, typical British Summer, but I had hoped, liked the rest of the nation, that we would have some sort of Summer, especially during the games.

A sea of umbrellas!

The hardest group of people to deal with is the press and media.  There are thousands and thousands from all over the world, never seen so many!  They assume because they have a camera in their hands this gives them the right to access all areas, in any venue.  They don't take no for an answer and certainly don't like being challenged, especially when they don't have the correct accreditation!  I've had to challenge a couple, but the presence of the armed forces and police make the job a little easier!

Oh yes, I bumped into a few celebs whilst on shift.  Saw David Cameron, who stopped and acknowledged all the hard work volunteers where doing!  Saw DJ Chris Evans and also the French President, who had the biggest entourage I've ever seen!  Not a bad start to the week and not your average day in the office!  Looking forward to seeing who else I may bump into during the remainder of the week.

30th Olympiad has finally begun!

What an emotional and amazing opening ceremony!  I am still exhausted from last night and woke thinking did it really happen, was I there, was it a dream, after all the waiting the games of the 30th Olympiad have finally begun!

The atmosphere in London Town was absolutely electric, carnival like wherever I ventured yesterday.  To add to this the sun has not stopped shining since I arrived - I guess I brought it with me from Nottingham!

The countdown to 9pm, the start of the opening ceremony seemed like an eternity!  When it did finally arrive the world certainly new about it.  I won't describe the opening ceremony in great detail, as the viewing figures speak for themselves.  My favourite part of the entire opening ceremony was when the Olympic rings came together in mid air, during the Industrial Revolution segment of the performance.  The music, the smoke, the noise, the atmosphere - what an amazing show piece of the opening ceremony!  I want to re-live that moment again and again, was an awesome spectacle.  Well you can via the video link here.  One of the best nights of my life, the memories will stay with me forever!  Danny Boyle certainly did us proud, how everything came together on the night is beyond me. 

I managed to take a selection of pics from the opening ceremony, which can be viewed via my Facebook page here.  One of the best image from the night can be seen below, what a sight!

Check out the miniature athletes!

An early night for me tonight as I have a 4am alarm call in the morning, my first shift starts at 7am.  Am I excited, oh yes, ready and waiting to finally put into practise what I have been learning over the last few months.

Awesome opening ceremony rehearsal!

After an emotional farewell from family and friends in Nottingham I finally arrived at my destination for the Olympics yesterday morning. What a scorcher, 32 degrees in London Town! I unpacked, showered, changed and headed straight for the Olympic Park.

The parameter was packed, full of eager people, waiting in anticipation, the atmosphere was carnival like and this was before I entered the stadium! As I passed the security checks, the size and scale of what was about to unfold finally hit me! Not sure it is was because the entire park was open or maybe it was seeing public roaming freely for the first time. People everywhere, fellow volunteers already in uniform working, press, media, police, army, security, a mixture of young and old, people of different casts and religions - wow, this place was buzzing!!!

 

As I manoeuvred around the place it soon became apparent just how enormous it actually is, mammoth venues, huge structures, beautiful landscaping, the biggest Macdonalds I have ever seen, plus a whole variety of other eating places. The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight and people as far as the eye could see - I had finally arrived for the Summer, and what a Summer it promises to be!

I made my way round to the main stadium, had my ticket scanned and was shown to my seat by fellow volunteers, something I will be doing next week! The stadium was huge, I've been to a few but nothing on this scale! Now to use an old cliche, to cut a story short, I am not allowed to log or show pictures of what happened next. The next three hours where absolutely amazing, what a performance, what a show! 10,000, yes 10,000 performers in the opening ceremony, a mixture of music, lights, singing and dancing! All I can say is that the entire nation are in for an absolute treat this Friday evening and I encourage you all to watch this amazing spectacle! It's nothing like Beijing and without being too biased it's fantastic! The highlight for me was when I heard Chariots of Fire being played around the stadium - what an emotional moment, this summed up the entire journey for me. I'm not afraid to admit I had a lump in my throat, the whole sense of occasion just took over - wow wow wow!

10 days and counting!

T minus 10 days & counting - can you believe it!!!

T minus 9 days & counting - the sleepless nights have begun :)

 

T minus 8 days & counting - looking forward to watching this Olympic special!  

 

T minus 7 days & counting - it's hard to comprehend that in just 7 days time I will be attending the rehearsal of the opening ceremony in this gigantic stadium! In the words of my pop idol Kylie, WOW WOW WOW WOW!  

T minus 6 days & counting - on this day next week I'll be attending the finale of the Olympic Torch Relay in Hyde Park, along with 80,000 other excited Olympic fans, bring it on!!! 

T minus 5 days & counting  - it's a Friday, it's the first day of Ramadan & 7 days until the opening ceremony.  A happy Olympic Ramadan Friday to all!!!

T minus 4 days & counting - I think we are in safe hands lol!!!

T minus 3 days & counting - my new home, the Aquatics Centre, will be open to the public soooooon :)

T minus 2 days & counting! Not only have I got deal with the excitement and adrenaline, but now have to re-evaluate my packing because of the sun - its a hard life!!!

T minus 1 day, yes 1 day & counting, until I take part in the rehearsal of the opening ceremony!  I may burst a vain or two with excitement!!!

 

Just over a week to go & counting........

Time seems to be flying by now at lightening speed and it's unbelievable that in just over a week I will be heading into London town to be part of the greatest show on earth - I can not freaking wait!!!  Some volunteers have already begun their shifts, in particular at Heathrow Airport and at the Olympic Village, welcoming the world to the greatest show on earth.

Almost ready to welcome the world!

Prior to any of my shifts starting I am a little busy soaking up the Olympic games time atmosphere with a few activities:

• I will be attending a technical rehearsal for the opening ceremony on the Olympic Park
• Will be going to a concert in Hyde Park, to welcome the final leg of the Olympic Torch Relay
• Will be watching the opening ceremony live in Victoria Park with fellow volunteers 
• Finally, it'll be games time and my shifts will begin

WOW, talk about over excited, games time is going to be absolutely awesome :) Oh, I nearly forgot, I might be involved in an impromptu flash mob, may post the video if it's any good, watch this space!!!

I may be a little busy :)

My wife and kids have booked day tickets to come onto the Olympic Park for the day, which means they can meet me after one of my shifts.  It will be quite surreal to meet them half way through my shifts, on the Olympic Park, but something to look forward to, as I will be missing my babies loads :( 

So this is my final weekend off with the family, as next weekend will be checking all my paperwork, accreditation, packing etc etc, ready to leave for the Olympics woohoo.  London - bring on the games!!!

Final orientation on the Olympic Park done, ready to go now!

Had my final visit and reccy of the Olympic Park yesterday, wow amazing scenery and colossal changes since I was there previously, back in February for the test event!

I arrived onto the perimeter of the Olympic Park, only to be met by the armed forces who where doing all the security checks prior to anyone entering the Park.  This was quite a daunting feeling, but I guess this extreme style of security is needed to ensure a safe games time experience for all involved.  I entered through the security style check-in, was body searched, collected my bag and made my way across the Park.  Wow - amazing changes since my last visit, new signage now visible, lots of merchandise stalls, food outlets, fantastic sculptures and great views from all the magnificent landscaping. 

This is what I was met with when I entered onto the Olympic Park:

Stratford Gate - one of five entrances to the Olympic Park. 
The expected foot fall from this entrance alone is likely to be approimately 20,000. 
Just a few spectators then!

The amazing Olympic Stadium, awaiting it's public for the opening ceremony!

The awesome towering Orbit structure!

The Olympic Park looked absolutely amazing, desolate, quiet, almost spooky like, with only a few volunteers walking around.  Quite surreal to be honest, I had to stop myself from wondering all over and focus on the job in hand.  This would be the only time I'll ever get to experience the beauty and silence of the Olympic Park, what a great feeling!

I made my way around to the Aquatics Centre, again this had changed so much since I did the test event, most changes being cosmetic.  From the outside this gigantic structure looked amazing:

The Aquatics Centre - almost front on

Directly outside the Aquatics Centre, think the Olympics are coming!!!

I made my way inside and spent the next three hours orientating myself within the venue.  For security reasons and I am unable to report on exactly what we did as most of it involved back of house training.  I can tell you one thing, as the volunteers entered the building and made their way to the appropriate seating, the video of when we won the bid for the Olympics, all those years ago, was playing on plasma screens.  Wow, mega goose bump time!  Each and every volunteer was glued to the screens and I could tell from their facial expressions that they where as excited as me, the games will begin in under three weeks.  What an exciting and frightening feeling.

I did however get the opportunity to climb to the very top of the Aquatics Centre during orientation.  Again, I will never have the opportunity to do this.  The view was amazing, the sides sloped very steep and took a while to reach the top.  The structure had been designed in such a way, that no matter which part of the seating you are sat in you are guaranteed a fantastic view.  This was certainly the case, check out the views below:

Just a few steps to climb!

Looking down towards the main pool

A birds eye view - amazing!!!

Well, in just under three weeks I will be back on the Olympic Park for my first shift.  The seems quite surreal, but I guess it'll hit me on the day :)