No, I didn't win any medals. But I did get an Olympic pin from a Barbados athlete!! More of that later ….

I was toying with the idea of giving this blog the title "Now when anyone asks me where the nearest toilet is I know the answer". Can't remember if I told you but I met up with my daughter Jo in the Olympic Park a couple of days ago. A man approached me saying to his family "I'll ask this person. He's sure to know. Could you tell me where the nearest toilets are please?". I didn't have a clue and started to splutter. Fortunately Jo rescued me and pointed them out. I think I caught the word "pathetic" as the man went back to his family.

But after this near miss [and after my first cup of tea this morning] I set off to find all the toilets in the Park in the hopes that someone else will ask me and I can redeem myself. So I walked up to where the basketball and hockey are being played. GREAT atmosphere. Face paintings, wigs and flags of all the countries. Really colourful and really happy. This is about a 30 minute walk and I was there well before 9am. The place was already buzzing and the hockey seemed packed. Oh yes, the Velodrome's up that end as well - I think the cycling started today. Anyway, mission accomplished. I now know where all the toilets are.

Another cup of tea and eventually went down to my post at the Marketing Partners coach entrance. All fairly quiet so I thought I'd do a bit more exploring. So I hopped on a mini-bus that takes athletes to the warm-up track. Security is understandably very tight and I couldn't go wandering in. But I did get off for a while to try and see what was going on. The athletics starts soon of course and there seemed to be loads of people in there. This promises to be great fun over the coming days. I caught the minibus back with an athlete from Barbados who wasn't sure how to get to the Stadium. So I took him there. AND HE GAVE ME AN OLYMPIC PIN!!

Lunchtime came and I hung about the hospitality centre for a while. We saw Ian Thorpe arrive and be shown in. And then more Royalty …. This time the Crown Prince of Holland [Alexander?] and his wife [can't remember her name]. Have I mentioned Ibrahim before? A really nice guy, I hadn't realised he was from Holland. Well, while the Crown Prince was inside, he spoke to the security police [ours and Dutch] about speaking to the Crown Prince when he left. They said they'd ask. They did and Ibrahim was called over. I can't say they hugged each other like long lost friends but they did chat for quite a while and it all seemed very friendly and informal. I took a photo of them for Ibrahim on his camera and it does look good I'll try and put it on here soon. This was a BIG moment for Ibrahim and he couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the day. I like Ibrahim a lot - he's a really nice guy. And I'm now a big fan of the Dutch Royal family.

We're all about a week into this now of course and things have fallen into place and it feels far more relaxed. I think that goes for all of us; Games Makers, drivers, traffic people, security. I think we're all a lot more confident about what we doing and what the answers are. So now we can [selfishly] think a bit more about getting the most out of the experience for ourselves.

Fatama, Ibrahim and me found ourselves together for a couple of hours this afternoon. We were idly chatting how we could greet Marketing Partners and their guests better. Inside 5 minutes, we had a little routine worked out. Nothing fancy "Give me a W. Give me an E. Give me an L etc…… . Finishing with "Welcome". OK, might sound pathetic but it made the first couple of groups we tried it on smile. The bendy-bus drivers got in on it as well. Not to take part you understand but to egg us on to make bigger idiots of ourselves. "Here come some more. Get ready". As I say, all a bit more relaxed and a few more laughs. [Fatama videoed Ibrahim and me doing it. Will try and get that so I can post it here].

So that was today. Let's have a quick recap shall we? I know where all the toilets are now. I visited the athlete's warm-up track. I saw the Crown Prince of Holland. I got my first pin. And we made a start at a sort of Cheerleaders "Welcome". What a day! And it should hot up even more when the athletics gets going - can't wait for that.

Anyway, that's how it looks tonight. Hope to be back with you all tomorrow Ken