Hello again ….

Plenty to tell you about before that though. First of all, I'm thinking I'll have to be a bit careful about the way I start these now. Otherwise they'll all be "Today was a brilliant day with thousands and thousands of happy smiling people in a colourful carnival atmosphere". Otherwise you might think it's a cut and paste job. Otherwise you might think it's a cut and paste job. Otherwise you might think it's a cut and paste job.

That's certainly what it was like again today and I'm sure it's going to get crazier as the week rolls on. And what a night for us tonight in the stadium wasn't it? Unbelievable. One thing I'm going to try and do is take a video of some of the scenes for you so you can see for yourself what it's like. [OK, I know people take videos and post them all the time and a five year old could do it in less than ten seconds. But this is me and it'll be a first so please be patient and understanding]. Just remembered Fatama hasn't given me the video she took of Ibrahim and me doing our welcoming routine yet …… I'll chase her because I think you need to see it.

If you don't mind, I'll fast forward to lunchtime. Chris and I strolled down to the coach park - about 20 minutes. It takes us beside the Aquatic Centre and in front of the Olympic stadium. Loads of people were taking photographs and lots of Games Makers [me included] were taking photos of families and groups. I must admit I love doing that [and feel slightly rejected if they turn me down. When that happens, I just follow them around for hours and pester them until they give in]. That's a joke just in case anyone's not 100% sure.

People of all nationalities are there. All ages and they genuinely seem to be very happy to be at London 2012. Our Olympics!!! I think we should feel very proud of what we've done as a nation and what we're giving the world here. On a personal level, I certainly feel very proud to be part of it. Three cheers for us ……

All very quiet on the Marketing Partners front so we'll gloss over them. [Do I hear three cheers for them? No, I thought not]. As I think I've said before the real joy is strolling around the Park …. happy happy happy …. . We can clearly hear the noise in the stadium when the shout goes up and that adds to the excitement. There's TVs in the servants' quarters at the hospitality centre and we can see what's going on just a short way away.

I was up there this morning when it was raining. When it stopped and the sun came out, an Italian woman on our team called Cinzia started to use a mop to clear the puddles. [We can't have Marketing Partners get their expensive shoes wet can we?]. I felt obliged to help her but I have to tell you that some of these "puddles" were like small lakes. Sadly Traffic Supervisor Terry was on lates today. So he wasn't there to offer some helpful advice. Along the lines of "You're **** ing in the wind there". I can just see him saying it now with a thumbs up and a cheery grin.

I have to be honest and say that my heart wasn't in it and I soon gave up. Well, I didn't exactly give up. But I did give the problem to someone else [learnt that lesson at work many years ago]. I'm not sure who he was but someone was sweeping up around the outside of the hospitality centre. I went up to him and asked if he had one of those big things like a windscreen wiper that you sometimes see people using to push water out of the way. Perfect gentleman, he said "Leave it to me" and he disappeared. Came back 15 minutes later with a broom and started to sweep the water away. I watched him for a while but was then overcome with guilt. I rushed up to him. "Let me do it" I said. "It's fine" he said. Didn't want to ask him twice in case he changed his mind so I left him to it. It took him about half an hour and he was probably cursing me every single minute. When he was nearly finished, I was almost on my knees praying that it wouldn't start raining again. That would have been too cruel for words. If he'd said anything, I of course was ready to blame Cinzia and say it was all her fault for getting the mop out in the first place.

But fortunately the sun shone and I never saw him or his broom again. So peace once more. Cinzia is a teacher although I'm not sure precisely what she does. I think it's adult learners. [Her English can be a bit patchy. But nowhere near as patchy as my non-existent Italian]. She's also done some ballet dancing. And during our many moments of idleness, she tried to teach me a couple; the plie and the grand plie. Tried my best but I couldn't do it for love nor money. All the bendy-buses were parked up there. So were all the drivers [standing around I mean, not parked]. When they saw what we were doing, they were falling over each other to get involved and take part. Hidden talents, they did some amazing pirouettes.

No of course they didn't. They just stood and stared and made sarcastic comments. B******s.

Back tomorrow ….