My, oh my…between supporting the USA and UK teams, the excitement in this household is at a pitch.  The real excitement, however, is attending some of the venues.  We’ve been to Eton Dorney for preliminary rowing, Wembley for early rounds of football and have the Athletics to look forward to on Tuesday.  I have been able to visit many of the sites as a VIP driver as Martin and I found our pass allows us into the various venues (but not events as these are ticketed).

Early morning shifts mean leaving Oxford at 4:30 am to arrive in Park Lane for 6am.  I thought these were the harshest but now my afternoon shifts which run from 2pm until midnight are harder to get through as the level of activity is full flow.  The process is for driving volunteers who are based at Hyde Park where there is a parking garage of 1100 BMW’s all signed for the London 2012 Olympics, they head in bright purple and orange uniforms to the Park Lane Marriott.  There we are checked in, given a meal voucher (the food has allowed me to lose some weight as it is not nice!), allowed a Coco Cola product and then we check in for our assignment.  Both Martin and I have had WADA “clients” as the World Anti-Doping Agency attends most events.  We head to the garage to check in our cars…all signed with specific numbers, pick up our mobile phone, keys and security clearance and then London and the Olympic lanes are ours to explore until such time as we need to pick up clients.  We are based in Hyde Park due to the 29 Olympic hotels in the area.  At one point I needed to use the Ladies room at the Hilton only to be turned away as I didn’t have the correct authorisation!  They said the Intercontinental was more accommodating!!

When I have dropped off the client at the Velodrome, Excel centre, Olympic stadium or wherever they are going, I am allowed to park and explore until my phone rings again for another ride.  Last night I sat in the Olympic Village watching, with many of the athletes from the world, cheering Jessica Innes on to her Heptatholon victory.  The mood was electric.

I will say that 10 hours sleep after arriving back in Oxford at 12:30pm simply isn’t enough!  More news soon.