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Mandrake wrote:Today's news is that the organisers have cut half an hour off the Danny Boyle directed opening ceremony to allow attendees to get home before public transport stops operating. I also see that if you want to watch the Basketball final then there's no problem. A ticketing firm is offering seats but they're in a hospitality box with a champagne reception. I guess the price will be rather high!

You would have thought that the public transport would have run a little longer to facilitate but I often wonder do we get the full story when we have these things reported. We obviously need to know the downsides of anything but I would like to think that once the games get underway we will see some positives too starting with the opening ceremony. Sadly I think it is more likely the majority of it will be 'it wasn't as good as Beijing' instead of judging it on it's own merits.

I think I'll give the basketball final a miss though. I'd probably be more tempted if it was the Womens Beach Volleyball...

To be fair, public transport will be running much later than normal and National Express buses have been 'requestioned' from other areas in the UK to cater for the increased need for transport. The big problem is that, as the opening ceremony is likely to run until past midnight, there will be a sudden surge to the tubes and buses at the end and it's yet to be seen if the system and arrangements can cope.

Tickets for Women's Volleyball? You'd be more likely to get tickets for the Over 80's Nude Leapfrog competitions! (Dunno who designed their figure hugging costumes but they didn't half need ironing...)

To be fair I was offered Womens Beach Volleyball tickets but turned them down. It was Iran v Saudi Arabia!

They'd be quite used to playing on sand then....

I've been lucky enough to have been given 2 tickets by the big boss at work.

To be honest I wasn't looking forward to the Olympics due to the shifts I'm being made to work. 5am starts and 30 days with only 3 individual days off In between.

Since I now know I'll be attending the opening Ceremony dress rehersal this Monday, I'm quite excited!

Did you know that due to McDonalds being a major sponsor, no other vendor is allowed to sell chips unless they are accompanied with fish. (the chips, not the people)

I have to confess I've been well and truly hooked by some of the events and am cheering like the clappers! As has been said many times, it's not the ceremonials, it's all to do with the individual athletes and their sheer hard work and dedication.

Tomo wrote:With so few security guards turning up for work, there's bound to be good money for an enterprising young magician or two keen to entertain angry queues.

I did some contact juggling in the queues to entertain people, mainly because I always have a stage ball on me as well as sponge balls and a deck of cards.

Mandrake wrote:I have to confess I've been well and truly hooked by some of the events and am cheering like the clappers! As has been said many times, it's not the ceremonials, it's all to do with the individual athletes and their sheer hard work and dedication.

The athletes are amazng people, I've met a few top swimmers and runners and know how much dedication and effort is put in to get to that sort of level. It's far from the easy, glamorous life that some people seem to think it is.

If any of you are watching this afternoon at about 3.30pm, please give a cheer for Jade Jones in the Women's Taekwondo - she just won her preliminary and is through to the quarterfinals. Jade is a relative of my Daughter in Law, she hails from Flint in North Wales and the whole town is at a standstill today whilst they all watch the proceedings on huge TV screens and big parties on the go!

Wowee - she's through to the final - a Silver at the very least!!!

And give a big cheer on to Lisa Dobriskey in tomorrow's 1500m final. I used to run against her in the 800m at the Kent School's Athletics. I never managed to get anywhere close though.

OK, will do!!

Jade got a Gold!!!!!

I must admit, I've thoroughly enjoyed the Olympics so far. I'm not at all a sporty person, football is usually as into sport as I get, but the Olympics have won me over. I was very cynical beforehand, but now I'm a true convert!

Now, where did I leave those jogging pants?

Mandrake wrote:Jade got a Gold!!!!!

She did fantastic!