I begun the day on an early shift, with very little sleep from the night before with the fear that I was going to sleep in. Irony right? Along with the usual athlete moving in etc it was also my ‘Driving’ test today as well so I was pretty nervous about it to say the least, especially now I was lucky to have 3hours sleep at best.
I arrived on time as usual, bypassing thru the Village plaza and onto the Victory Square which situated on one side are the Olympic rings and it had become a focal point for many people to get their picture taken under the iconic rings. I was extremely lucky to get this picture as I effectively sprinted to the rings to make sure I got it. It also meant I had to take a few pictures for them but its a small price to pay š
So as I was headed out for my very nervous driver training I came across some ‘activity’ in the Village Entrance forecourt. First off the Jaguar situated at the front really did arise suspicions as we were used to seeing nothing but LOCOG BMWs embossed with flags and colorful decals or the Citreon Picasso that would be floating about.
Second suspicious thing had to have been the sight of the five metropolitan police outriders, on white bikes. For those who may not be up to speed on the difference in police ‘bikes’ you know that these ones are for people who are high profile. Mainly due to the fact that you always see them with people who have high profiles or the fact that they also have a handgun strapped to their leg, just incase of course.
No one knew who it was.Ā Was it a high profile politician? Was it a mad celebrity, or someone that woudl raise the spirits and get people talking?
Having spoken to another gamesmaker, I wasn’t gonna stay as I had to head over to ExCel, we found out it was one of the Royals. My feet were then well and truly routed to the ground to see which one it could possibly be. Anne?Ā Charles? Harry? Kate and Wills?….
All wrong. It turned out to be HRH Prince Edward, but people weren’t too disappointed.
He was actually quite nice, gave a little wave to all the gamesmakers who had waited about and then got into his Jag and drove off. Yes, surprisingly enough he himself drove out of the villageĀ and on to the open road. though i have a sneaking suspicion thatĀ they may have swapped over when they had hit the Vechile Screening Area. Just a hunch though!
After my wee stint of ‘celebrity Watching’ for the day I dashed off to ExCel on the DLR. Knowing that I was due to be there in the enxt 15minutes. apparently thats all it would take so I had everything crossed I’d be on time, needless to say I was only a few minutes late, but I was told don’t worry as they hadn’t started yet. It was interesting meeting the other NOC Assitants who had yet to drive, all from smaller NOCs. Its quite interesting to see the different experiences that people were having. I hadn’t really spoken to anyone outside NOC Australia as you kind of just keep to your own, but when you say you have a total delgation of 729 and they ahd 17 it really does put things into perspective a tiny bit š
So the head instructor came and took us in to the room to give us all a quick briefing. He reminds me of the Demon Headmaster, it really truly is pretty scary how much he looked like him. Sunken eyes, white hair *shivers*
Anyway we were all told we would only be out for an hour and unlike before we would all go out at the same time, indiovudlaly with one instructor. I was quite relievd at this seeing as how i managed to fail due to someone shouting etc. I did however spot the instructor who had failed me before hand and well and truly avoided him at all costs incase we had the awkward discussion of ‘So why did you fail last time?’
Luckily it worked and I was paired with a nice man called Martin. Looked a bit like the lead singer from the band ‘The Darkness’ but nice all the same really.
We drove about for half an hour, not the hour that I had been promised, but it went off without a hitch. Fantastic I thoguth to myself. It was actually much easier and smoother and the second time round inthe car really helped. I was even beginning to enjoy the Stop/Start of the engine and was really getting the hang of it.
I drove to Canary Wharf, finding out that the area was Canary Wharf rather than theĀ Faberge’ Egg, or ‘The Gherkin’ as it is more commonly known as. It was pretty full on, especially when the instructor said if you go one way its a normal car examination if you go the otrher its a ‘Bomb’ inspection. I was pretty freaked to say the least.
I got thru without any issues. Why wouldn’t I?! Anyways it was time to return to base, keeping everything together as I hadn’t had any problems, apart from maybe the Air con question. It really confused me and can’t actually rememebr why but it did.
Luckyily, I passed! So it meant that I would actually be driving about in those stop/start, ‘hated by taxi drivers’, very fuel efficient BMWs.
The journey continues….
Gingering on... 