The Closing Ceremony From The Bleak North

I feel disingenuous writing about my disappointing, last day working on the closing ceremony after just watching the play back of the Closing Ceremony itself.  Thought the show was fabulous and it did make me cry!  It made me feel proud to have been a part of London 2012 and proud of everyone who had contributed and participated.  Truly glorious!  Will write a blog in a few days when I'm less tired and can be more considered with a reflection and overview of my life as a Games Maker.

In the meantime, back to Sunday.  Much of the Park was closed so there was little choice over roles.  All my first choices for posts had been taken (and I was half an hour early). I was put on the black team for the first time - Eaton Manor Gate - it was even more remote and further from the stadium than Greenway. Should have realised there would be a reason it was black.

The shift began in the usual fashion - a briefing in a room near the canteen for all the EVS Games Makers in the Common Domain.  But as it was the last day, we all had to sing  a song to the head of EVS for the Common Domain Team,  to the music and most of the words to the Beatles song - Let It Be.  I so wanted to!  I had written three emails to her in as many weeks and had no response.  Then we sang Happy Birthday to three working volunteers.  We were told that we were to be segregated into north and south and couldn’t mix for the rest of the day then duly tagged.  Au contraire! I had spotted Lisa (she has appeared twice before in my blogs) who was in the opposite sector so we texted during the song, planning our rebellion. Much of the feedback and appreciation of the GMs has been very gratifying but the reality of life as a GM has been different. The outward appearance and the willingness of the GMs to help has masked some of the chaos and poor organisation under the surface.

After 2 hours at the most northern part of the Park, having only one very nice conversation with a guest of Cadburys and a free crunchie bar, I told the Team Leader I would move to a busier post in the Park.  For an hour I wandered around taking more photos on the small old Pentax stuffed in my red and purple Games Maker bag.  Also, had it in mind to visit all the marketing venues such as the Coca Cola Beat Box that had missed previously due to the busy lines but disappointingly, they were all shut.  Felt very conspicuous as there were so few people around and with the segregation issue.  It's not easy to blend in wearing an unusual, bold colour mix uniform.   Called Elaine (orange hat) to see if she wanted to meet for a drink, had previously established she was also working at the OP today.  Headed towards her in Corporate Hospitality only to find the three first bridges blocked by huge, dense, lines to go into the stadium, they were half an hour late on entering in order to allow the acts to rehearse.  Seemed Elaine was going to be too busy.  Found out later that she managed to get into the stadium by pushing a client in a wheelchair and been allowed to stay and watch the show.  SO lucky!  Lisa and I had actually conjured up that idea but when it came to it we didn’t quite have the nerves to carry it through.  I should emphasise that Elaine's was legitimate or she will be cross.

Called Lisa who was drinking with some friends who invited me to join them.  A lovely lady from Lisa's home town had won an amazing package for the day - best seats in the stadium, lunch with Carl Lewis, after show party and a hotel room - all for a £20 raffle ticket .  SO so lucky!  Her and her handsome male friend invited Lisa and I to join them in the champagne bar.  Just what we needed - our own celebration to finish.  Had such a fun time.  Then they headed off to their swanky seats while Lisa and I went for our chicken pie and soggy veg in the canteen.  Back to reality!

It was to be a long evening with hours of nothing to do, but we did meet up again with the maverick, avuncular, Keith.  We had gone full circle - this team of three had been the first team for all of us at the rehearsal for the opening ceremony.  Keith had talked his way to into the north section and by coincidence I found myself standing next to him.  Annoyingly, 60 of the south section GM's had been invited into the show if they had a different top to change into .  The north side GM's, got to watch the non famous athletes parade into the stadium and much later dribble out.  Including the very famous, and very normal, looking Chris Hoy - who could not thank us volunteers enough.  Keith tried really hard to get us into the stadium but it was not to be.  We did get to hold a rope for a short while to keep the volunteers out and the athletes through and that was as close as we got.  Hmm - wonder which side got the best deal?!

The army forced us to the sides of the Park for the fireworks and we stood scarily close underneath them.  They were amazing!  And especially up close!  Left the park at 1.00 am with my battered silver baton (it kept falling out of my full bag) and certificate from Lord Coe for Keith to drive me scarily, home as we narrowly avoided hitting cars and buses.