Name dropping (is this really happening?)

With each passing day I wonder if this experience can possibly get any better.

It surely must reach it's peak at some point.
maybe today was that day; allow me to explain.

It was a quiet start to the shift and my fellow Clydesiders were beginning to show some signs of fatigue from the intense excitement of it all.

I was able to remind them that we will be able to keep going to the end and we will all recover afterwards very quickly. How lovely it is to be able draw on a previous experience like this to support my team.

I met the Protocol Manager and 2 senior police officers who wanted to make sure I would allow 2 people in with no accreditation.

This is most unusual but I said if they were accompanied that would be okay.

I was assured that HRH Prince Edward would indeed be accompanied, and would I show him round?

Did that actuality just happen?

Team Australia pole vaulters arrived to train.
I've built up quite a friendship with the Boyd family. A Google search for Ray Boyd shows I've met a hugely talented family. Mum and Dad were Olympic and Commonwealth medallists. They have 3 children, 2 of whom are competing in the pole vault.

I have been very kindly given a Team Australia shirt as a thank you.

The Prince was absolutely charming. Interested, funny and very knowledgeable about all sport, not just the athletics. He was very keen to meet volunteers like us who are behind the scenes and he wanted to know how we are able to individually meet the needs of so many different cultures.

"Well, Sir, we all smile in the same language and it makes a great start" was my reply. He thought it was great that we get to see the human side of the athletes and that we are are able to make a difference.

Have I really just spend 20 minutes talking with Royalty?

I know Mam is looking down and smiling on me as I do these amazing things but how I would have loved to call her and tell her. After The Prince left I found a quiet place for a bloody good cry; sometimes we need to.

My blip is South Africa House. Each country sets up a home from home for athletes and their families to meet in. They are also open to the general public.

This venue has beautiful displays of South African crafts and a very moving display about sport and the apartheid regime. I was very moved by the display. South Africa does not hide from its past; there is acknowledgement of it and demonstrations of the positive work that has been done.

They also recognise there is work to do, but the progress is brilliant.

Music and free beer meant it could have been a very late, very drunken evening so I left early to play it safe!

On my way to my train I met a man who claimed he was a gold medal winning weightlifter from Cyprus. The cigarette in his mouth made me wonder, do I looked up the weightlifting results.

It would seem, then, that you can smoke and still win gold medals!
Sadly he didn't have the medal with him as he didn't think it would be safe.

More than enough excitement for one day :)