The badminton courts are in the building!

My countdown to travelling down to London for the Olympics (note to self: buy train tickets asap) entered single figures today, so I thought that I'd get the blog-ball rolling.

Yesterday I had to go down to Wembley Arena for Venue Specific Training (also called VST by the many abbreviation loving people up at Olympic HQ).

Travelling there was minorly stressful due to a combination of Hard Rock Calling festival at Hyde Park, closure of the Victoria line and (probably mainly) me getting over-excited by a couple speaking German at the ticket-buying-booth next to me, meaning that I bought a ticket going to a station in Wembley that my train wasn't actually going to travel through (only to find out a couple of hours later that I actually have a Osyter card for unlimited travel in London until after the Olympics, so didn't even need to buy a ticket in the first place). Yes, Jenny! Anyway, thanks to the ticket conductor who, after briefly contemplating sending me back to Marylebone, decided to take pity on me and let me out at Wembley, I actually made it to the Arena with time to spare and sandwiches to eat. (Not-so-Olympic fact: Cliff Richard has performed at Wembley Arena more than any other artist).

The day began with presentations from various Team Leaders and Security Managers etc. for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics (who we're sharing the Arena with during the latter part of the badminton competition). The enthusiasm from everyone is, however cliché, infectious, and, if the lady managing the rhythmic gymnastics competition would have emphasised one more time how dynamic baton throwing can be, she would have had me switching sports there and then on the spot (Olympic fact: rhythmic gymnastics is one of two remaining female-only Olympic sports, the other one being synchronised swimming). As it happens, though, they apparently don't need a floor mopper, so I'm left a slightly gutted that I'll potentially never see the dynamic-ness of it!

We then split off into the teams that we'll be working in during the Olympics and, after completing some more training (I'm now an expert in the technique of safely lifting things), we went on a tour of the Arena and of some of the temporary builds in the Wembley area which will be used by the athletes for warming up etc. We've only moved into the Arena during the last week, so it is still very much a work in progress, but it is looking good! (Olympic fact: Wembley was used as a venue in the 1948 London Olympics, meaning that it is one of two venues being used at both Games, the other one being Earls Court). The usual stage has gone (though I did greatly enjoy walking out through the stage door onto the non-existent stage), the media booths and big screens are set up, and, most importantly (!), the badminton courts are on the floor. The umpires chairs were wrapped up near one of the warm up courts and (although I can't reveal any details), I can promise that they, along with the floor, and the floor mops, will have quite an exciting colour scheme!

The day ended with a treasure hunt around the Arena, which (despite the temporary builds all looking pretty identical) saw an epic win for the Field of Play team (helped along by our Team Leader just a little...), and resulted in a very happy Jenny, because winning involved chocolate.

I got back to Euston fine and with an hour and a half-ish to spare before my first ever First Class journey back up north (for some reason the ticket was cheaper for First Class than for Standard, but I'm not complaining!), so I decided to be a hardcore Games Maker and go to Trafalgar Square to take a picture of the Olympic countdown clock. I got to Leicester Square before the line closures and West-End go-ers got the better of me and I realised that I probably wasn't going to get back in time for my train if I took a too big of a de-tour... On the plus side, my Oyster card definitely works and I am now one Wenlock (Olympic fact: the founder of the Wenlock Olympian Games in 1850 is credited as the founding father of the modern Olympics) and quite a few Percy Pigs better off than I was before.

It was so good to actually be in the Arena and to see everything coming together after so much time. The next time that I'm there will be in a week or so for Sports Presentations, which are basically dress rehearsals of everything, so that the media know timings-wise how long things such as ceremonies and players/ umpires walking out onto court will take to broadcast.

Until then I'll leave you with this ridiculously cute gem, which I found on our training-CD: