Luckily, and much to my
relief, Lufthansa didn't strike on Sunday 9th, so I was able to fly back home.
Although, when I say 'home', I actually spent all of about 3 hours there before
driving down to London. According to Google Maps and my calculations, this totalled
774 miles in 6 hours worth of travelling, and I am considering this to be a new
personal best. When I got to the flat I watched the Closing ceremony of the Paralympics, before heading to bed an hour later than originally planned, due to accidently having reached the point of no return by tuning in to Channel 4+1 instead of Channel 4...
The morning was an early one, but, after a dramatic run for the train in a style that if it hadn’t been for my Games Maker uniform, I’m sure could have been mistaken for that of Usain Bolt, I was well and truly woken up.
I headed to Trafalgar Square
to buy some breakfast and, after having made a Games Maker friend along the way
and had John Inverdale come up to me to say thank you for my Games Maker-ing (one
of my stronger starts to a day!), I went to Horse Guard's Parade to eat my Meal
Deal fit for a Games Maker. (I would here mention the name of the Supermarket
where said Meal Deal was purchased, but it is the major rival of the
Supermarket which sponsored the Paralympics, so I'll be a responsible Games
Maker and miss it out for LOCOG's sake...)
I spent the morning in the
area around The Mall, before the police did a security sweep and we all had to
wait outside the gates of 'Area 5' (the beach volleyball Games Makers were well
acquainted with these areas, but the Wembley mopper experienced some minor
orientation difficulties along the way). We were then joined by the rain and
also by the Games Maker Legacy Choir, who sang Land of Hope and Glory on repeat
for a while, before switching to lots of songs about loving London. This Games Maker had been working in the ice bath room during the Jamaican team pre-Olympics ice bath session. Usain Bolt and Blake had been in opposite ice baths and, after a few minutes, the two of them had decided to start to have a water fight. Said Games Maker was alone in the room with the two of them as they began to throw the water from the ice baths across the room and at each other. Doubting his authority to make any comment, said Games Maker went outside to find the Jamaican team coach who had brought the athletes into the room. Upon finding the coach and telling her what was happening, said Games Maker was pretty shocked by her distinct lack of shock. Instead, the coach rolled her eyes, looking entirely unsurprised at the ice bath adventures of Bolt and Blake, walked calmly into the ice bath room and ordered them to ''stop or stay in the ice for 40 minutes''. Her response to their protests that they would freeze was simply, ‘’ I do not care’’. And so the Bolt and Blake ice bath adventures ceased.
After quite an extensive wait
outside, we were let in to the infamous ‘Area 5’ of The Mall, where we were
entertained until the Parade began by grannies in drag on scooters and a
piano-playing nun. We were able to watch the start of the Parade on the big
screen nearby and, in the pre-Parade wait, what shocked us all the most (other
than the appearance of a swoosh of floppy blonde hair (aka Boris Johnson) right
next to us and Eddie Izzard’s mission to shake every single one of our hands)
was just how packed the streets of London were. Even the side streets, where
you would probably be lucky to see the busses, let alone the athletes, were
packed as far as you could see!
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| Jess 'Bus 3' Ennis |
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| It was great to see so many signs thanking the Games Makers |
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| Chris 'Bus 7' Hoy and Sarah 'Bus 7' Storey |
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| Victoria 'Bus 7' Pendleton |
After the chants had died
down, the photographic challenge that was the fly-by began. I love watching
planes (as my housemates will back me up on!) and, even if my photos do not do
it any justice whatsoever (there’s a reason that the Mopper does a languages
degree!), there was something pretty special/ British about getting bruised
hips from leaning on railings on The Mall whilst watching the Red Arrows fly
over Buckingham Palace... 
I stayed around after
the Parade until the athletes disappeared and the devastating line ‘’ we don’t
want to, but we’re now going to have to end the Olympic TV coverage’’, was
heard on TV sets across Great Britain. And, yes, I did see a tear from Seb Coe.
I then headed to Trafalgar Square, where the last thing I saw before heading to the train station was a couple of Games Makers spontaneously Irish dancing with Chinese tourists in front of the National Gallery. Olympic London, I love you.
I had a 1st Class
ticket for the way home because, for some reason, it had worked out cheaper
than standard class, so, after using the Games Maker muscles to help an elderly
couple with their bags, I went and sat in the lounge for a bit and watched the
breaking news of Seb Coe running for BOA Head with lots of Games Makers, London Ambassadors
and Team GB coaches.
Heartbreakingly, I then had to get on a train to go home and actually leave Olympic London. However, on the way back, I did something that would make our Boris swell with pride: I had a three hour long spontaneous conversation on public transport.
