Uniform Collection- 21st May 2012

Please note: These blogs have been written day-by-day. Having read this entry back after the Olympics, the level of cynicism seems over-the-top, but the transition of emotions will hopefully demonstrate my turbulent relationship with my decision to volunteer!

‘Can I have a look in your bag please mate?’

‘Yeah sure, just got a few snacks.’

‘No chocolate I hope’.

‘What?’

‘No chocolate. All chocolate to me.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘He’s joking mate. Go on, in you go’.

So, to collect my uniform, I had to decipher a barely decipherable accent, spewing out a riddle. I’d travelled from Coventry, and I had to solve a bloody riddle. This was after the guard had told me to ‘put your map down cos you’re here now sunshine’.

Inspire a generation.

The journey itself was hideous. Instead of a train, it appeared I was on Charon the ferryman’s riverboat, hurtling towards Hades via the River Styx, with the old and invalid of the world. Awful business. To kill some time, I visited West Ham’s stadium two tube stops away, which, despite my hate for the club, still has an aura of intimidation and history, something which has been lacking from most of the modern stadia I’ve visited, such as the choice of the Olympics committee, the Ricoh Arena. I stepped off the tube, breathed in, and immediately wished I hadn’t.

Infiltration

I was in West Ham, collecting my uniform and laminated pass, tired, weary, and having to take a day out of revision. As it happens, the uniform staff were extremely helpful and friendly, doling out trainers, t-shirts and various other freebies. Although much-maligned, I think the kit is very smart, it’s a decent material and, as I am at peak physical fitness, makes me look fit. At the end of the day, it’s Adidas, not Macron or Lonsdale. I still couldn’t quite work out why we had to go to West Ham to collect it, as I simply handed my passport over and got given my kit. Could have happened on a street corner in Droitwich and it wouldn’t have been any more secure.

The next time I go to London will hopefully be for my venue-specific training sometime in July. I just want to get started now. I’m excited because the travelling, training and endless bureaucracy is nearly over. Once the Games actually start, I’ll have a degree of independence, and be thrust into the action, rather than learning mnemonics in classrooms.