It all started off early again actually. Easier today though as it was Monday and the trains are back to normal. I must say though, that it's the only Monday I've ever worked where I have been happy to work on a Monday. :-)
We got deployed to blue team again which was a bit disappointing as we fancied a change, however, after the briefing we saw our old team leader Michael who was short so we moved to his team (we were going to move anyway as we didn't really want blue) which was pink which is Britannia Row in Sector 4. This area of the park is one of the busiest as you have to come past us to make your way to Eton Manor, Riverbank Arena, Basketball Arena and the large screen also known as Park Live.
It started of with Laura and Lou on BOH access point Alpha and Matt and myself on BOH access point Bravo. We chose to cover these first so we could get it out of the way and over and done with as quick as possible as this is fairly boring - for those of you that don't know it involves checking the acronyms on people's accreditation to ensure they are allowed access to this BOH area. We then went for breakfast and I spoke to a few people I had met on previous days and it was nice to catch up with them.
We got back to our area and Matt and myself were by the bridge which was quite busy. We dealt with the usual queries from spectators and guests and this helped pass the time. It was exceptionally busy today on the park as there was actually 5,000 selected Sainsbury's staff that had tickets for several events throughout the day. This was as a sort of reward and recognition thing for around 5-6 staff from nearly every store over the whole country apparently.
These interactive panels play sounds that make up part of the Mark Ronson ft. Katy B sound track used to promote and advertise the games and Coca-Cola. Once you get to the top after recreating the soundtrack you can have your photo with the Paralympic torch with the Olympic Stadium as the backdrop - best of all it's free! On the way down you go past the name of several torch bearers and some of the future flames which vary from actors, performers, doctors and architects! At the bottom you are given a limited edition aluminium bottle of Coca-Cola which you drink whilst celebrating the future flames in the circular room whilst listening to the move to the beat song.
We spoke to Michael and the other sector 4 team leader and had a general chat about the volunteering and Paralympics in general - this was good as we got to chat to him for quite some time and also about several of the other team leaders. The other TL then has us a ticket for the athletics. Michael offered it to Matt and myself. I then said to Matt that he could go as I would be seeing some athletics on Thursday night. He had a great time and even saw the David Weir victory ceremony. We heard the roars from the stadium whilst we were in the workforce canteen, it sounded incredible.
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The afternoon was fairly busy too, we started off in the same area as earlier on that day which was good and the afternoon went really quickly actually. There's a rule that we aren't really supposed to give out maps to spectators for some reason. I think it's to do with being a sustainable games. Anyway, I gave out the most I've ever given out yesterday. I seemed to be handing them out to everyone who walked past at some point. For some time now we'd seen an American sitting on a bench about 50m away from us. He went to get lunch and Michael our team leader went and spoke to him. He came over with him to Laura, Lou and myself. It turns out he was John Register an American athlete who won Silver at the Sydney Games in 2000 for long jump. John used to participate in the Olympics until he severed an artery and eventually had to have his leg amputated above the knee. He took part in swimming just 18months after his operation and then eventually built up enough strength to take part in long jump. We got to see Johns Silver medal and hold it. He then let us wear it and pose for photos. This was a bad idea as once the four of us had it members of the public started queuing up to have their photos with him. It was quite ironic as I don't actually think they even knew who he was! Anyway he left as he was presenting at a nearby hotel later that afternoon. 
Eventually it was time to go home and our relief came to take over. We were all looking forward to this point as most of us lot have got a day off on Tuesday. Yaaaaay!
Our relief were having their briefing and Michael said we could leave. Matt and I thought we should walk back through the gardens on the way back up towards Stratford gate as it was less busy than going across and down Britannia Row. As we got half way across the bridge a spectator came running over to us and shouting about a little boy being badly injured. The first thought that ran through both mine and Matt's mind was "oh my god the kids fallen into the river!" but thankfully we didn't have to jump in after anyone. There was a little boy down below lying on a bench with a severe cut to his forehead. I ran towards the nearest security marshal with a radio as I didn't have one on me at that point. She radioed through to the VCC. Matt and I ran down to the scene to help out before the first aid team got there. But there was no first aid in sight. I ran back up to the closest first aid which was med centre alpha up by street market and showed Tim the medic where to find the boy. We left the wheelchair and ran back down. I then ran back to collect the chair so we could take him back up safely and look at his injury more closely. On the way up, Rhys, the little boy was crying so I gave him my one an only limited edition Coca-Cola pin marking 500 days to go until the games. He was chuffed and automatically stopped crying. Matt and I made our way back up stopping the crowds and people walking in the path and once in the med centre filled out our LOCOG Incident Report Card and checked if him, the parents and his little brother were okay. Once we found out they were we headed off home around an hour later than we should have.
And that's the end of that eventful fun packed day... I'm looking forward to having tomorrow off and doing very little at all. Although I say that now but I'm sure I'll end up keeping myself busy and watching all the latest sporting events on Channel 4 in between the numerous ad breaks they seem to be cramming in every 5 minutes!
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