Tales of a London Ambassador: July 2012

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Volleyball-istic

Having not got any Olympic tickets from the first ballot I decided in the second ballot to just go for anything I could get; I just wanted to be able to say I went to the Olympics. And thus it became so that Family Murphy got Men's Volleyball tickets at Earl's Court. The only time I have encountered Volleyball was at school when we played it for one Games lesson. I remember it for the simple fact the teacher asked my friend to throw him the ball; she promptly threw it vertically straight up in the air, and at her second attempt, threw it directly behind her. That is my sum total of my Volleyball anecdotes. So, clueless would be an accurate word to describe my knowledge of the game, and what to expect, when we rocked up at Earl's Court on a drizzly Sunday morning.

Firstly I want to heap special praise on the Army, who not only jumped into the breach Olympic-security wise but who also provide a superbly welcoming greeting to the Games. Every single person that we met on the security checks and in the (very short and efficient) queuing time was so lovely and so welcoming it definitely got the day off to a great start. And my umbrella did not seem to pose the same security threat it did at Hyde Park.

Earl's Court certainly won't be winning any prizes for the most attractive Olympic venue, but we had a good view so I could forgive walking round, in what felt very much like a circle, the glorified internal car park to get to our stand. The MC/host/presenter (?) kept re-iterating that Earl's Court was the most family friendly and interactive of all the venues and he certainly kept us all amused while we waited with games and video clips to help us understand what we were about to see (Australia vs Argentina and USA vs Serbia). I felt very much like I was at an American basketball game, complete with cheerleaders, video screens showing shots of the unsuspecting crowd and hi-fives at any given opportunity (even on lost points). In the same vein, after ever single point that was scored there would be a blast of pop music and the cheerleaders would pop up from the side of the court to whip up the crowd, who, if they were anything like me, were still trying to work out why that team had scored a point. As my mum put it "it's a good job the matches didn't both go to five sets or it would have killed those cheerleaders". More to the point if I had heard the same 5 seconds of Tinie Tempah's Pass Out for 4 extra sets I might have killed those cheerleaders. Only kidding, they did a great job, it's just I would have preferred a slightly broader range of music......

The atmosphere was great and it was a really fun event, I came away even more enthused about the Olympics, if that was possible. Argentina beat Australia and USA beat Serbia, both in 3 sets but I can't really comment on the sport as I'm still not convinced I totally understood it. Everytime I thought I'd got it I would be totally baffled as to why the team I thought had lost the point had actually won it. Nevertheless I am a Volleyball convert. Not in the sense that I will be taking it up (I think I might have to be a bit taller...) but in the sense that I came away thinking that it was a brilliantly exciting game, and as far as my untrained eye could work out USA looked pretty darn good at it.

Monday, 30 July 2012

"I love this city tonight, I love this city always." Hyde Park, Friday.

Red Arrows@ Hyde Park Opening Ceremony Concert

As Eddie in Absolutely Fabulous had so brilliantly put it "Well darling - it’s been everywhere for 5 bloody years, hasn’t it?! Will we, won’t we? Will it be built, won’t it be built? Will we win, no we won’t. Darling, excuse me if I missed it actually starting - it’s been like tinnitus!" Finally, after the tinnitus of the last few years for us Londoners, the day had finally arrived. To describe my state of mind on Friday as excited would be underplaying it slightly. London had worked itself into a frenzy of Olympic proportions (see what I did there?) and now we were ready to party. So with an afternoon off I made my way with an excitable skip in my step to Hyde Park to join that particular party with a few thousand friends. I'd booked the tickets a while ago vaguely thinking that it would be a great opportunity to see Stereophonics & Snow Patrol live but mostly because I wanted to be with London on this memorable day. My state of frenzy on the day also had a lot to do with the fact that I had seen the opening ceremony and I couldn't wait to share it with everyone else.

The level of security was mind-blowing. I had a full body pat-down, followed by a full body scanner, followed by a hand-scanner over my body, followed by a full bag scan, followed by a bag-search. My umbrella apparently caused some concern. Little did this deter us from settling down on a well-chosen spot (right next to the path to the toilets and wine bar) and soaking in the atmosphere (and the now flowing wine and cider). The music was great: Duran Duran's Ordinary World had me singing at the top of my lungs and into the woman next to me's ears in an attempt to get her to move on to another part of Hyde Park, their set also being punctuated with the Red Arrows- always a marker of a great celebration; Stereophonics playing a set of their truly best stuff had me reminiscing and jumping around the park and into the women next to me in an attempt to get her to move on; Snow Patrol finished off the night with a magical set, interspersed with images of the GB team at the parade and the lighting of the torch which brought all my (wine enhanced) emotions to the fore. And Paolo Nutini. (Sorry Paolo, not a massive fan, and was that event really the best time to sing some "new stuff"?). Plus the opening ceremony shown on the big screens somewhere between all that. It was great to watch it with a massive crowd and see what went down well (huge laughs for Rowan Atkinson, big cheers for Becks), but I think if I hadn't seen it already I would have been a bit disappointed- it's not very easy to watch a show like that on tip-toes trying to see above people's heads and held-aloft iPads (do you really want to film it off the big screen? Can't you just record it off the TV?). But to soak in the atmosphere of such an extraordinary night in the city I love, well, to quote a famous credit card company......Priceless.

Olympic travel "not too bad"

So says David Cameron of this morning's tube travel. Considering it is the first day where the Olympics meets us Monday-Friday commuters everyone was holding their breath, hoping they wouldn't have to hold it while pressed up against the armpits of a sweaty man. And I have to say I am inclined to agree with Mr Cameron. Yes, I don't have to travel on the roads (which did look quite bad) and yes I am not travelling to/from the busiest Olympic areas. Nevertheless I was met this morning with fewer people on my regular tube journey than normal and I have heard similar reports from others on different transport routes. Maybe people have decided to get into work earlier, maybe a lot of people have escaped London during the Olympics (wimps) or maybe we've just been lucky.

In terms of my Games-related travel (Olympics opening ceremony rehearsal, Hyde Park live opening ceremony concert and Sunday's Volleyball at Earl's Court) it has been a story of a lot of walking. For the rehearsal (before the Olympic games had begun, obviously) we were turfed out of the stadium at 10.15pm to be told that the central line was down (didn't bode well for the coming days......). I was told my best bet would be West Ham underground station for either the Jubilee or Hammersmith and City line. My Stratford-working sister had been sitting in a different part of the stadium and we had decided to just make our own ways home. So without my local Stratford guide, not knowing East London very well and with a dead iPhone battery (standard) I did as I was told and followed the lovely, clear pink signs and was guided by the ever cheerful volunteers. Having walked for about 10 minutes along with a flowing crowd I thought I could see steps leading up to a platform, not bad, I thought, be home in no time. Waving a cheery goodbye to the volunteers and bounding up the stairs I discovered, on the other side, some stairs down. Ok, maybe it's just on the other side here....what's this pink sign saying..........20 minutes walk.......20 minutes walk. Still to go?! Sitting down and openly weeping was one option. Asking frustrated questions to the still cheery volunteers was another (some of my travelling counterparts chose that option, "is it better to just turn back?" being a popular question). Grimacing, carrying on at an increased pace while trying to Tweet my sister primitively via my Kindle was the option I chose.

To be honest I find it hard to believe that they label West Ham as one of the stations for the stadium without warning that a good pair of hiking boots and maybe a stick will be needed. However, in the end I made it home before my sister who had made her way to the overground (tweeting on the Kindle was an inspired idea we quickly worked out she was on a train behind me). And by the look of the queues at Stratford station on the news the next day I think bizarrely it was the right choice. Similarly at Hyde Park they closed Marble Arch so we had a fifteen minute walk to Bond street. At the Olympic Volleyball we had a 10 minute walk round to the other side of Earl's Court. By splitting the crowd into different routes and making us walk a bit the massive crowd of people does, of its own accord, disperse and the Olympic tube travel I have experienced so far has been anything but crowded, and, actually, reasonably pleasant. Good work TfL! Just remember to bring your trainers......

Remember to check TfL's Journey Planner for travelling around London, as well as to and from events.

All hail Danny Boyle

So now the world has seen the Opening Ceremony I am no longer obliged to #savethesurprise, hence the picture from rehearsal. I watched the ceremony on Friday with a few other people in Hyde Park (more on that later) and all the emotion and joy at how brilliant the ceremony was came flooding back again. During the rehearsal when the Industrial Age started to take shape and the first chimneys started to raise from the ground, in an almost cartoon style, my mouth dropped open and I had to text my mum immediately with the only words I could find: "this is incredible".

Because I only saw Friday's ceremony on the big screen at Hyde Park (on tip-toes, looking between heads) it was difficult to tell just how well the transmission of the ceremony had come across on screen compared to live. As far as I am aware it did seem to lose some of the subtleties, for example at the rehearsal the pastoral scene was in front of us quite a long time so every nuance could be seen (cricketers miming hitting the ball high into the air and then all gazing into the sky to see where it had disappeared to, a crowd of ladies with umbrellas being attacked by a swarm of bees....). The sheer sound and scale was also hard to transmit, especially the power of the drums during the Industrial Age, which reverberated round the stadium with earthly force. Having said this it was still an unbelievable spectacle. 'Danny Boy' near the beginning and the pause for the World Wars during the Industrial Age, with its shift in tempo and music, were both moments that are likely to make me well up however many times I watch it.

Of course they had saved some surprises for the final showing. For example we did not get to see the Queen/James Bond video clip, though when the helicopter hovered above us followed by the James Bond theme tune we had some inkling of what may happen, though not the full story! We also didn't get to see Emeli Sande's breathtaking performance of Abide With Me. Which is probably lucky as I would have definitely been sniffling into my sleeve.

At rehearsal we also had to practice lifting a huge sheet of blue material over our heads, being pulled down from the back row of the tier to the front, covering the stadium in a sea of blue, intending to imitate.....well, the sea. I don't suffer from claustrophobia but I think that had that blue material been above me and as far as the eye could see for a second longer I might have had a panic attack. And then they didn't even show that bit in the live show! Apparently it did feature in the build-up- but not worth it for the trauma!

I was very impressed with stadium too, I had an excellent view and I loved the handheld panels of lights that not only created some great lighting effects on the night but were fun to wave around. Though I was pretty sure that most of them would be broken within about a week.

One final thought about the transmission on Friday.....could the BBC not have offered a no-commentary option?! I understand that commentary is able to give context and information about what is being portrayed but I do think that during the live show/Isles of Wonder bit it detracted from the spectacle and made it hard for viewers to really get lost in the show, in the same way as we did live. And I think enough has been said about Trevor Nelson.....

So there we are, a week of nearly exploding with excitement but I did #savethesurprise!

Friday, 27 July 2012

#savethesurprise

The greatest gift of being a London Ambassador so far has been the chance to see the rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony. This Monday on a beautiful sunny and hot evening we got that amazing opportunity. I was hugely disappointed not to get any Olympic tickets for the stadium so just to be able to go to the Olympic Park and Stadium was a joy in itself. I'm not going to reveal anything about the show until after it goes live to the rest of the world. Danny Boyle's speech and #savethesurprise ethos seems to have really done the job and, considering how many people were there and how much everyone must be bursting to show their pictures, relatively little has been leaked. Suffice to say it was beyond incredible. A little twee to start with but builds up into something which left me with an open mouth and tears in my eyes. Spine-tingling, awe-inspiring, funny, whacky, very British, all together an unbelievable spectacle from a genius. I think my tweets from the night say it all....

"Opening ceremony rehearsal. Truly exceptional. Rarely have I been so proud to be British. #savethesurprise, but what a show." -@elmurphy

"Danny Boyle a complete genius. Well done guys and girls on an exceptional show. Now let's show the world! #savethesurprise#London2012" -@elmurphy

(And I even made the Australian Herald http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/london-olympics/opening-ceremony-rehearsal-under-tight-wraps-as-audience-asked-to-savethesurprise/story-fn9dheyx-1226433460461)

Training to be a London Ambassador

Our training was split into three modules. The first took place in March at the same place we had our recruitment event. Although in retrospect if felt quite removed (the trainers worked for a charity unconnected to London Ambassadors and it was in a local centre) it was probably the module I enjoyed the most. We had a table of lovely people and together we worked through the obligatory team exercises. This time we had to come up with the types of people we were likely to meet (international tourists, domestic tourists and Londoners) and what their different needs would be, listing questions we thought they might ask. Our team was once again quite competitive ("we finished first!"......"that's good, but that's not really the point"). Of course the question we assumed we will get asked the most is "where are the nearest toilets?" We also had to decide what we'd do in various situations. For our team the most distressing one we were given was if we encountered a lost child or a parent looking for a lost child. One girl on our table was all but traumatized that this might happen on her shift. We reassured her that we would come and visit her on her shift......pretending to have lost a child. It was useful to think, in a relaxed environment and with a clear head, about what you might do in such situations so that in the throes of panic you might remember what you should do. In this module we also saw what our uniform would look like for the first time. To sum up our response: communal groan, but more on that later.

The second module was at Stratford. Having been to the previous module of a small group of local people it was quite a shock to be faced with a massive room crammed with people. The day involved more team exercises, some John Lewis customer service videos, and more role playing. But I think this module really served to get us enthusiastic and hyped up about the Games. Which it really did. Videos of London winning the bid, a stirring speech from BoJo, seeing all the amazing cultural events happening and doing exercises to get us talking about London all did the trick......just throw in a bit of Heather Small's Proud and we were ready to burst with excitement. I also stayed behind to take my WorldHost test and I now proudly have a Level 2 Award in Welcoming Tourists and Visitors to their destination. I'm all about the qualifications, me.

Module three was a little bit disappointing. After being so excited after module two it just felt like a bit of a let-down. It was our "location training" so it took place at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, along with some Southbank Centre volunteers who were also being trained. Now, don't get me wrong, the stuff we were presented with was amazing....the Southbank is the place to be this summer (Stratford, who?), without a doubt. So many different cultural events, installations, exhibitions. It's just that when you've sat through a list of everything that happening, when's there's so much happening, it starts to wash over you a little bit. Then we went outside to orient ourselves. This was the bit I was looking forward to the most, but in the end it was a huge let-down. I thought maybe we'd get some exciting treasure hunt to really get us moving up and down the Southbank hunting down the different places and getting a feel for the place. Instead we had a list of questions (where can I find free drinking water, where are the toilets etc) which are perfectly valid but could be answered by looking in the guide book we had been given. So unsurprisingly, in the baking heat, most people opted to stand in the shade and answer the questions straight from the book. I think this was a bit of a missed opportunity. We also didn't get much time to do it, when I think getting used to the Southbank is surely one of the most important elements? We also had a less than enthusiastic team leader, sad to say, who spent most the time telling us to hurry up and complaining about the organisers ("it was much better than this on Tuesday" is not the sort of thing I want to hear. Fingers crossed we don't get him.).

At the end of all our training we congratulated ourselves by spending time on a beautiful May evening in a favourite place in London......the Southbank. Dinner in Giraffe, a walk by the river and drinks at the Udderbelly's Magners Pasture. Perfect.

A year of doing stuff....

"The year of doing stuff"

Last year my sister (for the purposes of this blog we will call her Francesca, because that is her name) and I decided to have what we, quite brilliantly called, "a year of doing stuff". We wanted to make 2011 a year to remember....whether it be a 5k charity run, a balloon ride or applying to be London Ambassadors. It was in this spirit we embarked on our London Ambassador journey, filled in our application forms and attended a recruitment event.

Francesca went to her recruitment event first. Which was lucky as I hate facing the unknown. And it meant, in the game where you had to place London attractions on a map, I could look smug as the only one in my team to know where the Imperial War Museum was (........having looked it up beforehand). Of course the game wasn't really testing our knowledge of London attractions, more how we worked as a team.....but the element of competition was pretty strong. We also had to role play and face the kind of people we might encounter during our shift. There are definitely some frustrated actors amongst the London Ambassadors...
Our other challenge was to talk on a random topic for a minute, or maybe two...I can't remember, all I remember was gabbling away, having been given the topic of colour, about how an old flatmate of mine did not have a favourite colour and then in a panic just listing colours....fascinating for my team mates I'm sure.

The final part of recruitment was an informal interview. Informal it really was; I had to stifle a laugh when my interviewer attempted to fit my brilliant pre-prepared speech about how I would be a perfect London Ambassador onto the two lines on her form. "I'll just put helpful, friendly and passionate about London"...yeah that should about do it.

The on 28th September 2011 we were both offered the role of London Ambassadors on our first choice location (Southbank) in the last week of the Olympics.

And so it begins...

I have been meaning to write down some of my experiences of being a London Ambassador for a while, mostly just so I remember the #summerlikenoother (and if you lovely people are reading it all the better...). Hearing the bells chiming the Olympics in at 8.12 this morning reminded me I probably should get on with it, so here it is, tales of a London Ambassador during the London Olympics. Starting with a few retrospectives.....

PS Did you know London is the only city to have hosted the modern Olympics three times? Go us.