Olympic Games Maker Diary; 6 Aug (Monday)

 

 

 

The third entry in my Olympic Games Maker diary is for the morning of Monday 6 August 2012. This found me entering the Olympic Park by the Greenway Gate. Luckily, I had taken the opportunity to by my railway ticket in advance on my day off.  I was persuaded by the train driver into getting off at West Ham station and walk the rest of the way on foot …I wish I hadn’t. It involved a 30 min walk along ‘The Greenway’, which turned out to be a disused railway line. The organising committee had anticipated the need for a comfort break, since a cluster of Portaloos had been strategically positioned along the route.  The high point along the trudge was an old Victoria pumping station; the brickwork was breath-taking. The height and colour of The Orbit provided a useful beacon to aim for, since it towered above the surroundings buildings.

My reward for registering at the Workforce Check-in tent was my meal ticket, a sticker, a different coloured Games Maker pin badge and bottle of water. On my way out on the first night, I made note of the quickest route to upper Print Room Distribution 2 (PRD2). Therefore, all I had to do today was to reverse the order; no stairs, no lifts and no running around lower ground level like a headless chicken. Once I had shown my accreditation pass at the security guard on the door, I was inside the corridors of power of the stadium.

I had worked with about 50% of the Games Makers before, so it was my turn to lead around a group of my peers identifying the various delivery points. The door had to be wedged open to provide enough fresh air because the air-conditioning was broken. I was able to appreciate at first hand the atmosphere of the stadium, which some many of the athletes talked about during post-event interviews. The roar of the crowd greeted every valiant effort of the competitors. We operated a different system today; ‘he who is at the front of the queue controls the next print job’. This method provided less confusion between jobs and resulted in less congestion at the printer. It was then that I encountered my first paper jam, which earned me the nickname of ‘Bob Marley’. We had to report one photocopier as ‘slow-running’, since it was lagging behind the others. This brought about a visit from a technology ‘techy’ that was responsible for investigated such problems. The printed results tasks rose to a crescendo between 11:00 – 12:00, with paper erupting from the printer, photocopiers going nineteen to the dozen and the Games Makers scurrying in and out.

Between times, I made sure there were spare reams of paper were stacked by the photocopiers, the trays were full to the brim, the print quality was dark enough to satisfy the sponsors and there was sufficient toner left in the cartridges.  Periodically, the outer wrapping of the paper reams, spare duplicated copies and any refreshment containers were cleared away into the recyclable sacks; these were intended to be the ‘green’ games. Towards the end of the shift Lift 5 broke down, which resulted in a gaggle of technicians scratching their heads and poking about with a multi-meter. This meant I had to find an alternative route via the outside stairs. The shift finished early, so I struck out across the Olympic Park towards Stratford Station on route to Hertford East Station.

…to be continued