Almost legless

Nearing the end of this incredible adventure with only a few days left, and things seem to be getting busy.
Saturday Morning I had tickets to go to the swimming heats. I knew that many of our British swimmers would be there qualifying for their respective finals so at least I could see them in action. Saw a couple of Paralympic records broken and felt waves of emotion hearing the roars of the crowd when their own Brazilian athletes were competing, whether qualifying or not. But some of the biggest cheers were for those who were taking part, rather than competing, and had no chance of qualifying at all. The deafening roars as they were cheered to the finish, certainly made it a very emotional experience.

After the session finished I headed to the megastore to try and buy some of the "Tom" paralympic mascots, but all sold out, and crowds of vultures grabbing anything they could when another box appeared. I tried to find some in the little shop on the MPC site, but he too had sold out. I wish I had asked him to put some by for me. Isn't hindsight great?

I had a shift in the afternoon, but I had also secured a ticket for the final Last Leg of the Paralympic series. Really wasn't sure whether to try and go, as we had been told we were likely to be in the Green Room as the studio would be filled with medalists.
I headed down to the check in with Lisa and her hubby Nigel, and picked up an accreditation, just in case, then went to start my shift.
Ana, my manager, said it was ok for me to go, so I headed across for the wait. Met Maggie, who had been out here for the Olympics too, and who I was meant to have been working with once I arrived, but due to role changes that didn't happen.
Was chatting for a long time to a couple of guys who were military and worked in Brazilia, who had come down for the games, and thought the Last Leg would be fun.
We were held for a long time before they called us up, I guess due to trying to arrange so many Paralympians.
They said the first 10 could go through to start with, we thought that meant the others would follow once we had been squeezed in, but sadly due to the space and lateness of taking us to the studio, they had to go on air, so everyone else headed into the green room to watch. Such a shame as Lisa had missed out on 2 previous opportunities.
Was stood over near the cameras where I had been for the first one I went to, and again was in my uniform. I did see a clip on the internet of Liam Malone and the little boy Rio, and just caught sight of myself. Will be catching up with the series when I get back.

Managed to see some of the athletes after and got to hold a gold medal, in fact 3 gold medals belonging to Hannah Cockcroft. Spoke to Jody Cundy the cyclist, and managed to get a picture with Adam Hills and his Red, white and blue hairdo.
Straight after I had to head back to finish my shift, and as I was walking across the common area outside, Liam Malone was heading out of the building, so I asked very nicely if it would be OK to have a selfie with him. He was delighted.

So shift finished early, and again I headed into the park to the megastore, to at least buy something, will have to see if I can find more elsewhere later.
Fingers crossed somewhere will have some mascots left.