Opening up

2nd shift for me, and later, time for the teams to take centre stage for the opening ceremony.

But first a slightly later start as I didn't need to be on shift until 10am.

After a quick briefing we went to the arena to figure out where we were going to be for the evening, then we didn't have much we needed to do until some time later. We split into 2 teams one lot who would help with the photographers, the other to look after the print media journalists.  Once we'd worked out where each of the areas would be and how we could best look after them, we were left with not much to do until the evening.

We had lunch then I went wandering, hoping to find some places we could fill our water bottles. 

We'd received a message to say they had some priority tickets for seats for the opening ceremony available, but by the time we got to the area they were supposed to be,  they'd all been snapped up quickly.  Though as consolation I did get a bonus as I managed to get a mascot selfie with the Invictus bear.

While on my wanders, I kept bumping into people I knew, one a lady I had helped yesterday to find the volunteer accreditation and a friend i had met at the Glasgow commonwealth games in 2014. She was waiting to collect her accreditation and uniform but the system couldn't find her. Thankfully she got it all sorted later in the day but a nightmare to have to wait.

I did eventually find the water taps and then headed to have a quick bite to eat before we were needed in the arena.

Spent the time in the arena mostly helping people find their seats, but we find have a great view of the ceremony. 

Always so powerful to hear the inspiring speeches and see the athletes being cheered into the arena.

Once over we headed for a quick debrief  then we were done for the day.

Time to head back "home" and prepare for tomorrow, our first day of competition.