Paralympics Day 9 - buggies and a big win

Yesterday I was allocated Eton Manor gate and therefore I have collected the full set of team colurs/areas. I have now done blue, green, red, yellow, orange, pink and black - these comprise the four gates and the four pedestrian zones (the eagled eyed will have noticed 7 colours and 8 gates/areas, this is because victoria gate is staffed out of the world square pedestrian zone). I hope you are paying attention there will be a test. Eton Manor is another really quiet gate apart from when coach parties arrive and then it can be quite manic. Today we had a party of 130 children arrive and then leader of the group presented us with a stack of 130 tickets in one stack! So we had to get the organised into form groups hand out the tickets then scan them all. They appeared to be a couple of tickets short but rather than hold them up for another 10 minutes we told them (we probably miscounted) and if so there might be someone who didn't get in to see an event but we didn't want to hold them up for that.

That was the extent of the rush and the gate then became very quiet once again. So it was time for some fun and games. We had a paper aeroplane competition which one of security guards easily won with a brilliant throwing technique. Then I persuaded the mobility guys to let me have a go on one of the scooters (picture left) which was great fun. So the morning was almost over and the long slog through to the afternoon was ahead we the day became unforgetably brilliant. My name was chosen in the stay lottery and I was told I had won a ticket to the Olympic Stadium. So I ran almost all the way to the stadium (over 1.5 miles from Eaton Gate) to enjoy about an hour in the stadium - I'll write more about my stadium visit another time.

Coming out of the stadium I had some lunch then made it back to the gate just in time for the end of my shift. All in all a pretty good day.

Win-win-come third

This blog 'finger in all the pies' was a finalist in the newcomers blog category. The awards ceremony at the Christian New Media Awards was last Friday night and sadly I wasn't there, I was told a few days before that I hadn't made the top two, so like the other three blogs which were finalists I am joint third!

However as I reflect on this nomination I feel I have already won in two ways.

Firstly, and most importantly I have won for me. What I mean is I have started out doing something (writing this blog) and have not only stuck at it but I am getting joy out of the exercise of writing and I know that it has challenged and stretched me.

Secondly, to have someone who doesn't know me look at my writings and think they are worthy of being put forward for an award is something that has given me a real boost. It has been like a divine yes to what I am about.

I guess my reaction to this praise shows how.much of me is really shared within this blog - as the saying goes, "love me, love my blog".

I wonder if you were to reflect on your life, is there something that you do or are connected to that is so much a part of you that you would say, "love me, love my ..."