It's not really what this post is about, but I didn't want to go without giving it any tip of the bowler hat.
Yesterday, J and I went up that London to go and watch Hockey at the Riverside Stadium in the Olympic Park, Stratford. I'm not a massive hockey fan, there are rules I don't understand (who knew there was more to it than "don't let the ball touch your feet" and "you have to be in the D to score"?), there is play that's so quick I don't see it and I also get a little queasy when I hear the clash of sticks followed by a short, sharp scream.
I played hockey at school, but quick sticks, those red and yellow plastic thingies; I did umpiring as well, but certainly not with any huge amount of knowledge or skill, just enough to be praised for it by my PE teacher who knew I wasn't the sportiest of students. I have no story to trot out over and over and over and over about the one goal I scored, but I think my friends thank me for that.
J, however, loves it; he played a lot at school, played for South West and in general was just pretty darn good at it. Recently he's joined a local club and it's actually really enjoyable to go along and watch him play because he clearly knows what he's doing and he seems to have fitted in well with the team. Also, he's a Level 1 Umpire (doncha know?!) so can be seen running all over the field in a yellow jersey with a whistle and a pack of peculiar-shaped cards, knowing ALL THE THINGS about hockey.
So you can see that James was thrilled to get Hockey tickets, whereas I was just chuffed to bits to get to go and experience the Limpiks...and WHAT an experience!
The park in incredible, it's enormous! We weren't waiting in any queue for longer than 2 or 3 minutes and if it took longer than that, as it did outside the Megastore, the queue was constantly moving, and quickly too.
The Riverside Stadium, where the hockey is held, is at the far end of the park so is about a ten minute walk from Stratford Gate; the atmosphere was buzzing when we got in and first up were Spain and Pakistan. It's fair to say that I enjoyed watching the game because of the surroundings and the crowd, but I wasn't super interested in whether Spain or Pakistan won.
We headed out for a quick bit of late lunch, but were restricted to the outlets inside the Riverside: Indian snacks, pretzels, or waffles: a peculiar cross section indeed. India were playing next so in the spirit of things, and because it was the shortest queue we got some Indian snacks. Not something I would hurry to do again; I really like Indian meals but this particular stand was probably not a great representation of Indian cuisine. Never mind!
Heading back into the stadium, the seats previously unoccupied had filled up including a small group in front of us which had several fans of India in them; it was clear that we'd definitely be cheering on India against the Orange army!
I enjoyed that match ten times as much as the first one and was screaming for India as they sped up and down the pitch, being part of a crowd watching sport can do funny things to your natural instincts.I was gutted when they lost by one goal to the Netherlands, especially as both teams were going hard at it for the full 70 minutes. Mint.
Apart from the sport and the pristine facilities, the best thing about the games is the miracle procured by LOCOG - thousands of friendly Londoners in Games Maker get up making the place a bloody lovely place to be. Of course there were a huge number of people there who were from various cities across the UK, but without exception, they were all friendly, helpful, proactive and having a good time themselves. It makes a huge difference and I hope that international visitors will appreciate it as a part of their memories of the games as well.
We're really keen to get back and experience more live sport and now that more tickets have been released, maybe we will get a chance. I'm sure that the real strain of resources and space will be felt when the 80,000 capacity stadium is being used for the athletics, but as the right people are already in place on ground level, I reckon the whole thing from start to photo finish is going to be a massive success :)
Watching: Olympics - there is honestly nothing else being transmitted into our home
Reading: Twitter, a lot.
Listening to: Things I don't know about different Olympic sports.
Drawing: Star Wars birthday art plus a couple of personalised pieces.
Eating: Potato salad.
Learning: Things about hockey
Coveting: MOAR Olympics tickets
Saving for: Anniversary things...
Quoting: Fact Hive. A lot.
Planning: Tomorrow's trip to the cinema
