Day 12 - Reflections on the Friendly Games

Suddenly it's all over - 11 Days of competition, 71 nations and a Commonwealth audience

Last night at Hampden, Usain Bolt wowed the crowds and shrugged off the negative publicity of the previous days. Here are today's headlines

Today it is the Cycling Road Race in the City Centre. The women's event started at 8am and there is a good crowd out supporting them. The rain from last night has stopped and the roads are dry. There are some tight curves on the course - here at junction of Argyll Street and Buchanan Street

Junction of Buchanan Street and St Vincent Street

Nelson Mandela Place

So now it is time to leave Glasgow and make tracks home

Parting shots:

 On bus to Edinburgh Airport

So here are some departure lounge reflections

Having done the same role at both London 2012 games, it would be easy to compare and contrast. On reflection I don't think you can compare them - the budgets are in different leagues. London was £9billion, Glasgow just £500million. 

OK we had little niggles- meal vouchers, the quality and choice of food for example. But did those niggles really impact on our enjoyment of being at Glasgow 2014. Emphatically no!

We had extremes of weather - hot sunny 28c at the start to torrential rain at the end. Did that diminish the enthusiasm of the volunteers and spectators?  No, Saltires, Union Flags abounded. The crowd cheered the underdogs eg at Rugby 7s how they cheered the Ugandans 

One mention should be made of the excellent work that the military and police did in manning the security checkpoints. In particular military personnel repeated their efficient yet respectful approach to personal screening they had demonstrated at London 2012.  Some of our airport operators should again take heed of how it can be done

Again it was a pleasure to meet a wide range of athletes, to congratulate them on their success or acknowledge their contribution whatever the result of their competition

Likewise observing team officials, coaches, medical staff and technical officials is at times like watching a complicated multilevel chess game

We were lucky to be inside the venue, but we must acknowledge the massive contribution of our fellow volunteers working outside and throughout the city and at all the venues in all weathers 

There were only 15000 Clydesiders (compare that to London 2012 of 75000). How many will continue to volunteer on the future?

So here's a thought:

The Rio 2016 Volunteer applications open on 28 August

Go to www.rio2016.com and choose the English version. They will be providing a language pack to successful volunteers

As they have said at Glasgow 2014 - 'Bring It On'

Yes Glasgow was the Friendly City for the Friendly Games

So this is the final post. I hope you have enjoyed it, found the backstage info interesting and perhaps even learnt more about Glasgow

Time to bring the blog to an end - so how do I end it?

It has to be a few photos:

...and like previous blogs there can be only one final iconic photo:

Day 11 - Final Shift Part 2

As predicted only one meal voucher provided but had presumed that would be the case, so had a sandwich before checking in

So it was final goody time today

A lollipop, a limited edition workforce pin and a limited edition print of the 'Clydesider Journey'

So it was off to work and the 'Last Supper' - unfortunately they didn't pull anything special out of the bag for it. Also now that the weather has turned, cold and rainy, the ice cream was not so welcome 

Despite the weather, the venues have been filled out, and the spectators support all of the nations as they compete

Medals galore, with occasional world records or personal bests, have meant we have been up close to Gold, Silver and Bronze on a number of occasions

Tonight we come to thr end of 11 days of work. The team has worked well, shared out the work load equitably and overall really enjoyed the time here

And now for a Police Scotland message -    Crimewatch has released the following picture. Do you know anyone in it?

Thanks to the team -we had a great time. Tomorrow will be the last blog - with some reflection of the Glasgow 2014 experience 

Day 11 - Final Shift Part 1

So today is the final shift. It's a long one from 1pm to 10.30pm.   As it is under 10hrs we are supposedly only entitled to one meal, so will see if there is any common sense prevailing

First the news:

Not surprisingly the Nigerian female weightlifter tested positive on her second sample (no surprise there) and has been stripped of her Gold, which has now been given to the runner up from Papua New Guinea

The Australian weightlifter who headbutted the Welsh weightlifter has had his accreditation withdrawn and so cannot participate in any activity or remain in the athlete village

The Papua New Guinea weightlifter who was committed for trial for a sexual offence has had it postponed due to lack of availability of a translator

What is it with weightlifters?  

Also a Sierra Leone cyclist has gone walkabout (or should it be ride about?) from the Village. Police Scotland are looking for him

Today's trivia

What does the Glasgow 2014 logo mean?

Well, the outer red ring represents 20 (i.e 20th Commonwealth Games)

The Orange ring is 17/20th of the red and represents 17 sports

The Blue ring is 11/20th of the red and represents 11 days of competition

The G not surprisingly represents Glasgow. But why is it green?

The Gaelic for Glasgow (Ghlaschu or in Cumbric Glaschu) means 'Dear, Green  Place'. In fact it was originally not a Scottish settlement but Welsh but we are going back to the Stone Age

It was St Kentigern who is credited with establishing a fishing village on the banks of the Clyde in the 6th century. He subsequently was called 'Mungo', hence St Mungo being the patron saint of Glasgow

Simples!

While it is raining on and off it doesn't appear to have dampened the enthusiasm in the city

Overnight they have been busy. Crush barriers have been put up all along the course of tomorrow's Cycling Road Race  - women's event in morning followed by the men's in the afternoon. If it remains wet may well be a few spills to thrill the spectators

Hope the crowds come out

Day 10 - Rest Day

So no specific Games posts, apart from a quick look at today's headlines in the Scottish Press

For the Class of '73 followers, a poignant reminder of the fading glory of Greasy Pete's?

Normal blog returns tomorrow

Day 9 - Travel Day

First a big congratulations to Kiribati who got their first ever Commonwealth Games medal...and it was a Gold for the Men's 105kg weightlifting. Automatically put them into 18th place in the Medal Table. So well done!

Last night the overall medal table shows that England leads Australia (based on number of Golds) with great performances in gymnastics and at the athletics

 

So why is today's blog called a Travel Day if yesterday was the penultimate shift?  Well my final shift is not until Saturday, so I'm going home (have a meeting to go to on Friday) and coming back on Saturday. So there will be no blog tomorrow (Friday)

However will be back blogging on Saturday. After all you are no doubt anxious to find out what the fourth and final goody will be. Well I am!

On Sunday the final blog will be reflections on being part of Glasgow 2014

Today's headlines:

 

The row about what Bolt did or did not say about Glasgow and the Games continues. More medal successes today will hopefully overshadow it all

On BBC Breakfast they had one of the up for sale on the auction site Tunnoch's teacake props - suggesting it might go for in excess of £1K. You can buy a lot of the real thing for that sort of money 

Screen grabs at time of posting:

This is a bouncy one - hence why only one available 

This is the standard prop

 

If you want to see what is on offer, go to the Glasgow 2014 website, go to the Shop and then to Auction section

Day 8 - Penultimate Shift - Part 2

Well it's a very overcast day with some strong winds and occasional rain periods The numbers at Pacific Quay have dropped considerably with only the hardy souls watching the big screen. However despite the weather everyone is still enjoying themselves

This is the studio inside the main entrance of BBC Scotland from where the Today at the Games programme is broadcast each evening

 

All of the flotilla has gone and you can see the empty rundown docks, still with their dock gates closed 

Pacific Quay was developed on the site of disused docks, so there is plenty of opportunity to reinvigorate other parts of the Clyde with new developments. Perhaps that will be a legacy from the Games

BBC R&D has an exhibition at the Science Centre about the possible future of TV, including Ultra High Definition broadcasting via Broadband (pic 1) and Terrestial (pic 2)

On way to shift saw this England Athlete (any ideas who he is and what sport?) with his medal posing for pictures with families outside of the STV studios on the banks of the Clyde

Well at Workforce check in for this penultimate shift it was goody time. First in case you don't know what a Tunnoch's Teacake looks like, we were offered one

However the more lasting goody is this. Can you guess what it is (and no you don't get any prizes for saying 'Clyde')?

It's a USB stick - he pulls apart. Apparently there is a message for volunteers on one drive, and the second drive is blank

Before started shift I managed to sneak into see some of the 75kg + female weightlifting. A very noisy supportive crowd in and almost full with spectators. View from top of auditorium

 

...and menu of the day

 

It was labelled Chicken Caesar Salad but really if you enforced Trade Descriptions it should have been labelled 'Caesar Salad with (some) Chicken bits. Anyway it was enough

Day 8 - Penultimate Shift - Part 1

So it's the penultimate shift this afternoon/evening

Last night the SSE Hydro had a change of colour, changing to Gold to acknowledge Scotland's record number of Gold Medals

Today's headlines 

For the Class of '73

You need to say the above headline with a Scottish accent

...and from Media Wales:

 

Here is Part 3 of the History of the Clyde: