Day Two Monday........

Sunday was wet and rainy and we stayed at home (in caravan) in the warm.  There had been a choice of days for the second day of training so I had opted for the Monday - must have been clairvoyant because Monday dawned bright and sunny and I mean dawned because we were up at six and on the tube by 7.15am...  Armed with two Metro's we were blending in with the regular commuters and having successfully executed a perfect bunny-hop from the train we headed again for accreditation to get Mr S's pass. 

Things were going smoothly - too smoothly for arriving at the only gate open we were confronted with turnstiles, very narrow turn stiles - and there was no wheelchair access except through a locked gate!  These turnstiles had been installed over the weekend and were the only way in until Thursday when the Test Events began.  The keeper of the keys was off-site - we had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes and were now late - so I rang my contact and again the lovely guy with the Golf was sent to fetch me.......  Getting into the park in a car wasn't any easier - three gates and umpteen security guards all saying 'NO' we finally made it to within sight of Eton Manor, but still outside the gates - sniffer dogs, biometric passes and body and bag searches  over we were finally in................ only an hour and half after reaching the main gate at Stratford.

Training was interesting and scary but we were a good group and there was lots of banter so the day flew by and around 4.30pm we had mastered the logistics of collecting statistics.  The sun was still shining and the park looked enticing so we decided to 'walk' out.  After a quick diversion via the Velodrome we started out for the main gate, but there were no walking routes - we weren't suppose to be there - so more security guards to negotiate, but we made it to the gate - hurrah!  The only way out was through - guess what? - Yes, turnstiles and a locked gate with the key holder off-site!!!!  We had an interesting chat with a Polish security guard for the 20 mins that it took for the key holder to arrive and we were free......................

Having discovered on Saturday that the gap between train and platform varies along the length of the station (in the middle of the train there is a step and a gap up of about 6-8inches) we headed to the front of the train and all was fine - armed with a copy of the Evening Standard (free paper) we joined the merry band of evening commuters for the ride back to Hainault and the knowledge that we had two free days (and a free travel pass) before my shifts began at 8.30am on Thursday...............