Soaked Again

I took all the children and one of their friends miles out of town to the water sports centre to watch the rowing yesterday, and it was such a hellish experience it's taken me 24 hours to be able to write about it.

We arrived at 2, as instructed, decked out in sunhats and sunscreen. In fact it was already raining but we were still hopeful. We took our seats in the stand, wrapped ourselves in the plastic capes the volunteers give out, and gritted our teeth.

Then the rain got heavier, thunder began to roar, lightning flashed, black clouds rolled overhead…. the rowing was postponed for an hour, and we all sat in utter misery without any shelter assuming that the organisers knew that this bad weather was about to blow over. At this point it was too wet even to get my camera out – my mobile phone got so wet that it stopped working. Then, after we'd sat there for an hour and a half, the weather getting worse rather than better…. the rowing was cancelled.

And several thousand people all flooded out of the stadium at the same time. There were crowds a dozen deep all along the roadside. I worried about losing a child, and insisted we all hang onto each other. By clambering across a muddy ditch and climbing up the other side, we managed to talk our way onto a bus and even get seats. But still it took us two and a half hours to get home….By which time we had been soaked to the skin for four hours. 

I was told I could use my tickets again today, but by the time we got home I simply couldn't face the idea of starting all over again, so I gave my tickets away. Today, of course, in blue skies and gorgeous sunshine, I have been regretting that. Still, it would have taken a lot to get me to trek all the way out there again.

A friend who went to a different event yesterday said she felt the security checks had got stricter – she had a biro confiscaated because it was 'too sharp', and her husband was told he couldn't take his Toblerone into the venue, so he ate it on the spot. I was told I couldn't take in a packet of mint imperials. But when I blanched at the thought of eating them all up, and said I'd throw them away, they softened and allowed me in. The security checks remain good natured, but the security obsession seems to be deepening. Armoured personnel carriers have appeared on the Olympic Green, and sponsors have complained that too few ordinary people are being allowed into the open spaces around the venues.

James took Alistair and Kirsty to hockey this morning, and they got sunburned not soaked. I have been trying to track down some other tickets – there's an online market in unwanted tickets. But there's almost nothing left. The only option was boxing tomorrow night. It's a brutal sport, of course, and we shouldn't encourage it. But most importanly it takes place indoors, so we'll all have seats ringside tomorrow night.