I was there, watching the rowers at Eton Dorney in the cold early morning. It had seemed a good idea to go to the rowing and a 9.30am start time seemed fine. However, when I worked it out that we would need to get up at 5am it did not seem such a good idea, but Er Indoors wanted to go. So we had tickets, in fact the park and ride tickets were more expensive than entry tickets. We had learnt the food was expensive from our previous olympic visit, so we made some sandwiches, got some reduced Team GB paper plates from Sainsburys and took our own lunch.
On Thursday we had been to the Olympic Park, we did not have tickets for the sporting events, just to get in and look round. Our entry was from 10:00 to 15:00 so we got the train from Rayleigh to Stratford and arrived in good time. We had a wander around, visited the shop, saw Macdonalds, Linda had a tea and then wandered around some more. We sat at Park Live and watched some judo and then saw Claire Balding LIVE really exciting :)
It was starting to get busy as more people turned up, and so we decided to exit and go to the Westfield shopping centre, big mistake. Linda decided she wanted some more crocs, she already has numerous pairs, but these were a different type, although they all go on your feet. So we ended up looking at shoes, did I like this colour, no what about that colour, or does this colour suit me, the answer of course is always yes.
After that she then saw Marks and Spencer, another big mistake for me, she now wanted a coat to go with her new shoes, aren't I lucky, I get to stand outside for 30 minutes and then when she has selected the items, I get to pay. After this she was tired with shopping, so decided we could go home, guess who gets to carry the bags!
The good news at Eton Dorey there are no shops, not even a hint of them. It is just water and grass. We left home about 0545 and fortunately the roads were quite clear, so we got to the park and ride, just of the A4 near Slough around 07.15. Linda, having drunk too much tea before we left needs to spend a penny, so instead of getting on the bus, I am waiting for her. We get the bus and it's about a 30 minutes drive to the Venue, then you have to be searched and then it's about a mile walk to where all the action is. We found a table and chairs near the water, about 500m from the start line and sat there, well Linda did, I was dispatched to get the tea. I would have had a bacon sandwich but I could not find anywhere selling them, the food is rather generic and the same at all sites whatever the time of day.
Linda was out with her camera and taking pictures, it was only 0830. We saw several races, although it was very cold. We cheered the GB team on to win their heat. It all finished about midday, and then back to the bus, the car and home. We got back just after 2pm. At least we could say we were there