London 2012: the people who made it work

Unfortunately I missed the first week of the Olympics due to a work commitment, and only had limited opportunities for photography in the second week, so I don't have a large number of pictures of this huge occasion. However, I did get to a couple of events and managed to soak up the wonderful atmosphere in Week 2. Like many of my fellow Brits, I was surprised and delighted at how well organised everything was, and much of the credit must go to the volunteers. Although British people tend to view themselves as slightly cynical and grumpy (especially Londoners), the Olympics volunteers seem to have been drawn from all the cheerful, optimistic, and slightly-mad-but-in-a-good-way people in the nation. Here is a thoroughly inadequate tribute to the work they did.

A volunteer ushers people towards the Olympic Park entrance gates, whilst another volunteer pushes a man along in his wheelchair. By the way, the building in the background contains a visual illusion: the horizontal lines between the windows look higgledy-piggledy, but are in fact parallel.

More pointing the way at the Olympics Park

Blue-shirted representatives of Newham provide information about the borough. I'm not sure if these people were volunteers or council employees, but they added to the general atmosphere of friendly helping.