Fitting (Pre-)Finale

It really is surreal watching the Paralympics coverage and then seeing the athletes compete. All I could think of is "They got on my bus!!"

Bright and early at 6am!

Today's been pretty star-studded at my station. There was a Chinese athlete who has won 2 gold medals, and I got Natalie du Toit (RSA), who entered both the Olympics and now Paralympics, and Ellie Simmonds (GBR), who has won 2 gold medals and a bronze, plus the most important VIPs ever, some of the Malaysian Paralympic athletes. They all got into buses at my station :)

Later on in the day, I was tasked to man the station on my own(!), so I had to do the headcounts, check the accreditation and decide when to use the duplicate buses all at the same time. At some point, some athlete came over with the wrong accreditation.

Me: (looking at all the accreditation cards) "Excuse me sir, you've only got Athletics on your card, so you can't get on this bus."
Random Lost Guy: "Ah okay why's that?"
Me: "That's because.." (looks up)

OH MY GOD IT'S THE BLADE RUNNER!!!

Me: "erm.. (stammering) uh.. it's coz your card needs a Swimming accreditation so that you can get on this bus, sir."
Oscar Pistorius (RSA): "Ah okay, so which bus goes to the stadium then?"
Me: "Ah the stadium bus is right at the front, sir." (points to the bay in front of mine)
Oscar Pistorius (RSA): "OK thank you." (walks away)

OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!

ARGH WHY THE HELL WASN'T I DOING THE ATHLETICS STAND TODAY?!

So yeah, I got completely starstruck at that point. I was half wanting to go grab my camera and run to him and ask for a photo, but I started to think that I can't really say, "Hello again sir, I told you to get off my bus, can I have a photo please?" so I just stood there eyeing him from the corner of my eye until the next stadium bus arrived and he disappeared.

SIGH.

I think today's been a really fitting (near) end to my stint. I've still got a 2-hour shift coming up this weekend, but I've been told that NOBODY will turn up for buses during that shift, so I don't really consider it as a proper shift.

So today, I've been going round all over to take photos of all the lovely people and places I've been working with.

Feeling the hi-viz love :)

I went round saying that this was my (technically second) last shift, and I was really surprised at the response I got. At least three Team Leaders said that it was great working with me, and it's so amazing hearing them say that, it really means the world to me :)

Especially considering the amount of people I've sent onto the wrong buses!

One of my awesome Team Leaders, all the way from Australia!

I swear I think I'm spoiled now. This experience is hands down the best ever highlight of my entire life. How can anything ever top this now? All my future Unilink jobs are gonna seem so pedestrian after this!