Positively Ambassadorial

I'm extremely proud to have been chosen as one of the 7790 people who will help visitors to the London 2012 Olympics get the most from the experience.


Essentially human tourist information centres, we'll be stationed all over the capital and its entry points. Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow Airports, for example, have a complement of Team London Ambassadors, as do all the London rail termini. 


Most of us will be sited at kiosks or information pods, with an intriguing 'hub and spoke' splaying out of team members around each. We'll be very visible: the uniform is a very bright pink with some purple or orange thrown in for good measure (I didn't trust the projector display that much) with a side order of pink backpack, waterproof jacket, water bottle and trilby with pink trim. I fully expect our headgear to invite droll tourist comments along the lines of "Make mine a 99, love" and "Just one Cornetto".


I know all this because this week was my first training session (of three). These have been taking place across London and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. Luckily for me, our day-long briefing was only a couple of miles away in Greenwich - venue for the Olympic equestrian events. I'll also be based in the Greenwich area during my week-long Ambassador stint in July.


What I didn't know until a couple of days ago was the implications of having been assigned to the 'Ambassador flying squad'. It sounded quite Juliet Bravo; in fact, it could be one of the coolest roles there is. As well as filling in at locations that are particularly busy and delivering much-needed supplies of water and more, I'm expected to create a video diary of the comings and goings of Olympic visitors and volunteers. We'll need to conduct vox pop interviews and capture a flavour of the week, all of which will eventually be corralled into a souvenir video given out to all 8000 Ambassadors after the Olympics is over. I can already foresee plenty of hilarity as we try to fit our helmet cams on our pink-trimmed trilbies. In all, it's rather a result.