.......tickets please.............

Yesterday I wrote about all the perks that go with volunteering for a big sports event...........you may be surprised to know that one of the perks is free tickets.

At the CWG in Manchester every local council..........of which there are 10 in Greater Manchester............was given an allocation of tickets.........I suppose as a pay off for the funding each council had to contribute. Here in Bury at least some of the tickets went to volunteers.........all the names went into a draw...........I won four tickets for Athletics............but I couldn't go......they were for one of the days I was working in the village........the S & H couldn't go either.............and neither could the Boss or the Daughter...........so our good friends D and V got lucky.

There was a shortage of tickets in the Village...........understandable really.......the athletes would obviously give their freebies to family/friends...........however the S & H had no such difficulty. He was based at the Hockey venue....perfect for him.....hockey was his passion..he was a terrific goal keeper......he played for club, town, county and North West region and had also had an England trial. He had a variety of tasks........sometimes with a team...........sometimes with the officials........sometimes ensuring sticks etc were legal......and for the finals building the podium. The venue also had a ticket office.......and any tickets not sold within an hour or two of a session starting were given away to the volunteers...........one morning he rang me...he had four tickets for the Rugby 7's.......he couldn't use them but he knew I was on a day off...........a few quick phone calls.......and my mate B and two of is friends joined me on a quick drive to the main stadium.......via the hockey venue to collect the tickets.

Later that week I also won another four tickets which I had to give away......ironically they were for the hockey!.........still it wasn't a problem getting them shifted......I was the chairman of a hockey club!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that the pins in today's blip are not CWG pins.......they were given to the S & H by India, Pakistan and Canada hockey teams....he also gained several shirts and caps and a hockey ball that he managed to get signed by the goalkeepers of the four teams that made the men's and women's finals!

A quiet day today.....the Boss is not well.......so I've spent a fair bit of the day looking after her..........she probably won't be in work tomorrow.....so I may get the excitement of a trip to Asda!

Das vidanya moy padruga.