Monday, March 05, 2007

Cricket World Cup Update #3: Kit Out Day and Accreditation


Date: Saturday 3rd March 2007
Venue: Elizabeth Street Stand (formerly CARIB Stand), Queen's Park Oval.
Time: 7:00...yes...in the morning.

So yuh girl, her g/f anf her g/f's daughter found themselves at the Oval at the ungodly hour of 6:40am.

As there was no clear indication of where we suhold sit (people were all over the place) we scoped out the scene for a little bit.
The seats were dirty as construction is still in progress...so is REAL DUST!
When we saw the placement of the speakers we then choose our seats, wiped them and sat.

At about 7:45ish, an anouncement was made that those persons sitting in the sun needed to move further east in the stands. And guess who was in the "sun"? Yours Truly.

*grumble*
Move.
Choose a next seat.
Wipe seat.
Sit.

At around 8ish now (an hour later than we were supposed to start according to our schedules) the lady in charge of the voulnteers, Lisa-Marie Alexander, comes on the microphone saying, "We have just been informed by security, that we should not be beyond the CAUTION tape, so those persons needed to move back to the westerly side of the stand."

*WHAT DE??*
*grumble*

This last move/wipe seat action, combined with the whole 'we here since7 o' clock and allyuh always telling us to be on time and yet nobody was here on time to start the damn thing and we couldn't even get a cup of hot tea while we waiting fuh allyuh'...got people who were already simmering real mad.

Man...volunteers start to make noise.

We ended up getting a less than half hearted apology, which ended up being more of a lecture on how we should react in situations that we may not like in our volunteer duties.

It was funny.

Because the more Lisa spoke, the less the volunteers wanted to hear.
I was almost on the floor with laughter...ah mighta end up on the floor if it wasn't for all de damn dust.

Anyhoo...the show eventually got on the road.
Mr. Ian Welsh, CEO of the LOC (Local Organising Committee) addressed us.
We got breakfast. (Food to quiet the masses during the long lulls of nothingness).
We had a dry run of an evacuation procedure done with the ODPM. (I went to Kidsworld during the evacuation as I had to get a gift for a party my sons had to attend later).
We then went into our various groups to get briefed by our Functional Managers and then sent to collect our Accrediation passes and uniforms.

So below is an outline of how I felt things went on the day:

The Good
1. We got our uniforms.
Ah hear ah talk that we bringing out a J'ouvert band next year with dem uniforms.

2. We got accredited.
I didn't take long to get my accreditation as my g/f had already told me that mine was ready.
So I just sent her a text to tell her I was coming across for mine and it was ready and waiting for me. (No I eh skip no lines, I waited just like everyone else).

The Bad
1. The Walking
From the evacuation to the walking to King George to collect your acceditation pass to walking back to the CLICO box to collect your uniforms.
I thought of it as physical training to ensure we could make it in the hot sun on the day.

2. The Cleaning
And it was from since the Friday before in UWI SPEC we cleaning seats eh.
I told my fellow volunteers we had to look at it as us assisting in getting the Oval ready in time.

The Ugly
1. The uniform.
Man...dat ting bright! Jeez!
Yuh cyar miss it...ah sure allyuh see people in some bringht orange things walking the road this morning heading to the east.
I eh hear one person say anything nice abut the uniform.
Plus it fit badly.
But once I give my seamstress dat and she buss two dart in it...I go throw some accessories on dat and I go make it look FAB!

2. The volunteers behaviour.
Some of us really get on bad.
There were other ways of getting your point across. BUT...

3. Lisa-Marie's half-hearted apology...dat eh cut it.
She could have looked at it form the volunteers side of things and been a little more genuine.
Yuh cyar call de people rabble-rousers and expect to be happy about that.

Despite all of the hiccups on the Saturday, I'm still liking the excitement of it all and can't wait to work on Thursday and Friday.

8 comments:

Rich~! said...

Rabblerousers?

BWTMC?


man fuck she and that attitude. Allyuh is VOLUNTEERS. Yuh cyar expect volunteers to take shit and not make noise. And them tell them about the rabblerousing.


She lucky she ain't get two broken bottle in she mudda****.


-rij
Accustomed to herding cats, so i would not have bounced my head so.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the update...I'll be visiting Trinidad for the world cup.

Any safety tips suggested? Areas to avoid? Transport to and from the Oval from the airport? Taxis?


Above all how can I get a few autographs?

afro chic said...

Yes rich~!...we were called rabble rousers.
I think the reason she didn't collect a bottle is because none were around. LOL.

Anonymous...I will TRY and do a separate post with regard to those questions you asked.

As for autographs, I was watching a program last night on TV with the Marketing & Communications Manager Penny Commisiong and she indicatedthat it would be difficult to get autographs as it would not be like the regualr one-day games that we experience in the Caribbean.

Anonymous said...

Any updates...

Anonymous said...

Are cameras allowed into the stadium?

afro chic said...

Haven't had a chance to do updates as I've been busy working at UWI SPEC this week. And my hours are 6:00am - 6:00pm.
So time I get home is just to bathe and sleep.

Cameras are allowed...but not video cameras.

Anonymous said...

U a volunteer during the India games?

afro chic said...

anonymous: I am a volunteer for the period of the Cricket World Cup here in Trinidad.