Opening Ceremony.....great big tick!

So I know I haven't written much for ages. But I have good reason. From about 55 days to go, I started writing nearly everyday. Documenting the mayhem, hard work, blood, sweat and tears of everyday life here in Delhi. I do plan to publish this along with many photos of the experiences along the way, but not for a while. I will do it when I have left this place, my confidentiality agreement is no longer valid and all of my invoices have been paid. Look for it in November I reckon.
But in the meantime, the show was on Sunday night. Amazingly we pulled it off. Hopefully a few of you got to see the show. I personally love the Mehndi hands and the train. We had a few issues with our Athlete's Parade, but we got there in the end. The day was long and stressful, but the result was well worth it. During the show itself, I was sitting in the control room on my headset monitoring about 25 radio channels at once. Trying to solve problems where I could. We had a few issues we had to deal with, which you will surely hear about later on with the full blog publish, but we dealt with them one by one. All of the Indians were very proud and so was I honestly. As soon as the show was over, we had very little time to celebrate as the transition into athletics needed to get under way. So around 630am, I finally made it home to bed. I woke up around midday for a couple of hours, and fell asleep again until 430pm. AG and I headed back to work and stayed until 11pm. It is now Tuesday morning. We will head in to see how they went overnight. Once the transition is complete, I will try to get a decent amount of sleep. Tomorrow we have a meeting about the Closing Ceremony. Tomorrow night we are having a bit of celebration in one of the local restaurants. Thurs is my day at the Shangrila spa. I have way to many knots in my back. Must be sorted out. Then we will get right back into planning the transition into closing. Lots of work and when it comes down to it, it goes so fast you barely notice. But I am glad we had a show to be proud of. And trust me, it was very touch and go for a while there.
Look out for the full detailed blog in a while. Still not too sure what I am doing next. Have a couple of things in the pipeline, but nothing confirmed as of yet. Will update you all when I know where I am going next.
Photos from my seat in the control room. Enjoy.

Richard Hartman personally setting up the Athlete's Chairs

Opening Segment Rhythms of India

One of my fav moments Swagatam Mehndi Hands

Logo on the Aerostat

Commonwealth Games Federation Flag enters

Tree of Knowledge Segment

Panorama of the Control Room from my spot

Yoga Segment

Yoga Man with Chakras

The Great Indian Journey Train

Mahatma Segment which ended up being my surprise favourite moment with sand art

Celebrations

Overall I think it went very well considering what we went through to achieve it. I am both amazed and extremely proud of the end result. This is a job that I will absolutely never forget. The team of people who managed to accomplish such a giant task will be forever held in my mind with the greatest respect. I do not think I would have survived without such a fantastic group of people reaching for the finishing line together.
Now to finish the transition, have some rest, party time and spa relaxation....and on to the Closing.
Love to you all.
Sxo