take our temperature – sarah and i have come down with olympics fever. oh, you hadn’t noticed from our previous posts? well let me make it clear. we have adorned our nails, begged, borrowed and bought tickets to any events we can, dressed in rather frightening outfits and generally run around town like sports-mad lunatics. all in the chicest of fashion, of course. and all part of the fun. here is a round up what we have been getting up to over week one of london 2012.
aussie pride at the opening ceremony party
an outnumbered brit
(my dodgy iphone filming the fireworks… couldn’t resist the soundtrack)
for the opening ceremony, my lovely (and australian) girlfriends across the road threw a very rowdy party. living mere minutes from the olympic park, our plan was to have a few civilised drinks before wandering up to victoria park for a brilliant view of the fireworks display.
well, put a group of aussies in a room, add their best green and gold costumes and a few cocktails, and you’ll end up with several rather off-key, but by god spirited, renditions of john farnham’s ‘you’re the voice’. we raised the roof with our ‘aussie aussie aussies’ as the australian team made their lap of the stadium.
olympic park
as the ceremony began to draw to a close we made our way up to the park to catch the fireworks. i ended up with an uninterrupted view from the roof of a cafe (it’s not trespassing if it’s the olympics) in the park to watch the jaw-dropping display and sing along to hey jude.
a few days earlier i had a call from an old friend in town for the olympics. annamay is a canadian swimmer who competed in beijing and has been assisting one of the broadcasters with poolside interviews. we met up last week for a few rooftop cocktails, and i was thrilled when she offered me last-minute tickets to the swimming on monday night.
our view
we made our way to the park early to soak up the atmosphere, have some dinner and a few glasses of wine, before making our way (me jumping up and down like a six-year-old) into the aquatics centre. the swimming was incredible. the entire aquatics centre radiated with excitement and the noise was deafening. we had fantastic seats right on the finish, and witnessed some fabulous races including swims by michael phelps and the gorgeous little 15-year-old breastroker ruta meilutyte, who had me in tears during her medal ceremony.
with annamay after the swimming
access all areas
sarah attended the hockey on wednesday and did me proud with her gorgeous red, white and blue glitter nail polish from barry m. she cheered on australia to beat spain (whoop!) and see belgium v the netherlands.
on friday evening, i had a stellar finish to the week with a glorious evening at the beach volleyball on horse guards parade. while it poured down on the poor spectators the day before, we lucked out with dazzling sunshine and blue skies with a perfect light breeze. 
while the atmosphere at the swimming was intense and highly-charged, the beach volleyball was more like a party (for the crowd, anyway). a boogie-worthy soundtrack, dancing girls in between sets, and mexican waves. we were singing along, sipping vino and getting a nice little top up on our tans. the bf was very much enjoying the view with the girls match, but i must say i was rather miffed when i realised the men would be keeping their tops on. i had visions of top gun take two. disappointing.
the beach volleyball
the essentials
eh? why are their tops on?
we’ve been making the most of some of the parties going on around town at the moment too, particularly in east london. on sunday night we headed down to the maddox beach club to witness the 100m sprint final just a stone’s throw from the stadium.
located on the canal on forman’s fish island riviera, the mayfair club in association with x.b has created a man-made beach to rival those of miami, ibiza and st tropez.
maddox beach club
stone’s throw from the stadium
a beach volleyball net takes pride of place in the centre of the open air venue, with deck chairs, lounges and swings scattered around the deck and sand. a huge screen at one end keeps revellers up to date on what is happening just across the canal. we watched usain bolt win the 100m sprint, and the roar that erupted from the stadium next door was unbelievable. a great experience.
athletes and vips have been making their way down to pop-up venue after the events to sip the x.b sex on the beach cocktails in style and dance the night away. next time i’ll be heading down in the afternoon to really make the most of those sun loungers and maybe even try my hand at the volleyball net.
other great venues celebrating the games on our agenda this week are base camp by the book club, the fringe, and of course the free bt london live events in victoria and hyde parks. there are six days left of the games, and don’t forget the paraloympics afterward, so it’s not too late to embrace the spirit and get involved.
how have you been celebrating the games? let us know in the comments below, or tweet us @peanut_buttered or @andreamagrath. you can follow us on facebook here
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