I have my tickets! Mark won't stop entering! Greeks can't be Greek!

Hey up again. Lots to tell, so I'll try to keep it brief.

I'VE PICKED UP MY TICKETS
Which all went very smoothly. Just handed my internet reservation number to the woman and she handed back all my tickets. Magic.

GREEKS TOLD NOT TO BE GREEK
An anonymous poster has posted the following to the Athens 2004 Blog (thanks):
"GREEKS ASKED TO BE NOT SO GREEK - As part of the Greek effort to welcome visitors, soldiers protecting the games have been told not to smoke or wave their hands around in front of tourists. The army has issued 15 guidelines, which call for soldiers to exchange the usual expansive Mediterranean gesticulations - "which could be interpreted as a provocation" - for solicitude and calm. - Daily Telegraph Aug 12." Fancy that. The folks I've seen about still seem pretty Greek to me.

MARK FROM WALES ENTERS MY COMPETITION FOR THE THIRD TIME!
This time he's gone for: Opening Ceremony, Judo, Cycling, Track and filed, swimming, beach volleyball, football, rowing, hockey, tennis, badminton
Sorry Mark, still 7 out of 11. And that's strike 3. No more guesses for you!

THE OPENING CEREMONY IS, APPARENTLY, ACE
I spoke to a fella who went to the dress rehearsal. He said Bjork was rubbish but that the bit where huge sculptures come out of the ground is superb.

GREEK FLAGS ARE EVERYWHERE
Amazing what a Euro 2004 win and an Olympic games can do for national pride. You hardly used to see them around Athens before, now all the shops are selling things with Greek flags all over them.

UGLY BUILDINGS COVERED UP
Buildings in Athens considered ugly by the Olymics peeps have been covered up. Seriously. They've covered them with big pictures of nice looking buildings like the Acropolis. Beauty is in the eye though. The ones they've covered look quite nice to me.

THERE IS EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR
Seriously, you can feel it. Athens is buzzing.