I've been back in the Olympic Park for the Paralympics. So, what's changed?
• new symbols (far fewer people are queueing to have their photo taken by the giant agitos) • new venues (Eton Manor opens for Wheelchair Tennis) (Football on the hockey warm-up pitch) [photo] • new Olympic Park map (because different venues in the park are open) • new digital signs for those with Day Passes (there might be seats, there might not) • new sponsors (Otto Bock, with a pavilion tucked away at the back of World Square) • new batch volunteers (still cheery, chirpy and absolutely marvellous)
• more wheelchairs (which is to be expected, but cheering) • more British (the park's now a family day out, with far fewer international visitors) • more metal barriers (but too late to protect some of the flowers and planted areas beyond) [photo] • more celebs (I spotted Jay Rayner eating noodly stuff from a box near the Velodrome) • more Mandeville (appearing at the bandstand, and at the new "Mascot House") [photo][photo] • more flowers (the wild flower mix in the southern Park is now glorious) [photo][photo]
• less flowers (much of the colour has faded in the northern Park) [here's anexception] • less TV studios (BBC Sport gone, NBC replaced by a mini tennis court) • less people on the lawns watching the big screen (the Olympics packed them in, the Paralympics don't quite)
