It was an early start on Monday morning to visit the water polo centre, which isn’t in the Cube unfortunately. Hi to all my contacts at Olympos Marlins Swimming Club in mid-Sussex. This morning is the closest we are getting to competitive swimming, but it really opened our eyes to the sport.

We saw Hungary take on Canada and it appears that water polo is very strong in Eastern Europe. Hungary had around a thousand fans packed into this small arena and they created a football kind of atmosphere. They won 13-4.

In the evening we were back in the Birds Nest to see the Russian girl kick some American backsides in the pole volt.

We had great seats for this event and I have the world record clearance on my digital camera - 5.05 meters. The Stadium erupted.

On Tuesday we went off to the Forbidden City for a wander. Wow!！ You have to see it to believe it. The scale of the courtyards and buildings is truly staggering. For engineers, historians and scholars this site is a must.

In the evening we headed back to the Birds Nest to watch a truly magical night for the Brits. Christine Ohuruogh steamed in for the 400m Gold and Germaine Mason scooped a silver in the High Jump.

Union Jacks were flying high during the Chistine's golden presentation. It was a proud moment.

As to general stuff we are keeping well and more by luck than judgement have been eating very very well.We are trying to use public transport when ever possible but Beijing is huge so there is a lot of walking to be done. In the heat of the day it is tough going. （I kind of miss my car！) No unusual incidents to report！We are now mid-way through our holiday and look forward to further adventures.