I am NOT very happy !

The air conditioning has given up completely and it is 33 degrees in here - that's 91F for us old-fashioned ones. It is humid, the sun is glaring through the non-see-through glass and it is like living in a sauna! And now security has closed off the lifts and the exits so we cannot move around the building (there is one cool room and we keep going to cool off) becasue a "very important person" is coming to look round. I do appreciate fully that security is of paramount importance, of course I do, and I would rather have it properly secure of course, but it is very annoying at the moment!

We are tied to our desks until 8pm tonight, as we have to wait for the start of the transnational teams to make sure everyone has paid ... then there is going to be a very quick rush to the bar I am sure! Jean Claude Beineix saved us earlier by going and buying us all ice creams! And David Stern has saved our sanity throughout the championships by bringing with him a Nespresso machine so we have been able to have good coffee in our office - thanks David, you are a star :-)

Oh - there is hope. Some Chinese men have just come in with temperature gauges and looked at the thermostats and examined the ceiling (which is all pipes) very closely. Maybe, just maybe, we might get it a bit cooler. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I left you last night to go off to the IBPA dinner, where I had a really great evening - it was held at a Brazilian Churrascaria and was such fun! they bring the meat (and yummy prawns!) round on skewers to the tables, and you can eat as much as you want. There is an array of salads on the buffet as well which were lovely. Then back to the hotel, a quick drink with friends and so to bed ...

Now I am sitting quietly in the office - the frantic registration of the Transnational Teams has calmed down, and there are just a few that we wait for as they still have to pay - play will start at 20.00 hours at which point I am going to disappear rapidly to the bar and thence to the restaurant for a bowl of spaghetti followed by a much needed shower and an early night - provided the amount of coffee I have consumed doesn't keep me bouncing off the walls all night of course :-) 

Oh - and the air conditioning has managed to get the temperature down .... by 1 degree !!! Not what you would call a great success - ho hum. Maybe if it keeps going all night it will be cooler in here tomorrow.