Getting there ...

welll things are starting to happen thank goodness.

As far as the Secretariat is concerned, we still don't have an office, but Carol, Christine and I have been working in José's suite and our own rooms so that at least we can get a head start. Our office-to-be has actually been moved from the room it should have been in to a much bigger one next to the WBF Meeting room, and the tables and chairs are all in place ready to use. We are waiting for 220 volt sockets to be installed so that we can plug in the printers and hubs and also need the big photocopier to arrive then we will install ourselves and our laptops and can really start to get on with things.

As far as the other offices are concerned, the Brazilian hospitality team is handing out the very nice bags and badges, and the vu-graph studio is being set up by Bernard and his team - a really big job that one.

The playing rooms are having all the tables and screens built (they arrive sort of flat-packed) and there is a star-wars style projector (pictures to follow) with a MASSIVE screen in place to put up the results. The scoring team have got all their computers up and running and are all networked which is good news as well.

The not-so ready bit is the Press and Bulletin room, which is still occupied by a banking conference, as is the room to be used for a special exhibition of playing cards courtesy of Jaime Ortiz Patino - I am really looking forward to seeing that as it is, I am told, unsurpassed.

Harvey Fox - the WBF IT manager - has joined us for a peaceful drink in the room, and tomorrow morning no doubt all hell will break loose as we start meetings - Tournament Appeals Committee, Tournament Directors and Captains' Meeeting - followed by the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night ... so watch this space :-)