Why I'm disappointed with the London Olympics

So you volunteer to work 10 hours a day for 2 weeks our more .

You fill in application form, submit and wait.

Tah dah...an interview, but since then you've moved 6000 miles away.

You call and explain you're in South Africa on a visitors visa and you're still available...yes, it's ok, you're still a British Citizen, so you arrange a phone interview....June 2011.

They call, explain what will happen and the interview will last 30 mins....60 mins later you come off the phone, confident you've covered everything, then they call you back... 'would you be interested in a leadership role?'. You'd be happy directing traffic.

So you wait, a trip back to the UK, family and friends come to visit, endless questions... ' Have you heard?' ... Cut off date is April 30th, you check emails daily, weekly, hourly.....refresh, refresh, refresh...you follow #gamesmaker, people tweet you, they have their offer...and the deadline passes.

You receive an automated email 'thank you, busy time and all that'

Basically you're on a waiting list. You're second choice, just incase anyone drops out...OK I can deal with that...You'll know by June 30th...

You need yo make plans, your Husband needs to know what's going on so he can plan his European trip, you can't both be out the country and leave the kids for 2 weeks.

You check on the games maker website in case you miss an email....your application has been withdrawn....wtf? You call,'it's ok we will reinstate you' but have you missed your chance? How? When? Why? You're reassured you'll be reinstated and an email it's sent to the relevant department. That was May 23rd, you call again on May 28th and June 8th and finally on July 2nd. They email you July 5th to say you're now reinstated.

But it's past June 30th and you still haven't heard, so you resign yourself that you're not wanted then July 4th another automated email to tell you you're now 3rd choice and please be availabale at short notice...you need 72 hours to arrange your flight, get someone to collect you and find somewhere to sleep for 2 weeks, as cheaply as possible as you blew the money you saved on your trip back to see your dad after his heart attack last month.

Just how short is short notice? The games start in 3 weeks.

The system of selecting volunteers does not take into account individuals needs, obviously they can't consider every single child care or dental appointment requests, but they have failed to acknowledge that people may have flights to book, may need to ask for time off work.

After all you're offering your time and services for free, well not for free actually, you're not only going to work 10 hours a day, but you're taking time off work, paying your costs to get to zone 7 of the London Underground, find accomodation etc.

Has anyone told you the Olympics are on in the UK in July, August and September? Flights, accomodation? If they are still available they are going to be damned bloody expensive.