Manning the phones for Sport Relief

Well womanning them actually, but it doesn`t sound quite the same!

Through a colleague at work I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to volunteer to answer the phones for Sport Relief last Saturday at the BT Tower in London. We went up early as the guys who had done this before were very keen to be allocated to the higher level call centre, I just did as I was told not really knowing what to expect - but I have to admit to being a bit taken aback when I was told we were going to the 34th floor! The lift travels at 1400 ft per minute and took approx 30 seconds to reach our destination! but when I stepped out of the lift with shaking legs and my stomach still somewhere around the second floor, it wasn`t just the speed of ascent that took my breath away.
Any thoughts that I might be afraid of heights were immediately forgotten as I walked round and round the building entranced by the views.

It was just as good when night fell, the lights of London were fascinating, but unfortunately the reflections on the glass made a decent photo impossible.


Once the phone lines opened we got under way, and being part of the relief team (with the lovely orange T-shirt to denote my status!) I spent the evening moving from one desk to another to cover the volunteers breaks, and with no way of stopping the call from coming through, we got change overs down to a fine art so as not to miss any donations.

It was incredible how quickly the time passed and before I knew where I was it was midnight and home time, by now of course all the trains down south had stopped running, so we were provided with a black cab to take us home, typically we were the last cab load to be picked up (possibly something to do with a reluctance on the drivers part to go outside of the M25) - and I finally walked in at 3am, tired but happy.