When I was a little boy, I didn't want to be a footballer, like all my friends. I didn't want to go and be a policeman, or a fire fighter, like all my friends. I didn't want to be the one making the news - I wanted to be the one reporting it.
I was 11 when I finally decided that my goal and aspiration in life was to become a sports journalist. I adored football, and it was time for the 2004 Olympic Games, in Athens. What I witnessed on TV was nothing like any football game I've ever watched - it had the electric atmosphere, the team of fans backing their country, and the commentary that made everything come alive and bounce out the screen. It was at this point that I wanted to be good enough at my job that I was asked to cover the Olympic Games. And the 2008 Games in Beijing just blew everything out the water - I've never witnessed anything like it before in my life, and never will. Beijing 2008 will go down as the greatest sporting event ever witnessed on Earth.
London 2012 will be the biggest sporting festival Britain has ever seen. It will be the greenest Olympics, the Olympics with the greatest legacy, and the Olympics that will pull our country together, and let us forget about all the troubles we have suffered in the last few years. It's the biggest dose of anti-depressant we could have wished for.
So it was about time, that if I want to be there for the Games, I had to visit the Games.
And it's stunning - I've never seen anything quite like it. I watched Wembley sprout out the ground of the old Twin Towers. I've been watching the Shard London Bridge appear seemingly from nowhere out the centre of the Earth. But this park is on a scale never seen before. The biggest building site in Europe continues to grow and grow, and we saw it today.
The stadium has the majority of it's white seats fitted, and although not complete yet, looks world-class and is something that will stay with me forever. The Aquatics Centre (the beautiful curved building in the centre, surrounded by the grandstands being built either side) is taking shape, and will be a venue used by the community, and I'll certainly be in that queue at some point. The Velodrome and Handball Arena stand out at the back, as the white cube and the wooden dome. The Athlete's Village is still being built, but will have stunning views, and will certainly be worth a few bob when sold at the end of the Games.
I've genuinely never seen anything like it. It's just crazy how big it is, and also how many people want to see how it is, and what's happening. The world will be watching next summer - 2 billion people, if the stats are to be believed.
I watched and smiled for a good hour, and wandered up and down enjoying how stunning this park is. I'll certainly be back next year. Ideally, as a trainee journalist. Otherwise, I'll be an eagerly awaiting Brit. A proud Brit, enjoying what's best of our country.
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