CHAOS at Carrara, where a biblical downpour just as the ceremony begins leaves journalists scurrying for cover. Media were promised a ‘solution’ to deal with deluges like this which are a rather regular occurrence during Queensland’s rainy season, but what the organising committee actually came up with is a large clear polythene tarpaulin which covers your laptop (and that of the person sitting next to you), leaving the whole thing a bit like a wet weekend camping in Millport.

INGENIOUS, perhaps you think. Well, not really, because not only can you not see out from under the thing in the first place, but the real problem relates to the reservoirs of rainwater which unsurprisingly accumulate on top of said item. If I’m not careful, at one point at the open-air Optus Aquatics Centre, I may find my laptop has gone swimming too.

RAIN showers not permitting, there were no complaints after a spectacular opening ceremony. The affair ended with a giant airborne white whale called Migulu sailing bizarrely into the stadium, like something out of Spinal Tap. It must have been the Prince of whales.

PETER Beattie, the chairman of the organising committee, downplays the row over the Duchess of Cornwall being spotted absent mindedly reading the programme during his speech. “Well, frankly I would have too,” he says.

AT Southport Broadwater Parklands for the triathlon, your diarist unlocks the mysteries of the Grassy Knoll. Apparently, this is an inside name given to a mound where non-rights holding media can take footage of the action. But everybody knows you get a better shot from the book depository.