CQU Melbourne-based Colin Riley, from C Management Services Sales and Recruitment, found an unusual way of using his annual leave.

Instead of visiting the exotic Bahamas, he spent a month looking after that country's officials and athletes in the Commonwealth Games Village.

It was a time to catch up on news because Colin helped establish a teacher training college in the Bahamas in the 1970s.

He found that some of his graduates had progressed well, not only in education but in the law and politics. One of them, Alvin Smith, is now the leader of the Opposition. The college, on the Island of San Salvador, has closed down and the campus is now Club Med Columbus Isle.

The Village in Parkville was well received by the athletes and will soon be refurbished and sold off for private housing.

According to Colin: "It was strange to see a village unoccupied one day become a thriving community of 6000 residents plus workers for the duration of the Games only to return very quickly to being a ghost town.

"But for that period of 11 days it was home to some of the world's leading athletes and, needless to say, acted as a magnet for politicians and celebrities, including the Queen, Prince Phillip and Prince Edward.

"Security was a top priority and I witnessed the Blairs entering the Village by a back gate having driven up in a cavalcade of 12 cars with 12 motorcycle outriders and with numerous helicopters buzzing overhead! So much for secrecy.

"My job description would be very difficult to write. Probably the best description would be that of a glorified gofer who tried to anticipate the demands of the Chef De Mission so that they did not have to resort to trouble shooting.

"There were a myriad of tasks but as our relationship blossomed we had some good laughs and some really interesting conversations with both officials and athletes.

"Most of our track and field athletes lived in the USA and were on the professional circuit, the boxers trained in Cuba and the officials lived in Nassau but seemed to have been travelling to major Games/meets for the past 40 years.

"Like in most things in life, the mundane recedes into the background and one only remembers the funny/strange/quirky little things.

- The Kenyan marathon runners who were apprehended whilst on a training run on the median reservation of the Tullamarine Freeway.

- The Channel Island cyclist whose bike fell off the top of the van only to be run over by a 20 tonne truck. The cyclist appealed to the English cycling team to see if they could borrow one of their spare training bikes only to be told in no uncertain manner to 'get on yer bike'. Fortunately the team from Namibia was more accommodating.

- The 12 boxes of expensive Adidas/Nike footwear that seem to appear by magic in many rooms occupied by high profile athletes.

- The eight sets of official uniforms left in the bedroom of the athletes because they couldn't be bothered to carry them around the professional circuit; and in any case there will be a new one for the next Championship. If anyone needs a bright aqua blazer with white trousers, see me.

- The main dining room which fed the athletes would have been a single span tent 100m by 50m and was hired from France for the duration of the Games at a cost of $5 million. They served about 20,000 meals a day and were open 24 hours.

- The athletes from the poorer third world countries who wait to have their teeth attended to each Commonwealth Games or Olympics, waiting at the Polyclinic.

- The look on the faces of the Bahamian boxers when we took them out to look at kangaroos in the wild at sunrise".

"Having spent a month looking after the Bahamas Team perhaps next year I will visit them and enjoy their hospitality," Colin said.