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olympic postcard

Canadian Olympian diver Emilie Heymans dives during a training session in London on Thursday July 26, 2012.The Canadian Press

It's unusually hot and humid in the UK this week, which isn't fun if you're wearing desert fatigues and working outside (quoth a soldier at security:"It's just 'orrible mate, bloody 'orrible").

Nor is it great for Olympic athletes - their village has all mod cons as they say here, except for one.

"It's not air conditioned," said Canadian diver Emilie Heymans. "It's not so bad for me, because I'm deaf in one ear so I don't mind the noise from sleeping with the window open."

Heymans is rooming with teammate Roseline Filion, who also likes to have background noise when she sleeps.

The Olympic Village is really getting going now, the Canadian divers got back from a training camp in the south of England on Wednesday morning, and Heymans said the atmosphere has improved drastically since the team popped in to check out their digs last week before heading to Plymouth.

She and Filion took the chance to wander around the city on Wednesday.

"We walked from the Tower Bridge all the way to Big Ben," Filion said after the team's first practice of the week at the Olympic aquatic centre (where organizers have refunded about 600 tickets because of obstructed views in the temporary stands).

Canada's two other women divers at these Games, Jennifer Abel and Meaghan Benfeito, have apparently decided walking's not a swift enough method of conveyance.

"We bought a couple of little scooters," laughed Benfeito. "We've been roaring around on those, it takes six minutes to get to the pool.

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