Wonder if the Princess Royal has dried out yet. The poor love was soaked during the medal presentation to Britain's Ben Ainslie late Sunday night as the rain swished in off the sea to complete a day of titanically awful weather in Qingdao.

Princess Anne, here in her capacity as a member of the International Olympic Committee and president of the Royal Yachting Association, was originally scheduled to present silver in the Yngling class. Suppose it wasn't a surprise that she was quickly switched to presenting Ainslie's gold and, in spite of the drenching, she seemed proud as punch.

In fact, Princess Anne was as informal as everything else around here. Qingdao has plenty of security checks but it is nothing like Beijing, which is in a permanent state of lockdown with armed guards at each checkpoint. Here, because the compound is limited to the harbour, we come and go much as we please, which meant I could enjoy a pleasant walk in the sunshine to work on Monday morning.

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It is much the same for Britain's sailors. There is no particularly formal Athlete's Village, as there is in Beijing. Team GB is billeted in a hotel a couple of minutes from the waterfront and free to wander.

At least, they could if their schedule wasn't so demanding; most of them are on the water all day, every day so there is little free time. They set out into Fushan Bay early, go back to the hotel for dinner, prepared by Eddy Stephens, their chef, at about 7pm and then they go into a debrief so that everyone can share whatever nuggets of info they have gleaned from the day. Then it is a movie or a stroll before bed.

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But the ingenuity of the Yngling girls knows no bounds. At least, when it comes to food. They arrived forewarned and forearmed, having been here several times before, and knew they would be yearning for their favourite grub. So Pippa Wilson loaded a breadmaker into her luggage, as well as some flour, while Sarah Ayton provided the jam. Wilson has been keeping the team in bread supplies for days now and, as a result, made herself one of the most popular members of Team GB.

The bonus was that while the crew sat around on Saturday during the eternal weather postponement, they had some true home comfort, munching on jam sandwiches. Ben Ainslie swore by the two portions of lasagne he ate before winning his gold on Sunday, but for the Yngling girls, the food of champions is a jam butty.

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The other bonus for the sailors is that they have been able to see their families - and their families have been able to see them. Family members and friends in Beijing have been forced to buy Black Market tickets to see the action in many of the security-tight venues, but here in Qingdao, they can simply stroll along the breakwater to watch the dinghies and windsurfers out in Fushan Bay.

Cynthia Goodison was around on Saturday to watch Paul, her son and a gold medal favourite in the Laser class, and there are many more British folk around Qingdao.

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Back in Beijing, athletes who have finished their events are finding ways to fill in their time before the closing ceremony. The Athletes' Village is a walled city within a city, sealed off from the rest of the world. Some have been able to go sight-seeing but the rest of the time, they are left to their own devices. Food is served in a huge restaurant with everything from international cuisine to, er, Chinese food, of course. Very good but not exactly intimate.

There is also a world of entertainment. The authorities lay on authentic Chinese shows and tonight it is the turn of the Beijing Dance and Drama Theatre performing "The Moon-shaped Fan" Could be a thriller.

For those who can't get the spirit of competition out of their systems, theatre is a round of the shuffleboard championship tonight, followed by air hockey (what's that?) on Tuesday night and more through the week, such as table soccer and billiards. Bet they are all nail-biters.

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At least the surroundings are vaguely familiar for the British athletes. One of Team GB's official partners is B&Q, the DIY store, which flew out a pile of furniture - televisions, DVD players, rugs, irons, armchairs, kettles and even Union Jack lamps - to make their quarters like a little slice of home. They won't want to come back to Blighty, for goodness sake.

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There is also the chance to get a little star-struck, spotting some of the world's biggest sporting names strolling around the village. Like Michael Phelps, the eight-time gold winner and man of the Beijing moment. Although he admits he is more star-struck than anyone there. He bumped into Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon and now Olympic champion, the other day and was rendered speechless.

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Wherever they are, we know the athletes will be safe, particularly here in relaxed Qingdao because it says so on this piece of official paper. According to the authorities here: "We have constructed an effective security system with multi-level defence, three-dimensional layout, omni-directional linkage and all-the-way monitoring."

There you are. That says it all as far as I am concerned. We can all rest easy in our B&Q beds.