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Published: March 8th 2010
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Hi all!
Well the Olympics have been and gone. Did you all watch the Olympics coverage on Channel 9? It was certainly an interesting time to be in Vancouver!
Speaking of Channel 9, as I exited my building the other week, Grant Hackett was standing outside chatting on the phone. I wouldn’t have noticed him except for the Channel 9 Olympic gear he was wearing.
I didn’t really do anything exciting for the Olympics, but I did make it to one event - Men’s Curling. There were three matches played at the same time: USA v China, Great Britain v Germany and France v Norway.
You can laugh at Curling (even some Canadians do), and it isn’t really a sport, but it was fun to watch. The crowd were crazy (although consisted of too many yanks for my liking) and having three matches playing at the same time meant there was never a dull moment.
Australia might have won two gold medals but Canada ‘Owned the Podium’ with a record 14 gold. The 14th and final gold, the Men’s Hockey win against the USA, saw the city and the rest of the country break into near-hysteria.
Things were crazy during the match (no need to watch the game to know the score, we just listened for the boisterous cheers from others in our complex) and went totally mental when Canada won. From 4pm until midnight, there was non-stop horn blowing, yelling and screaming.
I didn’t dare venture outside that night, knowing all too well that, although the crowds were mostly well-behaved, hundreds of thousands of people on the streets doesn’t make for fun if you’re not taking part in the action.
The VANOC Olympic organisers did a great job with all the entertainment and tourism opportunities during the games. There were three downtown and one suburban celebration/party/concert hubs plus special ‘houses’ for various provinces and countries.
I was keen to go to some of the houses but the Olympics were too popular for their own good. The queues to get into some of the houses were mental, two, three, four hours or more! Some of the houses will reopen for the Paralympics so I’m hoping to make it to some of the houses then.
The free zipline from the law courts, over busy Robson Street and into the Art Gallery may only
have been a hundred meter long, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was too hard to resist for many and the line-ups were up to seven hours some days.
Even getting into the Olympics Store at the Bay saw line-ups of three or more hours.
Yes, the Winter Olympics became the waiting games.
And the merchandise games! Pin trading was in full force and not walking around in your Canada gear made you feel like a traitor. T-Shirts, hoodies, mittens and jackets everywhere.
I am now the proud owner of the coveted red mittens of which 3.5 million have been sold. Oprah made them famous (silly yanks paying over $50 a pair) but I got mine for free from work. It was one of a variety of special things work did to show some Olympic spirit. We also had casual dress, flexible work hours, early finishes for the opening ceremony and the big hockey matches, a beer and burger night, Chinese luncheon and our staff room was converted into ‘Davis House’ with the action on the big screen and snack and drinks every day.
A week after it all ended and a week before the Paralympics start,
the city is the same place it always was. Some are still recovering from a busy two weeks and others are enjoying the peace and quiet and wondering when the Olympics debt will be paid off
Not much else to report. The usual dinners, movies, concerts and parties. I’ve been working on my residency application, probably spending more time on it than is necessary but willing to do what it takes to ensure a smooth approval process.
Hope you are all well.
Pete
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