Downtown Vancouver Becoming Tricky To Navigate Ahead of Olympics

Vancouver, British Columbia -- I just returned from my trip to downtown Vancouver from my house up close to UBC. It wasn't too bad, but I can see how things are going to get tricky from now on. I don't own a car, have never owned a car, have never needed to own a car, so I am expert in getting around this town, even to the suburbs, by transit.

The Vancouver International Film Centre, home of the VIFF, on Seymour St. has been selected as Slovak House. Expect lots of beer and dumplings to be served there during the Games!

Ireland has chosen, of all places, the parking lot beside the Penthouse -- a well-known Vancouver strip club -- to put up a big white tent-type thing -- complete with heat generator -- and host Irish House. The Penthouse briefly rocketed to notorious fame as a place frequented by Ben Affleck when here filming some movie. When Jennifer Lopez found out about that she quickly ended their engagement. Or so goes the story; I have no idea if it is true. There's a lot of stories like that fluttering around Vancouver, spread by various "insiders" of the movie and music industries.

The Olympic Organizing Committee must have handed out jackets to the total volunteers. There are various stages of "volunteers," from those getting nothing (except a jacket I guess) to those getting some money and those getting lots of free tickets and other such goodies. Bright blue tundra jackets with Olympic logos on both sides abound in downtown Vancouver today; be sure to accost wearers for advice on how to get around. Dudes will probably continue wearing them long into the next decade as a show of loyalty and "style."

Transit officials, by the way, are wearing green jackets, which will be unfamiliar to Vancouverites until they are asked to show proof of fare. Already in place at entrances to the Canada Line Skytrain, they loudly yelled for people to show their fare well before the Fair Paid Zone. The stream of people, who had only just gotten off the #99 B-Line bus, heading for ticket machines is proof of the level of fare evasion. Yes, I was one of them I admit. I pay, but I only want to pay once. Sometimes when I go downtown, it takes just a little bit longer than an hour and a half, and there is NO WAY I am paying $5 to go into town. That day I had to rush to get back while my ticket was still good.

Otherwise, insignia and lanyards with various levels of Olympic officialdom are everywhere. Film crews carrying tripods and hauling gear wander the main streets, looking for . . . a story? Otherwise media are interviewing people on street corners; I'm doing my best to duck away from all that. Meanwhile regular Vancouver action goes on undisturbed: Twice I saw guys taking the lids off garbage cans and diving right in, rooting around.

There is a wooden platform (stage?) going up at Library Square. Using blue-stained beetle kill, the platform with its small enclosure is made with alternating wide and narrow boards, 1x6's and 1x3's I'm guessing, with the narrow boards significantly bluer than the wides. I suspect the blue tint of the narrows has been helped along by a preservative or some other treatment because the blue stain left behind by the mountain pine beetle is not uniform -- it leaves a lovely, very organic pattern. It's actually easier to see on the stage/platform than the enclosure.

The Olympic Committee today revealed the award's ceremony podiums, also made with wood (not beetle kill just regular wood). This has been reported widely by the mainstream media so I'll just leave a link.

I forgot to mention this morning that it snowed on Cypress last night, not low enough to cover the half pipe and other snowboard areas, but at least the organizers can get snow down from the top instead of trucking it 200 km (about three hours' drive) from Manning Park, as they were doing yesterday.