Nine Days to Olympics

Vancouver, BC Canada -- Just over a week before the 2010 Olympic Games and already things in Vancouver are getting tricky. Most notably traffic, but that's not the only oddball circumstance in this small, usually relatively quiet, city.

Yesterday early in the morning I saw three empty #99 B-Line express buses barreling down W. 10th Ave (up by UBC) into town. Not much helpful to the morning commuters!

Then in the afternoon I was walking my friend's dog (a lovely female almost four-year-old Husky with tons of energy and curiosity!) at Spanish Banks beach when the most unusual looking plane flew over, slow and low.

It looked kind of like this except from the ground and not streaming any . . . what is that, fuel?

So I guess the tight, tight, tight security is being put into place.

Heard on the radio this morning that Russian President Medvedev is thinking of coming, said he's going to bring some Siberian snow, haha. We only need it for the snowboarders on Cypress. Whistler is experiencing record snow and has all season, so things are all good for the skiers.

Yesterday in my fitness place a woman was saying, she works at the Starbucks across the street that the head coaches of teams for various countries are having meetings there and getting into quite heated arguments. I guess there is a 'host' coach that is meant to help with logistics to the visitors, but often the conversation seems to diverge into other areas and rather spirited discussions ensue. She said staff has had to ask them to tone it down on more than one occasion as they are disturbing other customers. Haha, men.

Well it looks now like US Vice-President Joe Biden will also be coming for the Opening Ceremonies. Such festivities are being held in our leaky, half-deflated BC Place Stadium (which was built for the World's Fair, Expo 1986). At the time it was a rather state-of-the-art design, with an inflatable Teflon roof. There is great mystery surrounding what the Vancouver Organizing Committee has done to spiff up the place. I mean inside it's just a plain concrete shell best suited for sporting events. I've been to a couple of concerts there and the sound is just . . . not good. Apparently the inside is being draped with all kinds of flags and other textiles to disguise the utilitarian aspect. We'll have to wait until the actual Opening Ceremonies to see how it looks!

Lastly, anyone who booked packages of tickets better be careful. A friend of mine got a few and the logistics are impossible. These are the packages put together by the actual Olympics Committee, so it's a bit surprising that customers will simply not be able to get to all the events. On one day my friends are seeing a women's hockey game at Thunderbird up at UBC at 1:00, then skating at the Oval in Richmond at 4:00. That is not even possible on a normal day, unless one were to leave the hockey game early and boot it double-speed down SW Marine Drive, past the airport, to the centre of Richmond. Half of those roads are blocked to traffic now, so everyone has to take transit, which takes almost an hour on a good day. But the kick of it is the tickets say "Arrive to event three hours early." So, um, what?

I asked my friend and apparently tickets ARE transferrable so she can at least sell one set.

While I was writing this they announced on the radio an article in the New York Times today. From what I can see it is a good, good, VERY good analysis of what Vancouver is and what to expect.

I am going downtown in a couple of hours so will post upon my return at how brutal, or not, that trip was. I'm stopping at Library Square to get one of those "Ask Me! I can help" pins. May as well thrust myself full-on into this storm that is about to descend upon us, hey?