Day 9

On the way to work this morning on the West Coast express, I noticed when we went past Balentine pier there are now 3 cruise ships docked to host the security force that has come to Vancouver . from Holland America there is the Osterdam and the Statinndam and from Carnival the Elation, which Richard and I have been on. I guess the Elation will be going in for a retrofit right after the games. As for the security force we are beginning to see many more of them down by the media center. I have seen officers from London (Ontario), Dhurman, Calgary, and Montreal as well as from forces all over the Vancouver mainland. I was not scheduled to work on the 3 or the 4th, but I did exchange a work day on the 18th (Richard will be here then) for one on what I thought was the 3rd. When I got into work (before checking in) they told me I was not on the list for that day, they were a little short and Kary was not coming in till 10:00, so I just stayed on and helped out until Kary arrived. Seeing as I was downtown, I decided to explore a bit and went down to check out the downtown Bay store. As I got there I remembered that I could pick up tickets to the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies that I want to get for Shauna and Nicole. When I got to the place they were giving them out the line up was around the block and was about 4 hours long. They suggested I come back another day so off I went to the Bay. Half of the main floor has been taken over by Olympic merchandise, so I poked around for a bit and bought a few onises for Talia so she could get into the Olympic spirit. Then off to London Drugs (to mail the parcel) on the way to Robinson Square. The square is right behind the Art Gallery where they have set up an indoor/outdoor skating rink. It seems to still be under construction, but I ‘m sure when Richard gets here we will come down and take in the action. On my way back to the Sky Train, I noticed the line-up for tickets had gotten a lot smaller so joined the crew and chatted with volunteers as we waited for our tickets. One fellow was a driver for the Secretary General of the NOC (National Olympic Committee) who was from Slovakia. He will be driving just this one fellow for the whole games and will be going up to Whistler a few times as Slovakia has a few alpine skies. One lady was in charge of the costumes for the opening celebrations and she had been sewing since November and told us she had been sworn to secrecy about the opening, but she was sure we were all going to be blown away at the event. Another fellow was working at the curling venue where he was helping the media set up for those great shots we see on television. All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. Once we go in the door we paid our $50.00 for the extra ticket, and received a bottle of wine (Janckson-Triggs Merlo bottled especially for the Olympics). Another day another adventure.