Vancouver, the day after

Vancouver Olympic Flame is Extinguished

So here I sit, in downtown Vancouver on a dreary Monday morning following the closing of the biggest event in Vancouver history. Today reality sets in and we all try to adjust back to a post-Olympic existence, and start dealing with the hang-over the 17 day party has left.

It seems some people expected all the roads to be back to normal already so they all decided to drive to work today. It took almost 30 minutes for the bus I was on to get through Chinatown and East-Van. It would sure be terrific if traffic remained reduced from pre-Olympic levels and at least some people discovered public transit was, for them, a cheaper and viable option. It was certainly enjoyable walking around downtown and not gagging on exhaust fumes!

Otherwise, today I mainly see a lot of folks walking along pulling luggage behind them. The line-ups which have been a fixture for 17 days are gone from the Bay, and the now-closed Royal Canadian Mint House. One person I know walked right in and bought a jacket at the Bay on the way to work today. Myself, I just walked over to the cauldron and discovered I could stroll right up to the much talked about, and much maligned, chain link fencing.

It’s strange and somewhat surreal looking out our office’s 17th floor window and seeing the cauldron extinguished and the throngs of people gone. Thankfully it will be reignited on March 12th when the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics begin. Speaking of the Paralympics, tickets are plentiful and affordable if you don’t want that Patriotic Olympic Buzz to end yet.

So far I’ve purchased Paralympic tickets to the Canada – Norway Sledge Hockey game – (a rematch of the 2006 Turin Gold Medal game), Mens & Ladies Downhill in Whistler, and the Gold Medal Curling Match – all for a total of less than $150 for 2 tickets! Check it out at the Vancouver2010 site.

A local story from yesterday which made me smile was when the morning radio reported that a hundred or so protesters yesterday marched over the Cambie Bridge chanting “homes not games”, but met their match when they came upon thousand of rabid hockey fans who started chanting “get a job” & “get out of town”. Police had to protect the protesters this time

It will take at least a few days to adjust back to a post-Olympic reality, but I’ve been through this before having grown up in Calgary and lived there through the build-up, events, and post-games blahs following the 1988 Winter Olympics. I think the ‘88 games changed the psyche and attitude of Calgary, helping shed some of that “cowboy” image, and I’m positive Vancouver will never be the same following these games – and I mean that in a very positive sense.

Hopefully gone forever is the “No Fun” and NIMBY attitude so many in this city hold. Hopefully here to stay is the optimistic, patriotic feelings we’ve all been swept up in over the last 17 days. I truly feel bad for all those who decided the games would be nothing short of a disaster, or would impose on their boring daily routines, and so fled to spend the Olympics on a beach someplace while the rest of us rediscovered what it really means to be Canadian and had the Party of Our Lives!.

Cheers from the greatest city in Canada, and I wish our friends in Sochi, Russia all the best as they prepare for an event which I hope will excite and redefine their country in the same way these games did ours.