On the day of the Opening Ceremonies, some think that Vancouver finally has Olympic spirit.
To darken the mood unfortunately, an athlete has died training for the luge. He was from Georgia, a product of the USSR's break-up. The story had John Furlong CEO of VANOC, in tears as he announced the happening to the press. Flags are flying at half mast around the city as a result.
It will be interesting to see how the Opening Ceremonies change Vancouver. I was in Guangzhou, China during the opening of the Beijing games in 2008, and was very surprised how empty the streets were. The usually snarled traffic was non-existent, and Guangzhou's main thoroughfares felt like Highway 7&8, just outside Stratford.
I'm driving some clients around tonight, and am just outside downtown Vancouver at Granville & 11th, and traffic doesn't seem bad at all. I'm only eleven blocks and one bridge away from the hub of the Olympic world, and nothing seems too out of the ordinary. There seem to be fewer cars on Granville, a main artery into and out of the downtown core. Possible we'll see some of the same traffic patterns as I saw in China.
The CBC is telling me about delays downtown, due to protesters and the pure volume of people. It's interesting how my main concern these days is traffic while I'm driving, and parking while I'm working at the hotel.
My clients are having dinner, and I forgot my book. I'm driving them from here to downtown for some partying, then they're heading up to Whistler.
I'm still here, waiting. I'm a bit bored and forgot my book.
Stay tuned for more Olympic stories.
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