A Sunny Day in the VCC

The weather today in Vancouver was just gorgeous. A little bit colder than it has been lately, but lots of blue sky and sunshine. I walked from the SkyTrain station to the Stadium along the seawall that follows False Creek and it was a beautiful way to start the day. The next four or five days are all forecast to be like this. The Vancouver tourism people will be delighted as it will show off Vancouver at its weather best to the world. The views on the Olympic Broadcast System beauty cams today really were beautiful.

Today in the Venue Communications Centre we had a good morning, not too stressful, but full of odd questions and requests. We had someone new join us today. She grew up in Ontario as I did and she now lives in Vernon, BC up the lake from where we live in Kelowna.. I helped her with the radios this morning by monitoring her station and mine. The only way to learn this job is to do it.

This morning I had the opportunity to put a face to a voice that I have been listening to for the last two weeks.  One of the venue managers came into the VCC for a visit. I knew his voice immediately but I only know him by his call sign. It was nice to see a real person.

I have mentioned before how our building across the street from the Stadium is always crawling with police and security people. This is an example of a small number of the security folks involved in a shift change as I left the building one day.

It still fascinates me to see police officers from all across the country on duty in our building and across Vancouver.

The security rules we must live by sometimes makes life difficult. If a truck of anything needs to be brought into the venue and it is not part of a regular delivery, arrangements must be made to get the driver approved and the truck needs to be searched at the Vehicle Security Area. It likely needs to be escorted. It often takes many phone or radio calls to numerous people to coordinate the process.

Sometimes it is the simple tasks that take the longest. There were about eight calls made today just to remove a dead pigeon from one of the spectator access gates.

This is the view of the BC Place Stadium we have out our window in the VCC. We are so lucky to have a window--particularly on a beautiful day like today. There are many other people in the building working in windowless rooms.

Three days ago we watched the huge banner on the left become wrinkled in a strong wind. We debated calling someone in the Site group to report it but we didn't. A day later two fellows and a tall scissor lift spent most of the day rehanging it and tightening it. We all feel much better now.

It was another day with three hockey games at Canada Hockey Place and a Victory Ceremony tonight at the Stadium. As the number of people in and around our venue was huge again today, our manager decided to deploy us outside to help with the crowds in two shifts.

I spent two and a half hours this afternoon at the east end of our precinct answering questions. All one has to do is stand at a pedestrian intersection wearing a blue "Smurf" jacket to be targeted by people as they walk by.

As I have said before, I am getting pretty good at directing people around downtown Vancouver. The questions were broad but predictable:

• Where is the SkyTrain?
• Where can we get something to eat?
• Where are the international country houses?
• What are the best houses for partying?
• Where is the Ontario pavilion? (Asked standing directly in front of the Ontario pavilion.)
• How do I get to the celebration site in Yaletown?
• What else is there to see around here?
• What's through here? (pointing at the entrance to Canada Hockey Place)

Little kids wanted to trade pins (I have pins on my accreditation lanyard) and older folks wanted to stand and talk. It was a wonderful afternoon to be outside and I was a great feeling to be so helpful--particularly to so many international visitors. The vast majority of people were in great spirits. 

Today's shift went by quickly. Once I was done I headed east of our venue along the seawall. This is the view of the flags of the competing nations in front of the Olympic Village.

The Russians have taken over Science World as the home of Sochi House. It is a pavilion dedicated to the  next Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

They have already started a clock counting down the  days, hours, minutes and seconds until the Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Olympics.

The Russians are very easy to spot around town in their distinctive uniforms with swirling art that seems to be ready to use for Sochi in 2014. This car out in front of Sochi House was sporting the look. Russian team clothing is on sale at the pavilion and the Hudson's Bay Company.  A themed polo shirt was $98 and a themed track suit was $300. Russians are obviously much better off financially than I thought or else they are trying to finance their Games through Western clothing sales.

Inside the pavilion was a huge model of the Sochi venues and the area. It would appear that Russia, like China, is going to go all out and build new facilities for everything to do with the Games. The model showed a round Olympic Park with a stadium for the opening and closing, three arenas for hockey and skating, a curling center, and a speed skating oval. The model also showed a new airport as well as a new high speed rail system from the airport into town and from the town to the mountain venues. A large Olympic Village is right on the beach of the Black Sea and looks like it could become a resort after the games. As for all the other new venues and infrastructure, it looked like an awful lot for a small town. It must be nice to live in a country that can afford to spend like that.

After Sochi House I walked over to the other side of the Stadium to the Host First National pavilion (another dome.) You may have seen the Four Host First Nations introduced during the Opening Ceremonies. The Games are being held on their traditional lands. VANOC signed agreements with all of them to allow them to participate and benefit from the Games. Their pavilion includes a dome theatre that shows an interesting film to introduce the Four First Nations and look at their past, present, and future. They also have a restaurant next door in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre that has been getting great reviews in the local press. It was not yet open when I was there today.

I've been pretty busy over the last six days or so without a break. I took myself out for breakfast downtown this morning as a treat. I switch to the evening shift for the next two days so tomorrow's treat is that I get to sleep in. Sigh (with a smile).