Vancouver is alive with visitors bringing an international energy to the downtown core. I drove a friend to the airport yesterday, and although I travel part of the way on my daily commute to work, on this Sunday afternoon it was as if we had been transported to a foreign city. We crawled along so slowly, that she began to give commands from the back seat (her daughter sat in front due to potential carsickness) directing me to the turns I must take to get onto a different bridge and get out of the traffic jam. If they missed the cut-off time at the airport, they'd be 'screwed'. She needn't have worried. I'm nothing if not a great driver and navigator and in less than two minutes had us over said bridge and sailing along like an arrow on a direct as-the-crow-flies- route to catch the plane. Relief spilled over her and through the car - almost palpably. On my return trip, though, I struggled with congestion all over again and it was only after reading today's paper that I realized the reason. True, there were hundreds of persons gathered for the free events downtown, but along with the Olympic hype, it was also Chinese New Year, for which there was a parade of course. Vancouver's downtown core is about twice the size of Halifax, which is the only other city I know intimately. It also has the largest Chinatown in North America after San Fransisco. Needless to say - streets were thronging with pedestrians enjoying the first dry and sunny day in weeks. To top it all off, it was Valentine's Day, which meant all the romantics were out strolling and taking in the sights amid beautiful weather. Not the best conditions for someone just wanting to pass through on the way to and from the airport doing a favour for a friend. In the end, though, I felt quite overjoyed and proud to be able to call Vancouver my "home".
On another note, a student from our school, Fraser Academy, ran with the Torch on Wednesday last week and we were able to bring about half the student population to cheer him on. Here are some pictures of that morning. Kevin is holding the torch just before his run standing alongside his proud brother.