Only Two More Races

Hi ho, hi ho - it's off to work we go! One of our favourite team members snapped this as we made our way to our morning positions earlier this week. If our positions are near each other we walk over together and we start each shift with a kiss.





In case anyone was wondering about "facilities", these are the 2 portapotties outside our briefing trailer. Someone with a sense of humour has labelled them. The one on the left said something about tightening the harness which may be a reference to the rocking movement of the unit! The other one says "Life vest under the seat" or something like that. There are hundreds of these units throughout the site. I haven't used any on the spectator side but the ones on the workforce side have been kept clean and well supplied with toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

Bus drivers: There are hundreds of drivers (and buses) here from all over North America and they have been pretty good. They take their driving seriously but also have been in good humour. We travel to WOP in comfortable coaches and some of the drivers waste no time getting us there and back. Some will make extra stops to save us the extra bus connection but that is not consistent so it is always a bonus when it happens. Logistics people have been adjusting service as they figure out the flow of people so our experience has improved since the first day. Local Squamish Transit is OK but the drivers seem to be having less of a good time. The shuttle drivers that get us from the security checkpoint up to the venue have been really friendly. We've heard stories of not so nice drivers but we haven't had a bad experience.

Police officers: Some of the officers have been here for 6 weeks already and are looking forward to going home but they are still in good humour. They started out searching all venues and have been doing long shifts at the venues since early February. The presence of these officers has actually been a very positive experience. They seem to be in a great mindset of being visible but not oppressive. They have been there the few times that we have needed them. Two examples: A few days ago, a man with lots of stuff on his accreditation tag but no bib came towards the Field of Play (FOP) . The marshal on duty refused him entry and he ws getting quite belligerent. She held her ground but it wasn't easy. One officer came over and just stood behind her and off went the official to get a bib issued by the race office. It has been obvious that some men from certain countries do not take direction well from women. The second example was yesterday when Richard was contending with some inebriated fans who kept trying to cross the fence onto the field of play while the Nordic Combined race was underway. (Beer is served from about 10 in the morning on competition days and the NC race was scheduled for 1 p.m. but delayed until 2 p.m. because the jumping portion was delayed due to wind conditions. More drinking time = unruly fans) Assistance was requested and although Richard thought one or two would be sufficient, they sent up 8 or 9 officers who were delighted to be on the FOP rather than just wandering amongst the spectators. The inebriated people dispersed. So...a BIG thank you to Canada's police officers from all over the country who have kept us safe and proud. (Collecting a list of police forces represented has been almost as much fun as pin collecting. )

Pin Collecting: I'm not a very good pin collector (and Richard hasn't even tried). I've given out two Highlands Nordic pins, both to bus drivers. I received a pin from one of those drivers (Brampton Transit). That's the extent of my pin trading. Other people are walking around festooned in them! We were told that we couldn't trade while on duty and couldn't wear them on our uniforms so my trading opportunities have been limited. (Not everyone is following the rules but you know me.) I should have asked for lessons from Larry.

Following the rules: I have to admit to a bit of rule breaking. I've written already about our long trek from the briefing trailer to the FOP because we don't have a '2' on our accreditation cards (2 provides access to the athletes' compound). We've been getting through however with a "'nudge, nudge, wink, wink" from the stadium marshal at the briefing trailer end. We don't bother anyone in the compound and it cuts our 'trudge' by a good 15 minutes. Other than that, I have been following the rules.

I was 'lucky' enough to be picked for 'mag and bag' at security yesterday. Richard still leads with 4 selections.

We received our 12th shift gift yesterday - a white leather luggage tag. We won't make it to 15 so our last shift gift will be on Sunday - everyone gets a watch on their last shift.

Thursday was a very weird weather day but our uniforms are doing yeoman's service in keeping us dry. I've only used my poncho once (well, it is a clear plastic bag with holes cut out for the neck and arms - provided to us after our 4th day of rain last week) and it didn't seem to make much difference so I didn't bother with it today. I had two pretty good positions today especially for the Nordic Combined race this afternoon. It wasn't a good day for Canadian skiers - our women came last, our nordic combined skier (son of Ken Read) also came last. On the plus side, the women's hockey team just won gold and both curling teams are guaranteed either silver or gold so not a completely disappointing day.

Had a really nice bus driver on the way home yesterday - he made extra stops so we didn't have to wait for the local bus. We needed to stop at London Drugs anyway as we need Dristan. Richard has come down with a mild (so far) cold and has used up what we brought with us. My throat was feeling a bit scratchy but I'm hitting the echinecea.

It is taking awhile to get this post done as the Olympics on TV keeps grabbing my attention so I'll end this one.