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On Scene

They were
dancing in the streets and the night was still young. Liquor stores were closed
early in an effort to curb excessive drinking, but most downtown stores had
long lineups well in advance of closing. For the police, it’s matter of
maintaining a delicate balance – let the good times roll and hopefully scoop up
the idiots before they have the opportunity to infect the crowd. For
firefighters and paramedics, it’s a matter of being aware of the situation if
you have to work in a crowd.   

Another
tempest in a teapot over the scandalous behaviour of the Canadian women’s
hockey team. They were outed for partying on the ice after the spectators had
left the arena. Drinking beer and champagne they were. Smoking cigars. No
telling where this will end. Next they’ll be driving cars and demanding the
vote. A talking head from the IOC stated at a press conference that while they
had decided against launching an investigation they would be writing a letter.
Just who the letter might be written to remains a mystery, as I’m stumped as to
who might actually care enough to open it, let alone read it. 

–

Vancouver media are already on the “what
will we do when the Games are over” bandwagon, suggesting that there will be
some sort of mass depression or funk. I’m thinking that my life will keep
ticking along quite nicely, thank you. If there are 300,000 people out and
about downtown tonight, that means that there are another 2 million plus in
metro Vancouver that stayed home.

–

The Bay
in downtown Vancouver is finally running short of
“official” Olympic merchandise, yet the lineups persist. Actually, I think the
problem is that there are not enough container ships available to move the
merchandise from manufacturer to market (that would most likely be China, but you didn’t read it here). How
long before Value Village and the SPCA thrift shop are
glutted with castoff souvenir garments.

If fame
is fleeting, what of patriotic fervor?