First of all, a very belated salute to all the men and women who gave their lives to preserve our freedom and way of life. Without their sacrifices, a lot of us wouldn’t be here to show our appreciation. And I sincerely hope that young people today, those who never had a chance to talk to a relative who experienced the war first hand, will not overlook the importance of Remembrance Day.
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Very thankful that my manager has made an exception to accommodate my Olympic volunteer schedule. Originally I was entitled to only 3 days off during the month of February and one of them was already booked to attend a few hockey games on Feb 18. With 6 weekday shifts and only 2 day-offs left, I was given the go ahead to use 4 of my regular vacation days to fulfill my volunteer duties. That helps a lot when I don’t have to juggle my work commute and work hours with my volunteer schedule.
Since I had this week off and mother nature was so kind to stop raining for a day, I thought it would be a good idea to figure out my commute to the Richmond Olympic Oval since a lot of streets in the area will be closed 24 hours with very little parking to speak off. Walking suddenly becomes an option since I don’t live that far away from the Oval. As it turned out, it took about 40 minutes to get there from my home, cutting through Minoru Park on the way. That’s not too bad. The other option would be to take the special shuttle bus between the Oval and the Brighouse Canada Line station, which is a 15 minute walk from my home. But with 4 shifts that start around 6 – 6:30am, walking might be the only option during those hours.
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After the trip to the Oval, I walked another 15 minutes to Lansdowne, took the Canada Line to Waterfront station and hopped on the Seabus to have brunch at Lonsdale Quay in North Van. Star Ferry it is not but given it’s been so long since I crossed the Burrard Inlet this way, it all seemed novel again.
It was still mostly cloudy late morning when I arrived at Lonsdale but by the time I finished my beaver tail and halibut chowder, the sun has broken through for the rest of the afternoon. A brief stroll around the Olympic store and Granville mall, it was time to head back south. Not to home but YVR instead.
The airport has done a lot of renovations in anticipation for the Olympics and I, for one, thought they’ve done a fabulous job. It definitely has the look of a proper international airport, something that cannot be said about the dump that is LAX. And with the Canada Line in place, YVR has been promoting itself as a place you can eat, shop and hang out. So I did the latter, if only for a brief time.
The new observation deck – located in the domestic terminal that looks nothing like the one I spent time in just a year and a bit ago – was, surprisingly, a nice place to relax and enjoy some quite contemplation. Not a bad way to end my afternoon.
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