Since the weekend we have seen a sea-change in the way the Olympics have affected the locals. No longer are people moaning about traffic problems, transit and the waste of money the games are. Now with an explosion of patriotism, Canadians decided to take the plunge, accept that the games are here and start having fun.
Partly this is due to the Olympic torch now being in the Greater Vancouver area and many people are seeing it go through their communities and reading and watching its progress in the media. Almost every neighbourhood has put on a celebration, from school children turning out to wave the torch on, to full blown parties. Today is the final day of the torch run through the outer communities, the final day will be in the City of Vancouver itself.
We were excited that the torch went through the North Shore (North and West Vancouver) on Wednesday. We did have the choice of getting up early and seeing the torch arrive by ferry from Bowen Island or we could wait until the evening and join in the community celebrations in West Vancouver. (we opted for the latter!) It was great to see the progress of the torch throughout the day and very exciting when friends posted up photos of different torch bearers as they passed through.
It seems that Canadians are not shy of being patriotic. Any house along the parade route has been decked out with flags, lights and patriotic decorations. “GO CANADA GO” is plastered over entire buildings and facepainted on kid’s faces. I have even seen dogs wearing maple leafs on their coats.
The sense of community is hard to believe as a cynical Brit, it is as if everyone had suddenly decided to dress in red and party. In West Vancouver, there were bands, music, choirs and of course the whole community singing “O Canada”. There was a lot of good humour and the only drinks around were in coffee mugs.
