Do we love red (and white) or what?

There are few things more Canadian than the beautiful red serge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This photo was taken by Myra James this past week. Myra tells me that the volume of visitors to this site has been so large that VANOC has classified it as venue for crowd management.

RCMP Musical Ride in front of Olympic Cauldron.

The next iconic Canadian red fashion accessory is the red mittens designed and sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to support Canadian athletes. Did you hear that even Oprah loves them?

Myra and Jamie Bannon of the Hamilton Police Service

Myra had the great pleasure of treating her 17 year old cousin to a women's hockey game at UBC Thunderbird Arena. They took the ferry out to Granville Island, downtown to view the Olympic Cauldron (near her workplace), out to Gas Town, the to Robson Street to take in some of the spontaneous entertainment. During the game, Myra noted lots of Chinese fans in the crowd flying the Red and Yellow flag to support their team. Even though China lost the game, the crowd was rockin the venue.

China vs. Russia Women's Hockey

For those of you who have been glued to the television (like me) watching hockey, curling, speed skating, and every other sport being broadcast you would have noticed the overwhelming crowds of red Team Canada jerseys. I will turn you over to Myra who simply exudes pride when she writes about her experience at the Olympics and describes the sea of red.

James Journey - Part Five

February 17th was a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver with temperatures in the double digits. I worked until 3 p.m. then spend the balance of the day with Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement President Paula Raymond. We enjoyed lunch together prior to catching the Vancouver public transit over to the UBC Thunderbird Arena where we celebrated the Women's Team Canada Hockey victory over Sweden. The audience looked like a blanket of red and white! The atmosphere in the arena was more enthusiastic that any other event I've ever attended.

On February 22nd I enjoyed an evening with my friend, and IAWP First Vice President, Marg Shorter, at the Women's Hockey, Russia vs, Switzerland , game.

This past week I have enjoyed watching both the Team Canada Men's and Women's Hockey games. I was at the Bronze and Gold Medal games for the Women's Hockey on Thursday.

Words can not adequately describe what the Gold Medal game environment was like!!!! I can safely say I have never experienced anything like it in my life! When the Canadian Flag was being raised everyone joined together to sing the anthem and it was absolutely fantastic! To witness the medal presentation was another one of my highlights.

Team Canada Captain Hayley Wickenheiser and Goalie Shannon Szabados sporting the red and white (and gold) we Canadians love.

Volunteers and staff are working long hours for the games. I have the pleasure of presenting some of them with spontaneous last minute tickets to games or victory ceremonies that are donated to us by the International Olympic Committee. For most of the volunteers, who can not afford the tickets, it is like Christmas morning to get these tickets.

VANOC organized an appreciation reception for the staff and volunteers last night (February 26th). Several staff will complete their roles with VANOC as of March 2nd and volunteers will return to their normal lives. For some of us, including me, will conclude our Olympic experience and begin preparing early next week for our Paralympic Games adventures.

I leave for Whistler on March 5th and will be there for 3 weeks. My job will essentially be the same. I will be posted at the Whistler Hilton Hotel where the international delegates are hosted. I believe that all of the staff will be moving into the Olympic Village for this leg of my tour. Of course I intend to take in some of the Paralympic events to round out my entire experience here.

Sunday evening I plan to join an RCMP friend, who is here from Halifax, at the Closing Ceremony. It will be an incredibly busy day at my venue. We are assisting Olympic family clients to their designated transportation to the ceremonies and then to their airport departures. Hopefully I will have some great photos of this day to share with you again.

I hope that all of you have been enjoying the Olympics. Every day brings a memory to add to my collection.

Warmly,

Myra