In exactly 21 days - 3 weeks - the Olympics will descend on a city that I know and love, and where I happen to live. On February 12, the Olympic torch will blaze its way down the streets of Vancouver to its final destination. The Torch will be lit - the Games will begin.
If it were only so simple.
For those of us who live in Vancouver, watching and enduring the city prepare for the Olympics has been an intense process (maybe not like training for the luge event, but intense, like watching a two-year-old playing catch with a blackberry). Vancouverites have endured seemingly endless construction that tore up and occasionally shut down core parts of the city, fighting and distress among various interest groups, and incessant worrying about possible problems: Will the Olympics bankrupt the city? Will the Olympic increase homelessness? Will the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, otherwise known as VANOC, take away all our civil rights? (Answers: quite possibly, probably and mostly yes).
But now that the event is actually upon us - there is a certain excitement in the air. Most of the areas that were under construction are starting to shape up and look quite nice. The new Canada Line Sky Train is running, and is a super convenient addition to public transit (except for the fact that all of the platforms are far too small - there is no reasonable explanation for this). Some of the people who were adamantly opposed to the Olympics are excited about an event they plan to attend (assuming they get in after waiting 2-3 hours in airport security style line ups - check out http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/bag-checks-metal-detectors-hours-in-line-its-not-the-airport-its-the-olympics/article1437175/).
The Olympics have changed, and are continuing to change, this city. Some of the changes are permanent (the Canada Line), some are hopefully going to go away immediately following the games (loss of our civil rights) or eventually (incredible debt).
Over the next 3 weeks, and continuing into the Olympics, I plan to blog the changes I notice around the city. The great, the good, the bad, the uglier than the Canadian Olympic uniforms for the Beijing summer games (seriously - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4MpkUL51ao).
Here are just a few key changes that have happened in the city (in no particular order):
1. Bizarre, abstract public art is suddenly everywhere. It's as if Vancouver/Canada suddenly decided the arts were important and deserved funding and went on a mad, drunken art shopping spree. Particularly remarkable pieces include the giant silver fallopian tubes in Vanier Park, the maniacally laughing statuary on the corner of Davie and Denman near English Bay, and the random assortment of fish, houses, totem poles and corporate sponsored trees at Georgia and Granville (These comments are not intended as criticisms of the artists - I fully support public art, even if some of it is not my personal taste. I do actually quite like the house under construction piece. However, it seems a bit disingenuous for the government to start suddenly pretending to support the arts).
2. Apparently there is a huge new list of city bylaws that prohibit anyone from putting up signs that say bad things about the Olympics or Olympic sponsors. This includes putting up a sign in your own apartment window. I have not actually read this legislation, but lots of people are annoyed about it (I think most of them haven't read it either).
3. Beautiful David Lam park has been taken over by a humungous half of a Coke can. It takes you a while to realize that it is a half of a Coke can. Just keep staring - you will see it eventually.
4. Skating is back at Robson Square! And there is stage where bands play! And it is bigger! And yet, remarkably, and quite clearly, not big enough. If there are a hundred people on the ice, it's much too crowded. There are inevitably going to be lineups when they reach capacity. What were they thinking of?
5. Granville street is open again! Joy! And with large, nicely paved streets! But strangely, weird post things that allow cars to park on the sidewalks. At least they have re-planted all the trees they chopped down to widen the streets.
6. There are more tourists already. I am not sure why they have arrived so early, but it is nice to have visitors.
7. There are also far more police checks on the Sky Train. It is unbelievable. Almost every time I take the Sky Train now I have to show my ticket.
8. There are all these signs along certain streets that say "No parking between February 4-February 28."
9. Apparently there are more surveillance cameras. To be honest, I haven't noticed. I am guessing they are discrete. If someone sees one, please let me know.
10. Anticipating Transit Panic: Every organization and business I know is sending me all these transit tips for the Olympics. Apparently downtown will be a disaster. On the highway to Whistler, there are signs that tell you to plan ahead for long delays during the Olympics. As if planning ahead would help. Maybe they mean you should bring water and snack? Possibly a full meal? You could be sitting there a while . . .
During a big event like this, some changes are to be expected. Some good, some neutral, some bad, some ridiculous. And as I keep noticing them, I will keep recording them.
If any Vancouverites have thoughts to add, please comment or write to me. If any visitors see something bizarre, and want to know if Vancouver is really like this, please write to me, and I will be happy to find an answer to your question (And if the question was does Vancouver usually have this much bizarre, abstract street art, the answer is no - as noted above, they brought it in just for you. Lucky us).
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