All of a Sudden There Are People Everywhere . . .

Everywhere! It was a sunny, gorgeous Valentine's Day yesterday, and the Bright-Eyed-Bushy-Tails of Vancouver, Canada and the world descended upon downtown. I have never seen downtown Vancouver look like that before - streams and streams of people everywhere. Even the areas that were shut down to traffic to create pedestrian corridors were crowded. Robson and Granville was incredible - people packed as far as I could see in every direction.

It is not unexpected, but it does feel a little bizarre, as though my city has become a theme park where everyone was told to show in up in a patriotic uniform. Most decided to obey. The line up to get into the Bay (where they have already fixed that broken window) to buy such outfits extended all the way around Georgia and Seymour and back to the Sky Train entrance. It was unbelievable.

And forget about taking the Sky Train. The line up for that extended out the door as well. Even Sky Train stations that I had expected would not get so busy (such as King Edward), had line ups all the way up the stairs and out the door.

The bright side of all of this is that traffic is surprisingly not so bad, and taking the bus is fairly quick. This is also a very easy way to tell who is a local - all the locals are on the buses. And while the tourists wait hours in Sky Train line ups to get downtown, we can zip down on a bus in about twenty minutes. I felt a little bit guilty standing across the street, waiting for the Cambie 15, as I watched the Sky Train line up get longer and longer. Part of me wanted to go over and whisper, "Hey, there is a bus that can take you to the exact same spot for the exact same price, and it is coming in about five minutes." But I resisted the urge - I wanted to have a seat and some breathing room.

In other happy news, Canada is doing well in the Olympics and everyone is in good spirits. Yay for Alexandre Bilodeau! Now at least the people standing in line will have something to chat and smile about.