Homeward bound

The day started with a text message to let me know my flight from Vancouver was already to be delayed by nearly 2 hours. Thank goodness for an already expected 6 hour layover before my connecting flight to Southampton.  At least I wouldn't need to wait so long at Amsterdam.

Got up and started sorting my packing, I've a lot to fit in including the box full of snacks, so may have to wear my uniform jacket home to save some space. No idea what the weight will be but I was 7kg lighter than the allowance coming out. 

I opened the curtain to see the view for the last time, but seems Vancouver is saying goodbye as the low hanging clouds has obscured many of the tall buildings.

Finally got out of the room just after 11am. Left the suitcase with the reception staff and headed out to get some breakfast and waste some time before needing to be at the airport. 

A 24hr Denny's Diner just along the road allowed me to sit a while and eat, plus faff on the internet.  Not sure it's the healthiest way to start the day, especially as I'd already had a cheese and apple roll earlier.

But it's a good experience eh? With iced tea to wash it all down.

Having wasted an hour and a half, I strolled back to the hotel, reclaimed my case and then booked a "Lyft" to the airport. Slightly cheaper as I wasn't in a hurry, but it still arrived quite quickly.

Wasn't a long ride to the airport 15-20 minutes, so still fairly early for a delayed flight. 

I went to check my luggage. First there was a self check-in machine, that printed the luggage ticket and boarding pass. Then had to take the case to be loaded. 1 blooming kg over the 23kg limit, so I liberated a couple of boxes of my free cookies into my hand luggage and it came in at 22.9kg. Phew.

Slowly I went through the bag scan, with the body scanner you have to stand in with your arms up. Then, off to wind my way through to the departure gate, with a long wait ahead. 

Near the gate (68) was a little shop, where I gave in and bought some maple syrup cream cookies. They came with a free Canada bag 😀. 

Next to the shop a small coffee/food place, so I decided to get a beer and some crisps, charge my phone and catch up on the blog. Still 2 3/4 hours to go.

Eventually we were airbound. And I took the opportunity to try and get some sleep. Not sure how anyone manages any shut eye in economy seats. Still, trying passed the time. 

I turned down the first meal, took water and cookie snacks, then went for the breakfast about 1 1/2 hours before landing. Pancakes with berries and a maple cream sauce, maple yoghurt plus philadelphia cheese and a roll. The melon, I left. 

Walked through the airport to find my departure gate. Only 3 1/2 hours to wait. Couldn't find anywhere to have a massage on the way, which was disappointing as my head and neck could do with some therapy. 

So, went to sit at the departure gate. 

Just need to be home now.

Just before I knew they should be boarding, I went to use the facilities, and when I came out I checked the screen, but there was no Southampton flight mentioned. Eh?? Where did it go?
I walked all round the other gates in that area, and it wasn't listed on any screen, nor on the departures screen for that area.
Confused, I went back to the ladies on the desk that had let me through 3 hours previously and after checking the flight number, they said that the departure gate had moved to D23, just a short distance away. Yeah right. So off I had to go, and guess what, on the way I passed some massage machines. Typical, and now too late to stop.

Thankfully the plane had just arrived, they unloaded and loaded quickly and we were leaving just after 5pm Netherlands time.
A quick 50 minute flight and we landed just before 5pm, a few minutes before we left 😂
Not wanting to haul my case over the railway to get the taxi stand, I booked the taxi from within the terminal, and it wasn't long before my driver arrived and took me home. 
Time to get myself sorted and keep busy until I go to bed normal time.
Thankfully I actually have some work to do (Boo Hiss) so that'll keep me occupied.
Lets hope I settle back into the routine quickly, and my own bed will be lovely and comfy.

Soooooo, not yet sure where the next adventure will take me. 
Invictus in 2027 is in Birmingham, I think I'm on the list for information. But applying isn't necessarily a guarantee of being accepted. We shall see.
Until the next time.

Over and out (ish)

Final shift today with a 7am start.  Not having slept so well, I decided to take a  "Lyft". The weather was overcast and occasional rain, enough for it to be cold and wet standing around for hours, which was the task of the day. But we did have one of the big patio style heaters so that kept us steaming occasionally.

4 of us out there, Chris, Kevin, Tracey and me. Waiting for busses, directing people. Welcoming teams, friends and families to the final session of the games, Indoor Rowing. Lots of competitors and families thanking us for being there and stopping to show their medals (if they had them, full of pride for their achievements). Happy smiles if we were able to greet them in their own language. Maybe a lesson for next time, just learn to say good morning or good day in whatever languages are spoken.

We headed back and forth between the outside cold bit and the indoor warm and comforting areas. In between, welcoming more athletes and towards the end of our shifts seeing more medal winners heading back to their hotels with chinking medals round their necks. (Pic with Assunta Aquino - Canadian team - who won gold in downhill skiing)

We were 'forced' to take loads of snacks away with us when we went in for lunch. Tracey very kindly let me leave my box of goodies in her car while we carried on to the end of shift. All I have to do now is find space in my suitcase to get them home. Hope I don't bust my weight limit.

Another Lyft to the appartment to drop things off and refresh myself ready to head to the closing ceremony. 

Leaving it as long as I could, I took a Lyft to the Rogers Arena, where the closing ceremony was being held.

I decided to have a can of lager to take in with me, no requirement to pour it into a cup. I had to end my visit with a Canadian beer, just to finish things off.

I took my seat, though alongside me to my left the row was empty, there were many seats filled.

A smaller arena than the opening ceremony, Competitors seated on the floor level, friends and family in the stands. Loads of volunteer jackets around, we were praised and thanked during many of the speeches. 

Justin Trudeau spoke of the country's pride and support for all competitors and nations. It seems many of the US participants were worried they'd not be welcome. That isn't how these games work.

Prince Harry as ever gave a rousing speech before the evening ended with the "barenaked ladies" singing and everyone up dancing.

Previous acts of the evening included "Jelly Roll", a duo who called themselves "The War and Treaty", and 'Marie-Mai".

The evening ended just after 8pm and I started to head back, thinking to call for a lyft, but with no clear signal, I ended up walking the 25 minutes back to the hotel. Was halted by plain clothes security at the exit to the underground car park at the arena, while Prince Harry and his security detail drove off in a rapid convoy.  

Hoping I was heading the right way, I eventually found the street I needed,  stopping on the way to chat to a couple of volunteers who had been at the evening and were hoping to apply for Birmingham 2027.

Once back just after 9pm, I started sorting  myself out, though I decided to pack in the morning. One last interrupted sleep to come. Homeward bound on Monday.

Old totes (totems) and little boats

A free day, having decided to ditch today's 6.30am-2.30pm shift in favour of doing something touristy at a more reasonable hour. 

The weather, overcast and light rain instead of the cold crisp sunshine over the past week. I had several things on my list of possibles, but no definite plans.

Undecided as to what to do, I received a message from Jackie, who I'd met at uniform collection and who had been on the media team in Düsseldorf with me.

She was planning to head to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, where the exhibits included a lot of "First Nations" totems and artefacts, with other historical items and would I like to go with her.

I jumped in the shower, got myself dressed and headed to meet her at her hotel not far from mine. A"lyft" was booked and we set off for the 15 minute ride up to the University campus where the museum is.

An amazing array of totems, masks and other items, but after a while museum fatigue sets in.  

Jackie had to head back to get ready for shift, so we decided to take 2 separate cars back.

I headed to the Granville Island Public Market, a huge indoor market with loads of food stalls as well as fresh fruit and veg, meat, fish, also packed with people...Well I guess it is Saturday.

I bought a slice of pizza for my lunch, then headed outside to see what else was around. A quick look round a souvenir shop, found another I AM sign and then headed to the little ferry.

It was a short ride for $4 across to the "Aquatic Centre" at the end of Sunset Beach.

A short walk from there back to the hotel, though I first went to the Superstore, to grab a couple of rolls and some more orange juice.

Last shift tomorrow, must remember to collect my closing ceremony ticket for the evening.

I got the drugs!

A later start this morning, shift 10-3. Stopping at the drugstore to pick up some cold and sinus remedy, checked with the pharmacist to make sure it was what I needed and then headed on to shift.

Checking in there were 3 of us starting at 10am in transport. Wayne, Teresa and myself.

There was no one in the transport office, other than drivers, and Tucker, when he arrived, didn't have any idea what we needed to do, so we basically had no role to do today as there was minimal transport movement due to it being a training day rather than competition. So, we were left to our own devices.

Wayne also works with Boeing, a supporting partner, so he was happy to head off to do some emails and head to their stand.

Teresa and  I went to hunt down Barb, the hospitality manager we had worked with before, so we ended up moving snacks around to various locations within the building. 

Starting in workforce check-in, we sorted and tidied the snack table, 

then took snacks into the Nations Home area near the snack bar where there's a store room for restocking. As access to most areas is behind the scenes, access checks are minimal. So when we headed to restock water in the athletes lounge through the back way there's a lot of reliance on the fact that having come through security initially we are OK to be there even though we don't actually have clearance for the areas we were in. That's one for the feedback maybe.

With only a 5 hour shift, we didn't get a meal voucher so snacks for lunch then.

Barb was trying to get rid of the snacks as they'd had so many delivered, so at the end of the shift, we headed away with fruit, chocolate and other snacks.

Just before 3, I headed back to the appartment to try and relax a bit. Fresh oranges, tea and an early night.

Tomorrow I have a free day, I hope it'll be dry and my head isn't full of fuzz, so I can head out and see some sights.

Oooh and a late email to say that I'd been allocated a closing ceremony ticket in the ballot we'd applied to yesterday. So, no choosing what price tickets to get. Looks like Ian too was allocated one.  Bonus for both of us.

Have to collect tomorrow afternoon, so depending where my tourism takes me, I'll at least need to go to workforce to collect that.

 

Tick, tock, steam clock

So today I've been here a week. Time flies when you're having fun eh?

Today was an 8am to 3.30pm shift, but I couldn't quite get myself going and the thought of walking, and breathing, in the cold didn't inspire me, so I decided to book myself a "Lyft". Such a good idea. Took less than 10 minutes from order to arrival.

Checked in, headed to my transport office and was taken over to Canada Place, Vancouver Convention Centre East, down in the car park where the busses were dropping off and picking up, except there weren't many people flowing through today, so we got really excited when a bus did arrive that had people on.

I was working with Carl, Tanya and briefly with Justin.

I had extra layers on today so felt a lot warmer  but the snotty nose still there and my throat getting sore I was working through my stash of cold and flu capsules brought from home. 

Justin left us around 10am and the rest of us took it in turns to go up to the break room and grab a hot drink, warm up and use the washrooms. 

Carl and I headed to lunch early while Tanya held the fort. Lunch was a very tasty chicken tandoori masala with dhal, naan bread and rice.

Bumped into Ian while in the lunch room and we were looking at getting some closing ceremony tickets. Choice $83 or $350 which included hospitality. Not even sure I could eat/drink that much in hospitality even without a cold. He's going to investigate further.

Little happened in the afternoon, though one of the bus lifts got stuck, so a Ukrainian competitor couldn't get off, but his teammate with the aid of Google translate, managed to persuade some of the policemen at the other end of the bus parking, to come and help. All's well that ends well.

The bus went back to the depot to get fixed. We didn't see it again.

Towards the end of our shift, Tanya and I headed into the village, nice to grab a free hot chocolate and just warm up. With the shift nearly done, I decided to head into "Gastown" where the "steam clock" was situated. Sadly, although it was steaming, the time on the clock was wrong, so I didn't get to hear the tune on the hour. (Time says 4.15, it was 3.50 when I got here) 

Stopped briefly, after seeing the clock, into a "Canadian" souvenir store. I may have to go back to get some maple syrup goodies to take home.

Then one more stop at the "drugstore" to get some more cold tablets, only I couldn't actually work out what it was I wanted or needed compared to the ones from home, so I left them. I can always stop by again tomorrow.

Funnily, cold air and cold drinks, seem to help clear the head. Maybe I just need to keep wandering around drinking iced water. Later shift start tomorrow, so maybe a good night's sleep will help.

Colder than a cold thing on ice

3rd shift started at 8am. Got placed outside the friends and family entrance with Charles (ex Canadian forces) and Kevin (formerly from Newcastle, moved here 30 years ago as an electrician working on shipbuilding). 

Charles acquired one of the patio style heaters to keep us warm, which was fine for the top half, but some underfoot heating would have been nice. It was colder than a cold thing on ice.

With very few people around today due to it mostly being Whistler sports taking place, we were able to keep switching to take time to warm up inside.

A few busses heading to curling for friends and family to have taster sessions, regular busses doing the hotel rounds, but with no competition here, it was light. We spent more time directing people to different places than organising people onto buses. More customer services than a transport role. Hey ho, still, payment's the same 😀

Lunch of beef arancini, pasta and tomato sauce was warm and welcome.

Come 2.45 we were starting to see the next shift people arrive so I headed up to the "Village" at the East part at Canada Place.

They were serving hot chocolate which was very welcome, picked up a few snacks and pins, bought a t-shirt, spoke to some Vancouver tourist ladies about potential options for my newly acquired day off on Saturday. 

I decided that too much standing around in the cold not doing much, would be missable for a day, especially with a 6.30am start, so i decided to opt out, and cancelled my shift, while I planned to see some more sights. Though with my current stinking cold, maybe not going in tomorrow would be a better option. 

At least I now have contact details for the people meant to be in charge of us, who basically just set us off in the morning  never to check on us again. 

Tomorrow, there are wheelchair rugby sessions taking place at the convention centre, so things should be busier.

Meanwhile time to try and shift this cold.

Sunshine galore

A second day to explore before heading back to shifts from tomorrow, so I decided to take a walk to Stanley Park.

It was glorious sunshine, though bitterly cold.  Snow melting slowly into ice patches, though the sun not really warm enough to melt it completely.

I ambled along the sea-wall starting ftom Sunset Beach Park,  where there was an art piece, being used by a small group in photos. 

Further along there were more art pieces and an aids memorial wall.

On the edge of English beach was the Inukshuk, a stone symbol of the Inuit culture, with a big I AM alongside.

Continuing along, I spotted a brightly decorated building so headed off the path to take a look and came across a sculpture of 14 cast bronze figures, all in differing laughing poses.

Continuing along the seawall, I ended my walk at second beach, where the children's pool was completely iced over. Just as well it was closed.

I then had to start heading back as I was meeting a friend of my sister's for lunch. Melissa had met my sister through an online game, so when she knew I was here, suggested a meet up. 

Had a lovely lunch and chat, putting the world to rights. The food was lovely and I just had to go for the sticky toffee pudding to finish off.

All in all a very chilled day, which was just as well as I feel a cold starting. 

Let's hope tomorrow's shift isn't too taxing.