patrickanderson.ca

Team Deutschland

A few days into office now.  Marni has been doing most of the work so far.  Ok, all of it.  She took part in more than a dozen welcoming ceremonies over the past two days.  I caught the last half of Germany/Netherlands ceremony this afternoon (they usually group countries together in 2′s and 3′s unless it’s a big contingent like Canada, USA, or Russia).   Since both Marni and I have both lived in Germany and have many friends there, we jumped into their team photo and made ourselves at home.  I like their uniforms.  Contemporary take on a classic theme.

So I’ve had a few days to wade into this mayor gig.  It’s not like I haven’t been busy though.  Yesterday, I found a piano in one of the lounges and realized I should make sure it was in good working order.  After about an hour, I was reasonably confident that it was in suitable shape, but just to be sure, I went back today to double check.  Something tells me that my sense of duty will not let me rest unless I go back tomorrow for another test run.  In fact, I may just have to monitor the piano’s condition daily.

So what else happened yesterday?  Oh yeah, the torch!   I was offered a leg in the Paralympic torch relay by the Province of BC (through my involvement with ActNow BC), so I ran ie. wheeled the flame through Whistler, or a 200m section thereof.   It was a beautiful sunny day.  The people in the street cheered and waved and clapped and took pictures.  At the end of the day, I somehow ended up in front of a CTV News camera keeping Tamara Taggert company as she did the weather and then speaking with her about the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program.  Among other things, WASP takes people sit-skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb.  Anyway, one thing led to another and…

…I went skiing today with WASP.  As I said, Marni had the mayoral duties covered, so I drove up the road and hopped in a mono-ski for the third time this season.    A gregarious, funny Aussie named Sheree was my instructor, and she showed me all over Whistler mountain.   We had some good chats on the chairlifts and at lunch, highlighted by one fantastic pep talk about the joy of witnessing people with disabilities overcome their fears and do things they never thought themselves capable of.  She was great.  Has the perfect attitude for her line of work in my opinion.

Well, I should rest up.  Long days ahead.  Marni has gone down to Vancouver for the rest of the week, so it’s just me.  (FYI…she’ll be in the booth with Brian Williams for the Opening Ceremonies).  Too bad that she’ll miss the Team Canada welcoming ceremony tomorrow night.  Dawn the producer has a special script planned, which reminds me that I need to go read it.

This entry was posted on March 10, 2010 at 7:12 am and is filed under Vancouver 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.