Day 8 of competition

Another beautiful day in Vancouver, so I ventured downtown this morning to see the flame. I passed the line to get into the Superstore which was 4 blocks long, then I passed the line for the mint where you can go and touch the medals--it was 6 blocks long and the lineup at Birks where you can buy replicas of the torch or olympic jewellery was 4 blocks long. The lineup for the unobstructed view of the flame was 1 hour long so I took my picture through the fence! I could not believe the chills I felt when I got to the flame. It was so special to be that close to the real Olympic flame!
I went to my shift today with great anticipation, knowing that the men were skating the 1500 long track and short track. Apparently the whole Morrison family spent some time at the Boathouse this morning with a sport psychologist. They were in seclusion for quite awhile. It is so interesting to be with people who know the sport and the athletes so well. When they don't have their best race on game day they are sad, but not because they didn't medal, but because they know that athlete is going to be so disappointed, knowing what they are capable of. No one feels more badly about today than Denny. His parents were terrific! They weren't disappointed, they just felt bad because they knew he felt bad and they couldn't get anywhere close to him to tell him how they felt.
At the short track today it was all "agony and ecstacy"! The roars when things went well and the ahhhhs when they didn't. Did you see Marianne in tears when Charles came 4th? She was so cute!
You will notice that I finally got a picture with Catriona. We talked for a few minutes before the picture and she actually remembered our chance encounter before the games began.
Check out my pictures for today at picasa and you will see another one of me with Jeremy Wotherspoon. I was shocked at how quiet and shy he was!
I have been meaning to tell you this for awhile now, but the next time you Ontarians complain about the price of gas, think about B.C. where it has averaged $1.10 since I got here. I asked someone if that was inflated for the Olympics and they said no.
By the way, thanks for all the comments and emails yesterday(or today for some of you!) I have such a great blog family! All I had to do was ask!
By the way, I only have 3 shifts left but I am here until Friday the 26th. I am off tomorrow and I am going to the medal ceremony tomorrow night. The concert afterward is with Trouper and Loverboy! Tell you all about it then!