Olympic Torch Relay

Vancouver, British Columbia will be holding the 2010 Winter Olympics next February. Currently the world's longest torch relay (at 45,000 kms) is going on across Canada. Yesterday, day 49 of 109, it passed through my hometown of Toronto. The final stage of the day was held at Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall.

Women's Hockey gold medalist winner, Vicky Sunohara, was the final torchbearer of the day. She brought it in and lit the cauldron on the stage where the performers had been. The wait was way too long. According to the schedule I found on-line the ceremony was to have been at 7:00 p.m. In actuality it didn't happen until over an hour later. I'm not sure if it was planned this way or if the protesters along the way delayed them. At one point, at Yonge and College, there were about 300 native protesters (according to news reports) blocking the route. The flame had to be split into two to keep on schedule. Originally it was to have gone to Sick Kids Hospital first before coming to City Hall. It was reported they had one torchbearer bring it there and another continue on to City Hall.

My day began when I met my friend Gabe for lunch in Chinatown. After that I went to the library at City Hall to kill some time. At about 6:00 p.m. I made my way out into the frigid night air to stake out a spot to see the flame as it passed by. I was hoping to leave not long after 7:00 because I had to go to gym night. Well, that didn't quite happen. They kept on with the performances and shameless, self-promotion from the sponsors until my fingers and toes were about to fall off. The torchbearer finally entered the square at a few minutes after 8:00. I was so happy to finally see her. Mostly because I wanted to get my shots and get my butt out of the cold. I know it was probably a once in a lifetime experience. And though I had been quite looking forward to experiencing it, I wasn't so cheery after that.

On the plus side, since I missed gym night, I was able to visit a few of my homeless friends around Nathan Phillips Square afterwards. They weren't very happy about the sub-zero temperatures to say the least. Anyway, I hope they enjoyed the chat. I believe they did. And I enjoyed talking with them. Afterwards I had to take a pee. My hands were so cold I couldn't undo the top button on my jeans in the bathroom. I had to wait there a few minutes until they regained feeling. Luckily for me it wasn't an emergency or else you wouldn't be hearing about it ;-)