Simon says...

I'm just home in Ajax from my second leg in Whistler. Before I go any further, I have to tell you about our trip back. We (Jeff P and I) were originally scheduled to leave on the 9:30pm bus which would have brought us to Vancouver around midnight. Kind of a waste of time to spend in our Richmond hotel room since I had to leave early to get to a 7:00am flight. At that hour, I would miss the complimentary breakfast and also a whole night of sleep worrying about sleeping in and missing my flight! So, Jeff P and I changed our Pacific Coach bus trip to Vancouver so we could both at least enjoy a reunion with some of our Bell team staying at the Executive Suites hotel in Vancouver. The van driver arrived promptly at 5:30pm and took us down Blackcomb mountain picking up another group (they were leaving for Australia on a midnight flight) for a rendezvous with the main bus at the Fairmont. When we turned up the driveway of the Fairmont we were met by red and blue flashes of light. Since it was snowing, our immediate thought was that the snow plough was clearing the drive. Of course that story would not be blog-worthy. It turned out that our bus driver was being arrested on a bench warrant by the RCMP! So much for getting into Vancouver at a decent time! Now most of you know that I have just been going with the flow since arriving in Whistler but I was a little concerned about our travellers to Australia. They had to be at the airport no later than 9:00pm which in retrospect seems to be cutting it pretty close anyway since the Sea to Sky is known to be treacherous in a snow storm! So, Jeff P immediately got on the phone with Pacific Coach to see when the next bus could be expected. It seemed that the person on the other end already knew of the situation and explained to Jeff P what his company was doing about it. By this time, the father of the Australian contingent had called Pacific Coach but was on hold. So with father on hold, the rest of the family was eager to hear of any developments with Pacific Coach. They naturally asked Jeff P what was going on and I'm not sure if he planned this but we all had to chuckle when he announced, "Simon says they have a driver just south of Whistler..." Without missing a beat, the father from Australia was taken off hold and in a loud voice on the edge of uncontrolled laughter said, "Hello Simon, ..."

I have been told by a few people that have been reading my blog that it sounds like we are having a good time. I am not going to dispute that! I reassure you that we are also doing alot of work. It's hard for me to post anything about work because firstly, it's work and naturally not blog-worthy. Secondly, I don't want to be the person that divulges too much about the security nor the new technology at our venue. It really is amazing and I will be disappointed if there is not a special Olympic report from Ron McClean or whomever.

On top of "working to give the world a flawless games," the Bell team have also been busy at Whistler, fund raising. Through the efforts of Jean (we call her Jeannie) and Brian of Bell, we have raised funds to sponsor a Whistler family for Christmas. I have also talked about our trips to Squamish. In one of those trips, we were driving off the main highway and were frustrated to find the road closed with all three essential services present (fire, police and ambulance). An eight unit condo had literally burned to the ground and all so close to Christmas! We were shopping for Olympic stuff later that day and were happy to find that our store (where we were getting the "Paesano discount") was giving away $250.00 of essential stuff to the families in that fire. We met several of the families that day at the store and found them all to be in a state of shock. They had lost everything. One man was explaining that he didn't even have a wallet anymore. It was lost in the fire! Jeff P was so overcome that he pulled out all the money in his wallet and gave it to the fellow. Jeff P couldn't even stay there to hear his "thank you" for the lump he felt in his throat. That event became Jeff P and (paesano) Joe's goodwill mission! So they began collecting money for those victims and the rest of the Bell team responded again as we did for our sponsored family. That just makes me so proud to be associated with this Bell Olympic Team! I encourage all of you reading this to consider sharing what wealth you have to help ease the burden of those finding it harder to give their families an enjoyable holiday. On that note, I want to wish you all a Happy Christmas and I hope to see you in the New Year.