In the last week of 2010, it is hockey week in the Reid household. My eldest son’s team competed in a Peewee Tourney on the North Shore. Despite a valiant effort, they ended a prefect record to lose 5 – 2 to a team from Sannich. Watching my son play, serves as a constant reminder of how quickly he is growing up into the positive character he is. It also seems fitting that we end the year celebrating our national game, as we watch Team Canada in the World Junior Championships competing in Buffalo, New York.
Seeing the hunger of Team Canada’s youth to win, harks back to that greatest event of 2010: the Winter Olympics. This year I was fortunate to visit the madness and magic that is New York, and experience Mexico for the first time. Yet, for me 2010 was really down to those two very short magical weeks in February. The Olympics were everything I hoped it would be and more. Many, like myself , turned this event in our backyeard into an opportunity to celebrate being Canadian with unabashed pride.
I was so happy to take a 3 week sabbatical from my job as a Youth Worker, and return to Granville Island. This became my beat and stage where I earned the new title of ‘Mr. Ambassador’ for Aquabus Ferries. I walked around giving out maps, asking questions and kept customers happy as they lined up to head over to Yaletown and the Live Nation site.
You should start a blog……..
It was a simple suggestion that provided the perfect opportunity to develop my love of writing. My jackass friend and manager Jody, with the generosity of Geoff and Margo Pratt, gave me free latitude to provide a living record of life as we all experienced the Olympics together ‘…in the center of it all’. Maybe I wasn’t actually ‘…coming in hot’ when I arrived daily at least an hour late, but I’m so glad I was given the freedom just to be myself. In hindsight, no wonder I had such a crash similar to cultural shock when I returned the very next day to school, after such a rich and emotional experience. How could I communicate what I had gone through with those who weren’t with me?
So, I’ve put together my top 50 images of 2010. Mostly of the many people I crossed paths in February, plus a few since then, including the Big Yin and those infamous Irish girls. Who, when asked why they decided to head over to Canada for a year, one said it was because ‘..the drinking age is lower here than the US’.
Such is life through the eyes of a 19 year with the whole world before you…….
So to: the gay dads, the cute Canada Line Girl, Stacey Dales, the Olympic Volunteers, the lovely Sammi J Pepper server, the Atlantic House girls including Alicia and Sable, Rob Blake, the gang that went to Le Swiss Hockey game, the barmaid False Creek Yacht club, the Police and RCMP on patrol, the many fans: Canadian, American and Russian, the ‘hands of my ***s’ girls at the Wicklow, the Matt and Micky Bubbles show……..plus all the Aquabus staff who made the Olympics just so fun: Jody, Geoff and Margo, Paul, Jake!, Mr. Two Phones, Big Kev!, She-bang with her non traditional greetings, Julia, Adrienne, Astrid, my brother: Brandon….and the man who made the whole athlete experience so personal: US Gold Medalist: Steve Holcolm……and to my ever supportive wife and ‘the lads’……Thank you for a great journey together!
I hope these images convey what was a great experience…….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelimey2010/collections/72157625577347371/
Happy New Year!
For Now…..and a great 2011!!!
peeeeeeeaaaaaacccccceeeeeee out sisters!
skinnyscronnybrit.com 