It's taken me a few days to get these posted-I've either been on the run or falling into bed exhausted. It's been a hugely busy week, but alot of fun.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was down at the beautiful Vancouver Convention Centre, in the Transportation Dispatch office. My job was to organize and run a fleet of 27 cars to pick up and drop off VIPs at various locations. It sounds simple enough, but I was really juggling a phone that never stopped ringing, calls coming in every single second via the radio and fielding questions from people walking into the office. It was a litmus test of my multi-tasking skills. I am grateful I had 8 years worth of crisis line skills to draw on, not to mention hands-on dispatch experience from the 2009 World Police and Fire Games! I found myself saying "I think I'm losing my mind!" a few times. *laughs* Fortunately, I was working with a fantastic team and everything ran smoothly.
One of the really great things was talking with everyone I was helping. I have to say that the VIPs I dealt with were really friendly and I had tons of "Thank yous" which was so lovely. My experience volunteering with the Grey Cup was excellent. Christine Nicholls, who is the manager of Workforce (the volunteers, essentially) came into Transpo every day to say hello and see how we were doing and she always brought us boxes of treats-mini mandarins and Timbits. Our supervisors, Brad and Ray were really helpful and supportive and made our job fun. They took good care of us, making sure we had lunches and helped out wherever they were needed. It makes all the difference in the world when you are volunteering your time to help your city and the people you are helping take a moment to let you know your hard work is appreciated and you're doing a good job.
I went to the Vanier Cup game (the collage football final) on Friday night. Laval and McMasters (Quebec & Ontario) were playing. My husband and I adopted McMasters, mainly because we were surrounded by hardcore Mac fans. Up until the 3rd quarter, Mac was beating Laval, 20-0. Laval's won the cup for the last 6 years. In the 4th quarter, they made a spectacular comeback, tying the game up. It ended up in a nail biting double overtime, which ended with Mac winning the Vanier Cup. So glad the Grey Cup gave me free tickets. It was a great game!
Saturday, despite the rainstorm, we went to watch the Grey Cup Parade. It was a long one, but people were in good spirits. By the time it was over, I was quite literally soaked to the skin. It didn't matter-I'm glad we went.
I have to mention that the Saskatchewan fans crack me up-I am not entirely sure that they know that their team is not in the Grey Cup this year. I've seen more green around town this past week than black and orange. They are nothing, if not enthusiastic and loyal and they seem to be everywhere!
This afternoon is the volunteer's Grey Cup viewing party. We're meeting at a location downtown to watch the game together. I'm sure it will be a great party. I usually cheer for BC, except when they are playing my Bombers. It will be interesting to see how many Bombers fans are amongst our ranks. Either way, I'll be happy with the outcome since both my teams are playing. Good luck Bombers and Lions!
1 comment:
hmm. I'll try posting this again.
I'm glad the volunteer coordinators were so good to you and that the hard work turned into fun as well. Good job staying on top of things and I hope your head and foot aren't bugging you too much.
Love,
L.
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