The last week has really flown by for me, the fast paced events of the Olympics seem to have spread over to my own life somehow. So far getting in and out of work has been ok but last night was a bit of a squeeze and I could barely move my arms beside me. The SkyTrain overall has been way busier than normal but fortunately I haven't been in any major delays so far and I think that the transit operators have done a decent job of keeping things moving (it's a good job too because my employers never bothered coming up with a proper contingency plan!).

I've literally been heading straight to the station at 3:30pm each day and haven't been waiting around at all. I've heard reports of some people who've left later in the day and experienced waits of up to 2 hours so that's put me off hanging about after work. You can't really blame transit for those delays in the evening though, there's literally just too many people around. On the local news during the week many people (who have lived here their whole lives) said they have never known the city to have so many people on it's streets.

Last Saturday we were invited over to our friends house in Coquitlam for belated birthday celebrations. We had a great night enjoyed with good company. We also met some new people there who were friendly and also very funny! There were about 6 Brits there including us and it was interesting to hear about other people's experiences here. We managed to get home before 1am and then had a nice lie in on Sunday morning, thankfully I woke up without a hangover!

On Tuesday Canada played their first game (hockey) of the Olympics against Norway. I watched it at home on TV and really enjoyed the game, it finished 8-0 so I got to see plenty of goals! On Wednesday Lou and I went out for a meal at an Earls restaurant in Burnaby, we were celebrating because it was 7 years to the day since we first met (and from which we've been inseparable since). We had a few drinks after our meal but we had gone out quite early so we weren't home too late (it was a "school night" after all!). On Thursday Canada played their second hockey game of the Olympics this time against Switzerland. Again I watched it at home with Lou but this time it was a bit closer than before, we won 3-2 on penalties after the game had been tied at 2-2. It was a really exciting game and even though there were less goals it was actually a bit more entertaining than the Norway game. I'm looking forward to this Sundays game against the USA. I think it's one of the most anticipated games of the tournament for everybody, it's the Yanks after all! I'd really love to go to a game but the tickets were sold for the events over 18 months ago and I've heard the street prices for some of the games range from anything from $400 to $3000!

One thing I read which annoyed me this week was the negative media coverage the British press have been giving the Olympics. Of course there have been some hiccups but overall everything has gone reasonably well. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised by them focusing on the bad points rather than the good, but it was disappointing nonetheless. If the games have been that bad then the press from other countries would be slating it too, but they haven't so surely that says it all really. Take it from me, the games have been really good and exciting and yes we may be the warmest city to ever host the games but there's still enough snow (just) on the mountains! Also, isn't it best to be able to enjoy the rest of the city in nice 12 degree weather as opposed to the freezing cold? I'm sure the tourists here who are enjoying it will say "Yes"!