Panasonic

Yesterday, I went in to Vancouver to do some driving to the venues. When I arrived at the Westin Bayshore hotel, I was told that I would be on the general support team. This would mean that I would not be assigned to one person but rather that I would come in to the hotel and be available to cover for anyone who might need a day off or be sick. I went out with a couple of people and we drove to a few of the venues to familiarize ourselves with the drop-off zones.

By the time I returned to the hotel two hours later, I had been assigned to the Panasonic team as their support person. This would mean that I would cover days off for a small group of people, in this case three drivers.

Within an hour, I was bumped up to a Panasonic driver. I am no longer support. I have a car, a Chevy Traverse, to drive around clients and I take that car home at night. If I need a day off, our support driver will take the car and cover the shift.

The downside to this posting is that we are not in the Westin Bayshore hotel so we do not have access to the volunteer lounge, the meals, and the general camaraderie of the other volunteers. Today, we were given a hotel room where we were able to relax while on standby. Four of us were able to chat and watch tv while we waited.

Tomorrow, we have a kick-off meeting where we will meet more of the Panasonic group. We are really in a unique situation because this was not the anticipated running of the International Client Services. We are working out the details as we go.

The weather has been warm here but most days have been cloudy, wet, and grey. Today, I woke up to a lovely shining sun and I had a great view of Golden Ears, the mountains that are visible from my bedroom window. I also had Geoff take a picture of me with the car that I brought home.

The drive in this morning was long as there was a considerable amount of traffic, even at 9am. However, once I arrived to the downtown area, the travel was very easy as the Olympic lanes officially started today. That means that only buses and Olympic vehicles may use them. I only saw two cars in the lane that shouldn't have been. One was a lady who was stopping (in addition to the lanes, there are no stopping signs all over the downtown area) and she moved when I beeped my horn at her. The other vehicle was a pickup truck that was being ticketed by the police!

While I am on the topic of driving, I have a couple of tips about Vancouver. Highways here are not the same as in Ontario (or most other places for that matter). The highways here all have traffic lights on them! I have not driven one road yet that has a speed limit of 100km/hr because they all have lights. This also means that traffic just doesn't flow as well. The second tip is especially important. A flashing green light in Ontario means that you have an advanced green, left-turn priority. Here is means that you are approaching a pedestrian crossing and, at any moment, the light could turn orange and red for a pedestrian. If you assume that you have left-turn priority, you are likely to cause an accident! Fortunately, Nelson and Debbie told me this on the first night.