Gord and I are excited and hopeful that we will be chosen to volunteer again for the Summer Games next year in London. We sent in our application several months ago and are waiting to hear if our experience in Vancouver might make us eligible to be in London in 2012 for the Games.

If our Vancouver Games experience is a model, it likely will be late fall 2011 at the earliest, or more likely early to mid-winter 2012 when we will hear if we are selected for July 2012.

Biggest challenge if we are selected will be to find housing at a reasonable price – but we’re up for the challenge!

Recently we’ve had two interesting opportunities to reconnect with some of the athletes. On the first occasion we met Clara Hughes at The Green Living Showin Toronto in April where she was a prominent guest speaker.

She was dynamic, excited, very well prepared and spoke easily to a rapt audience of several hundred people for more than an hour armed with an excellent video of the Games events in which she participated. After her talk she signed autographs for a large crowd of interested spectators.

On the second occasion Scotia McLeod hosted an evening with Becky Keller – 4 time Olympic medal-winning hockey player, wife, mother of two – and an MBA grad!

Its ten weeks since we returned from the Vancouver Olympics and the spirit is still high. Both recent events were packed with keen patrons of all ages. The Scotia event was smaller, more intimate, yet you could have heard a pin drop during Becky’s talk – except for the erupting laughter at her humorous accounts of training camp life.

Like Clara Hughes, Becky began her talk with video highlights of the Vancouver Games themselves along with excellent footage from her own Women’s Hockey events. It was heartening to see the excitement and the Olympic spirit that was still tangible in both venues. It was wonderful to see how well prepared the athletes were for their speaking engagements. Both video presentations were very professionally put together and the athletes themselves both warm and generous to their audiences and professionally well prepared for their gigs.

With today’s naming of John Furlong as Volunteer Chairman of the Own the Podium Advisory Board, things look good for Canadian athletes in London in 2012 and Sochi in 2014. Maybe they need volunteers in the polyclinics!

Lots of excitement today in the Village. Everyone is talking about the Opening Ceremonies. Tremendous pride in being Canadian. All the athletes are remembering the feelings of great emotion walking into the stadium with their teams.

People were very impressed with the inclusivity of the choices for the Opening – many are saying it was so Canadian! They loved Nellie and Brian, Sarah McLaughlin, KD Lang, Measha, the wonderful people who carried the Olympic Flag, loved the graphics, the poetry and portrayals of the different parts of the country. A very good start except of course for the very sad death of the Georgian athlete on the luge run.

Downhill skiing was cancelled today because of warm weather in Whistler. It’s cool here in Vancouver but not at all cold – drizzling rain with patches of sun. We are so glad to have the warm waterproof jackets they generously gave us!

The city is alive with people – lots of lineups for the pavilions – the sky train is full of happy people.

Some of the athletes are on edge – their events coming up quickly. One poor lad came into the polyclinic with a corneal infection. He skiis tonite and has to be able to wear his contact lenses for the race. Some of the Ski Cross athletes are in for physio and massage today – I love that sport – wish I were 50 years younger to try it!

There are guests in the village most days now. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in yesterday. Gord caught him checking out his hair in his car window. One of the Austrian athletes said he had come to say hello to them and was very nice but his face, she said “was like a tight mask – plastic surgery gone bad”.

I literally ran into Princess Anne and a contingent from the UK today while taking MRI results down the hall. She is charming – an Olympian herself in the summer games many years ago – she was quietly chatting with everyone, very interested in the workings of the polyclinic.

I had a chance to get out and about in the Village today – there are flags everywhere and lots of people coming and going. Its all great fun to be here.

We were given tickets to tonight’s Women’s Hockey game – a fellow came into the clinic and asked who wants them??? Many others were busy so I was glad to take them. Canada is playing against Slovakia and the excitement is high. Everyone is wearing Olympic gear – carrying flags, flags in their hair, on jackets, attached to wheel chairs, strollers, backpacks – whatever! And the Canadian women players are ready to show their stuff, 2 goals in the first 3 minutes of the game!

Yesterday Gord and I both had a day shift so we left together well before dawn to get there for 645am. It was our third shift which meant that after being scanned in and reporting to Workforce Checkin, we were given an Olympic pin and another hearty thanks for our volunteer service. Lots of people are collecting and trading these pins, hanging them on their lanyards for all to see and admire.

After coffee and fruit in the Workforce tent which is always warm and cosy, and filled with blue jackets, we went off to our separate work areas.

The great weather of our first day here has not lasted and it has been cool and rainy ever since. Occasionally we get a great glimpse of blue sky, the distant mountains and the beautiful Vancouver sky scrapers but often our heads are down, hoods in place to stay dry and warm. I am so thankful for the great warm waterproof clothes they have given us.

After our shifts yesterday we were invited to the rehearsal for the opening ceremonies at BC Place across from the Village. It was tempting to go home and miss it – we are still coping with the 3 hour time change and we had to trek a ways in the pouring rain – but we persevered and it was so worth it. The organizers have done a fantastic job inviting the world to see Canada’s many faces and the Opening Ceremonies are going to be a sight to see.