Chasing the Torch

As we left my building to watch the torch travel up Commercial Drive we were greeted by a group of police on horseback slowly clopping their way up the hill.

A passerby informed us that the torch had been re-routed because the protesters were coming up the Drive.

No surprise really, the organizers knew this would happen.

We followed the horses up to the corner and watched them position themselves shoulder to shoulder blocking the street. By this time most of the crowd was headed in the other direction to catch the torch at First Avenue. We watched for a moment as about two hundred protesters, most in masks, chanted their way toward the horse line. Only a handful of people stayed to watch their parade. A man behind me yelled "that's right make them walk through horse shit!"

   We turned and made our way to First Avenue where there was a huge crowd waiting for the torch. It was pretty uneventful as the torchbearer,  ex-mayor Sam Sullivan, is in a wheelchair so only the front line of people could see anything. Once the torched passed the equestrian troop merely turned and clopped back to where they came from.

Downtown I saw red. Happy Canada red. Thousands of people teeming about, all smiling and talking to each other. The atmosphere is overwhelmingly positive and the energy is amazing. Tonight is the big show. A couple thousand protesters will be there to entertain tens of thousands of revelers. I'm going to watch it on TV.