I’m sure that, like me, a lot of you who are in Vancouver felt a sickening feeling of loss and almost depression today. How does one effectively transition from a high like all Canadians felt yesterday after that heart-stopping hockey final, and back it up with an eerily silent transit into town for work today? Sigh…

There was no immediate need for me to proudly wear my #87 Sidney Crosby Team Canada hockey jersey to work. I didn’t need to squeeze onto my morning bus for the first time in 17 days. The brightly coloured country flag circles (including the Aussie one in the middle of the bridge) that adorned Granville Street sidewalks have been erased. My bus travelled unimpeded up Granville Street without having to divert along Seymour, until it reached Smithe. There were no apparel hungry crowds lining up outside “The Bay”.

Oh this depresses me so much writing this…

There was maybe only one huge smile dressed in a sky-blue volunteers jacket waiting for me at Waterfront Station. There were no lineups for the Sea Bus. No odd but happy languages permeating the confines of the Sea Bus. No gang of volunteers at Lonsdale Quay asking me sweetly if I needed to get to Cypress Mountain or Whistler to see an event today, and where I should go if I did.

No streaming Olympic updates on the web to distract me WAY TOO MUCH at work. Nothing to make me want to leave work hours too early to line up for a ridiculous amount of time in lines that possibly would get me nowhere by the end of the night. No problems or delays using transit to get home. A distinct lack of international flags and maple leaves blanketing the city heart on my way home. And no beams of light shooting into the sky over English Bay.

And even as I sit here typing this now, there should be fireworks exploding over LiveCity Yaletown which I can view from my balcony. Alas, not tonight. Sigh…

…

I’m not the only one feeling down. Oh no. Here’s just a couple of tweets I noticed today from a couple of prominent Vancouver bloggers:

@VancityAllie Voice = gone, Health = sick, condo = disorder, waistline = +5, bank account = empty. But it was all worth it. Our country = united. Bedtime.

I can relate to Allie on pretty much EVERY point she has made there.

@karlwoll Seabus is so empty. No flags. No cheering. Only suitcases. So cold. So lonely. Hold me.

Take heart though people, we still have another 10 days of amazing sporting accomplishments and performances coming up between March 12-21 when the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games kick-off. If you’re not inspired by what takes place over these days of competition, then you have no heart. Each and every athlete coming to Vancouver for this special event has a story of tragedy, adversity, hope and achievement that will likely match anything we have witnessed so far.

I sincerely hope that the Paralympic athletes’ presence in the city brings about the same energy, support and amazing times that the good people of Vancouver (and Canada) afforded the world’s greatest Winter Olympians throughout February.

Sure, even I got goosebumps seeing the expressions of joy and inspiration on the thousands of infant faces that lined the streets of Vancouver as the torch wormed its way into town, but what about now, when the competitions are in full swing and down town Vancouver is buzzing with this newfound energy?

Well tonight I decided to do something about it by taking myself off to Robson Square straight after work, to the GE Ice Plaza for the nightly “Meet the Mascots” spectacular. In short, I plonked myself down on a bench on the side of the rink, surrounded by a group of 8-year olds. The show consists of the 2010 Vancouver’s three primary mascots, Quatchi, Miga and Sumi putting on their own little shows on the ice, surrounded by a collection of hyper colour dressed teenagers who skate, jump, spin, give high fives to the kids on the fence and generally have a tonne of fun in front of the sizeable crowd that had gathered by showtime.

So who are these colourful and cuddly mascots anyway? Well let me enlighten you…

Quatchi

The big hairy fella you see in the photo above is Quatchi, a young sasquatch from deep in the forests of British Columbia. A fan of ice hockey and photography, the big guy is super cuddly and a big hit with the kids.

Sumi

Part black bear (torso), thunderbird (wings) and orca (hat), Sumi’s name is Salish for “guardian spirit”. Living in the mountains around Whistler, he loves alpine skiing and flying over the coastal mountains.

Sumi is the official mascot for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

Miga

Miga is a gorgeous little sea bear from the waters off Tofino, Vancouver Island. Part rare white Kermode Bear and part Killer Whale, she’s a real adventurist listing surfing and snowboarding as her favourite sports!

Between the three characters and their support group, they had smiles permanently etched on the faces of every single child lining the ice. There were screams of excitement, clapping, jumping up and down and cuddles with the mascots on the rink barrier, as the 15 minute show unfurled with a symphony of songs, strobing coloured lights, psychedelic costumes, and some pretty impressive figure skating.

I was well impressed, super excited for the rug rats all around me, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Check it out if you get the chance. It runs nightly at 6pm at the GE Ice Plaza under Robson Square until the 28th February.

Billed as being “A spectacular and innovative evening show that will light up the sky…”, the show, which kicks off at 9:30pm and 11:00pm each night until the 28th February, certainly didn’t disappoint with the sky over Robson Square being lit up by spotlights, coloured strobes, fire, smoke, zip-lining skiers and snowboarders and more! All this is set to a fantastic home-grown soundtrack featuring the following tracks:

• “My So Called Life” – Jaydee Bixby
• “O My Heart” – Mother Mother
• “Raise A Little Hell” – Trooper
• “Amazing” – Andrew Allen
• “Love Myself Today” – Bif Naked
• “Bhangra Baby” – Dal Hothi
• “Sing, Sing” – Mariana’s Trench

For more information on events being held in the Robson Square district, take a look at the British Columbia: You Gotta Be Here website.

And to tie things off, here’s some video of the display that I found on YouTube. Gives you a bit of an idea as to what you can expect to see, and also shows the snowboarders etc flying across Robson Square on the zip line.