Another Great Day - Figure Skating

There's a lot to write about today.  We got up and watched curling on T.V.  That will help us follow the curling we'll be seeing live, alhough we learned today that we can buy radios on site that will broadcast the commentary to us, and we think we'll do that.

Then we caught the 4 bus to the Pacific Coliseum for the Men's short programme figure skating.  We weren't the first in line but were right near the front.  Kim went to see if there were other tickets at the box office and Paul stayed in line.

While waiting in line Paul chatted with a fellow just ahead of him.  The guy had decided days ago to come and spent thousands of dollars to be there, taking flights that forced him to stay in Calgary and Winnipeg overnight each way.  Kim reentered the conversation at about the point when Paul asked if he had had any trouble getting tickets. 

It turned out that he had no trouble getting tickets to either the men's short program event (tonight's event) or the men's long program event since he managed Patrick Chan's skating equipment.  His family and Chan's were neighours.  His daughter was in skating too and the families had known each other for years.  His daughter had sent him with a scrapbook of pictures of things like her and Chan in a school play, which he showed us.  He told us that his daughter, the skater, had complained that each time her skate was sharpened it took days to adjust to the variations that hand sharpening inevitably brought.  He was a retired engineer and thought he could do better.  So he researched skate blades.  He called the British company that made the best blades in the world and they agreed to let him spend a couple of days in their factory if he flew himself over.  Eventually, he invented a machine that would ensure the same pattern of sharpening every time.  He now has a small list of clients, including Chan, whose equipment he manages.  He's retired and doesn't want too much business.  Neither does he want the hasstle of worrying about patents.  And this guy is just standing in line with us.  We were almost regretful when the gates opened, because we would have liked to hear more of his story.  This so couldn't have happened to us in Toronto.

When we went in we took pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere until the skating started.  To Paul's right were a couple of older women who were figure skating veterans.  They talked familiarly about the skating quirks of skaters the names of which Paul barely recognized and Kim recognized not at all.  (Paul is older, of course).  More to the point, they acted as our guides for the evening, answering questions about how it all worked, including the vagaries of scoring..  They were the kinds of enthusiasts who believed that this was all it would take to get us hooked on figure skating for life.  That may not happen but we had a great time watching the event.  The things people can do on skates would be beyond belief if you weren't watching.

After the event, we met up with some colleagues of Paul's and had a very pleasant dinner.  And now we are sitting watching the coverage that was taped during the day.  Way to go Maelle Ricker!  Tomorrow speed skating and whatever new adventures come.

With continuing elation,

The Entity
Paul McCulloch Alexander
Kim Boara Alexander