No matter where you live, chances are you’ve heard that the Winter Olympics are coming soon. If you live in Canada, the torch may have passed through your town sometime over the last several weeks during its 45,000-kilometre journey across the country. And if you live in Vancouver, you can’t go three minutes without hearing the word Games. And worse, your life is about to get hugely inconvenienced indeed. Especially if you’re a mom.
A friend of mine and her husband have tickets to a snowboarding competition at CypressMountain. They have a two-and-a-half-year-old, and she is very pregnant. In order to get to the event, they will need to take public transit. But Vancouver residents have been told to expect one- to two-hour line-ups. Once they get to the venue, they’ve been warned that getting through security will take two to three hours. That could be a total of five hours before the race even starts. With a toddler? While you’re pregnant? I don’t think so. Now that reality is setting in, my friend dosen't think so either.
Then there is the fact that we’re expecting gross traffic jams all the time and numerous road closures. In fact, people living in certain suburbs, like North and West Vancouver, have been told to stay home for a three-week period to minimize traffic congestion.
Right.
Because of the inevitable crowdedness everywhere, most regularly scheduled programming has been cancelled. So my sons will miss three weeks of swimming classes. My youngest, who needs to see a speech therapist, will miss three weeks of appointments. Many community-centre drop-ins and play groups will also take a break. The fitness classes I love to teach so much are also cancelled. (If it sounds frivolous that I make the time to do said classes, please understand that regular exercise is what keeps me sort of sane.)
So basically, the entire city has to shut down for three weeks. I, for one, am not looking forward to it.
Never mind that the cost of tickets to Olympic events is out of reach for most families. And what about parents of special-needs children? The transit service for people with disabilities won't be offering door-to-door service during this time.
I don’t mean any disrespect to the athletes. I wish them well.
But the whole thing sounds like it’s going to be one giant hassle. I’ll be glad when it’s over and we can go to our swimming classes in traffic-free peace.