Paul is wearing trousers by Dockers ($25) from Hudson Bay Company, jumper by and from HBC ($45), jacket by and from HBC ($115). Question: will Paul wear his "Canada" jumper in NY when Canada take on the USA for gold in the men's hockey/women's hockey/women's curling?
Engaged in a participation sport today – shopping. The gold medal went to the Canadian economy, silver to China, bronze to Olympic outfitter Hudson Bay Company and the bill to my credit card. Early in the morning I somewhat misled a student from George Washington University who was conducting a survey on perceptions and economic benefits of the Olympics Games to Canada. I significantly under-estimated my spend on retailing and dining out, forgetting last week’s delightful dinner at the Terminal Club and not appreciating the extravagance of the coming day.
That long-standing institution of Canadian trade and export, the Hudson Bay Company, is the designated retailer of Olympic wear and souvenirs. Significant portions of the downtown store’s ground floor and fifth floor are given over to Vancouver Olympic merchandise that pleasingly is of good quality, taste and value. After a quite a while in the scrum we emerge with clothes, pins, gifts and other goodies.
We were joined in our shopping by Tom Stafford, astronaut, by whom we stood in the cashier queue and rode the escalator. Please do not assume that our familiarity with American astronauts is such that we just went: “Hi Tom. How’s the shopping going? Are you enjoying the Olympics?” Two hours earlier strolling past high-end jewellery retailer Birks, Carole noticed a crowd had gathered and went to investigate. Turned out the watch company Omega had brought Tom Stafford and fellow spaceman Eugene Cernan to Vancouver to talk about their adventures and the Omega watches that had flown with them. I found it somewhat disconcerting to see these now elderly gentlemen, who I remember from my childhood as youthful adventurers, on stage, grey haired, Stafford with hearing aid and stoop, sharing an amusing mix of anecdotes and observations. Most touching was Cernan’s account of his final steps on the Moon, knowing that they would be the last steps by any man for a long while. A rewarding hour, another Olympic moment for which you had to be there.
By way of contrast from the hustle and bustle of downtown shopping our evening was spent at the local Yaletown Community Centre (a former railway roundhouse) taking in an evening from the First Nations cultural Olympiad program, “Talking Sticks”.
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