The games following the games

The ParaPan games were not as popular as the PanAm games, but it was certainly more impressive. People with disabilities work harder and better at their other abilities. Yet, they give no excuse, and their determination is amazing.

Once the PanAm games were over, my shifts for the ParaPan games started the following week.
Here's an account of my shifts.

Saturday, August 1:
6 o'clock shift in a 'blue' car C212 and sent to the airport. There is however, no staging and I was deployed to Terminal 3 where I sat for a bit and then chatted with the Venue Manager there.


I was moved to Terminal 1 around 10am.
There, I had a nap, and then chatted with the Venue people there. That day, I met M, who welcomed the guests inside of the secured area and escorted them out to the cars. I was 5th in line and they were expecting 4 guests in the morning. The next guests were coming after 3:30pm. M gave me a tour of their area and told me about his job. I had nice chats with the people there, but at 2:15pm, I requested to leave early and the controller granted me permission. I heard the other blue cars being released 30 minutes later when I was on the DVP. M became a friend.

Thursday, August 6:

6 o'clock shift, but got there 5 minutes later than usual. Charlie 964 in Red group. I met Lynn from my last shift of the PanAm at the depot and hung out with her till I was deployed to the Sheraton at 7:00am. I had a blast at the depot, chatting up with another M (say M2), part of the team at the depot.
At SHR, I was part of a long line up of cars there and Anthony, the supervisor of the venue transport team, was quite entertaining. I had a trip to the village and a trip to Corus Quay. I ended the day at around 2:30pm from the Sheraton. Anthony had gone to the torch relay at David Pecaut and brought us pins back. All in all, a very good day, even though I was stationed at SHR for 3 hours at the head of the line.







Friday, August 7:
After a morning of work, I got to the depot at 1:45pm for my 14:00 shift. Charlie 332 in the blue group. M, from the airport had another shift today, so I looked for an opportunity to go there. But it was not meant to be. I was going to go to the airport as an RFT driver, but another girl, Willa went and my trip was cancelled. I was asked to stay behind at the depot. I was kept at the depot all afternoon with Chun, Laura and Cherryl. I hung out with the schedulers Gary and KB and they needed to schedule drivers for special T1/T2 assignments the following week. Gary had already scheduled me for a special assignment for the Monday, so I was assigned to IPC on the Tuesday. I told Gary to call Merle to get him for IPC on the Thursday. Later, I witnessed and posed as jury in a 'trial' in the control room. Abdi, a controller, was given a yellow card for sending a driver back to the airport when the driver was to stay downtown. It was all fun. I played ping pong with Willa later and then watched the opening ceremonies for the ParaPan games on the big screen. At around 9:30pm, Cheryl wanted to go to Nathan Philips Square to look for something at the store and Laura decided to bring her. I decided to tag along and so all 3 of us went into Laura's car. We dropped off Cheryl on the way back. We came back to the depot just after 10pm and took some pics with the car I never drove.


Monday, August 10:
10:30 shift for the 'Culture' at the SHR.
I went there for 9:30 to say hi to the Transport crew there and then went to the 4th floor to report for duty. My first fare was not to be before 13:30, so I hung around until 12 noon and then went for lunch at NPS. I then picked up the car from the underground garage before parking myself, in the rain on Richmond street for half an hour. My 13:30 never showed up. I was deployed to Billy Bishop airport where I picked up half of a band, 'Les Chercheurs d'Or' from Montreal. It was nice chatting to them in French. I dropped them off at the hotel and was then free to go after parking the car back at the same spot.

Tuesday, August 11:
This was my T1/T2 assignment day for the IPC. My shift time was changed from 10:00, to 7;00 am.
Ulpia was one of the other drivers, along with 2 Bryan's and a Ben. Laura was supposed to be on this shift but she walked in at 7:50 and was asked to stay behind.
I picked up 4 ladies from Montreal at the SHR and drove them to MIS, the Hershey Centre. We watched goalball while the IPC members visited the venue. We then had lunch before driving them to Whitby. We dropped them off at a mall across from the ABL.We drove back to MCDC where my car was taken and given to Chun. I met Chun later at PAC when I went to watch sitting volleyball and swimming with the folks. M was now working at PAC, so we met and chatted for a bit.


Wednesday, August 12:
6 o'clock shift with Merle. We talked about him arriving early to secure us spots at a venue and we decided on RYA to watch wheelchair basketball. M2 was there and directed me to the correct line to be in the same group as Merle. I was assigned Charlie 626 in green and Merle was Charlie 191. Merle and I left at 6:15am after chatting with M2 for a bit. Merle and I asked control whether his name starts with a 'J' or a 'D' because I was convinced it was Dave. But it was not, it was John that time. We were at RYA most of the day. I went to the village twice, once with an athlete and her doctor to get her jersey. They were from Peru. I got the same doctor later and he gave me a pin. Merle and I were separated just before lunch, he was sent to ABL. When he got back, we had lunch and soon after, I was sent to PAC in Scarborough to drop off 2 Japanese delegates. I couldn't get the radio out there so I asked Merle to radio in for me. We met again back at the depot and had cake before leaving for the day.


Friday, August 14:
The weather for my last shift was not looking good, so I took the TTC to the depot.
I arrived at 13:00 for my 14:00 shift and went directly to the trailer for the controllers. I looked for John and Dave. Patrick was there too. Gave them cookies and a thank you card and took pics with them. Then waited for my shift to start.
I was Charlie 199 in Blue. I asked Daniel to send me to PAC, but he almost didn't. M was at PAC, so I wanted to go there. I drove the Secretary General of the Jamaican delegation with her 2 kids to York, just before 5pm. In the meantime, M visited the parking lot, but I wasn't there. I watched sitting volleyball and then went to have dinner. M joined me and the other drivers. We were called back around 20:30 and I drove 4 Colombians to the Intercontinental on Front street. I was then sent to PAF at UofT before being called back at 22:00. I went back to the control trailer to sign off while the control guy looked on and collected a few pins left with Kristina by Laura. I then got a hug from M2 before I took the shuttle to Union.


In retrospective, the ParaPan games made more on an impact on me than the PanAm games did. Maybe because these games were more low key, so fewer drivers and more opportunities for things to happen for me. I made new friends during these games. Some of these friendships may not last, but at least one is on a good track to last. These 7 ParaPan shifts were by far more eventful than my PanAm shifts and maybe because sensing the end approaching, I lived it more intensely. Or maybe just the fact that these shifts were closer together than my PanAm shifts, there was more continuity in my experience.
It was bittersweet when I attended the closing ceremony at Nathan Philips Square the next day, but it certainly provided closure. These games are over, when are the next ones??

It's in you to give....

As we approach the New Year's eve w/end, I have heard a lot about the NOT-drinking-and-driving campaign here in MU. This week after Christmas, the news have been about how the police force stopped vehicles on Christmas eve for alcohol tests and how many drunk drivers were tested.

We all know that we shouldn't drink and drive, yet some drivers still do it because they either think they are above the law or because they think their tolerance for alcohol is better than most people. What these drivers do not realize is that by driving under the influence of alcohol, they not only put themselves in danger, but they put the lives of other people in danger too. Most often than not, in road accidents involving drunk drivers, the innocent are more hurt than the drunk driver himself. The Don't-Drink-And-Drive campaigns usually try to remind people of those risks come the holiday season.

That said, the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) usually have a massive campaign to make people donate blood during the holidays. Here in MU, I haven't heard that much about giving blood although I am sure the need for blood is even more critical during this period. The blood banks in MU already run low most of the time, so it is only normal that during the holiday period, with people getting busier at home and with parties, fewer donors have the time to go to a blood collection point and unfortunately more accidents occur during this period meaning more people needing blood.

Since the blood collected can only be used within 35 days, every healthy person who can donate blood should be encouraged to do so to relieve the need for blood nation-wide. Blood to spare is something most people have... yet, there is still not enough to go around. It is something money can't buy, only something one person can give to another. In fact, one blood donation may help save up to three lives.

As the CBS campaigns usually say: "It's in you to give. Give the gift of life, donate blood."

If nothing else, that could be your good deed for the coming year.

Only in Mauritius...

I drive to work everyday.
Just that would be enough for me to post entries on my blog everyday.
There are things you see on the roads in my country (yes Javed, last time I checked, I was still Mauritian), that you can't see anywhere else....

Today, I saw a 4x4 drive over the "island" separating the lanes on the motorway and merge into traffic going in the opposite direction....Ok, maybe that's forgivable, there was a huge traffic jam ahead because of an accident and I understand some people will do anything (and I mean EVERYTHING) to avoid traffic jam.

But I once saw a van stop on the right lane (the fast lane!) of the motorway and let people off right in the middle of the motorway. What was that about? Did the driver even THINK about the people driving at 120 km/hr on that lane and that stopping might cause a huge domino accident? Nooooo....he probably just thought that since he's got to stop, everybody else on the motorway should stop too! Now, let's not think about the cars coming on the left lane who might just not realize some people are getting off the van and knock them off coz that would just be too graphic for my imagination.

I've also seen a family of 4 travelling on a moped! The dad holding a kid in front of him and the mom doing the same on the back seat, kids not wearing helmets or anything! I don't think they realize just how dangerous it is to carry more than the indicated number of passengers on those thingys....I think mauritians have no clue that the indicated number of passengers allowed on those is 2 MAXIMUM!

And what about the man sitting on his moped facing oncoming traffic on the motorway this morning? I think he wanted to cross over to the other side of the motorway when all he could have done was to ride 100m up, take the roundabout and ride down the lane he wanted to cross!

Now, that's only a few examples....
Driving in MU is like an obstacle course: you gotta watch out for cars just coming out of nowhere, cars hindering traffic because hell they can, bikes, mopeds, hens and roosters, barking dogs, kids playing football (soccer!) on the streets, low branches of the trees by the road, hawkers and their wares (taking up half of the street) and of course the oh-so-many potholes along the way. And let's not get started on the bus drivers who think that since their vehicles are larger, they can pass other vehicles in any situation, even if that means oncoming traffic has to come to a complete stop. And mind you, if you are coming in the opposite direction at full speed, they'll flash their brights at you so that you stop far enough for them not having to slow down to pass the other vehicle!

If all the drivers in MU went to a driving test in any other country, I don't think half of them will get their driving licence no matter how many times they try. I got mine in Canada on the 2nd try :P
But it's true what they say: if you can drive in MU, you can drive ANYWHERE!