Rain, rain go away

Here and Now column by Dan Hilborn
Published Aug. 28, 2004


Maybe the rain is more frustrating than work, after all.

Organizers of the Work Frustration Fair, which will raise money for B.C. Children's Hospital, have rescheduled the event on account of all that rain we saw last week.

The fair, which is a new twist on the annual Cooking for Kids barbecue, features a barbecue and long list of zany work-related contests, all for a donation of $9.99.

The fair will be held from noon to 2 p.m., Wed., Sept. 1, at the Metrotown Tower Plaza, located beside the dolphin fountain and near the Metrotown SkyTrain station.

AN OLYMPIC VACATION

A lucky Burnaby family returned from Greece last week after the most fabulous vacation of a lifetime. The Glavas family were visiting relatives on the beautiful Greek island of Zakynthos (Zante) when they had the rare opportunity to have their picture taken with the Olympic torch as it wound its way through towards Athens.

George, Lynda, Dion and Alaina Glavas were alerted to the torch's impending arrival when they spotted a large military helicopter leading the way.

A bus began dropping off relay runners at 300-metre intervals along the one main road leading into the town where they were staying.

In an e-mail sent to friends and family, mom Lynda, who teaches at Seaforth school, said witnessing the final legs of the Olympic torch run was the highlight of their trip.

"We had an exciting few days, especially when we got to get our picture taken with the Olympic torch," she wrote. "It was so cool."

Local police were a little hesitant to let the growing crowd of onlookers get too close to the torch or the runners, but one of the Greek athletes graciously intervened to allow the picture taking.

"This is Greece, people make their own rules," Lynda wrote.

Also in Greece this month is Jenny Siormanolakis, who is taking a few weeks off work from the Heights Merchants' Association to visit relatives and take in some of the most prestigious sporting event in the world.

MERCHANT NAVY DAY

Local veterans of the Canadian Merchant Navy will be attending their first annual Merchant Navy Day including a parade and commemoration, on Sept. 3 in North Vancouver.

Among the many honoured guests will be two prominent Burnaby residents - J. Roy Finlay, national president of the Canadian Merchant Navy Veterans' Association, and Roy Blainey, chair of the B.C. Yukon division of the group.

The parade will mark the first time merchant mariners have been officially recognized with a national day of commemoration, after the date was proclaimed in Parliament last year, Finlay said.

"It took us 50 years just to be recognized," said Finlay, who noted that B.C. Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Iona Campagnolo, will be on hand for the occasion. Also in attendance will be veteran seamen from the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States.

Sept. 3 was chosen for Merchant Navy Day in commemoration of the crew of the Athenia, a Canadian merchant ship that was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean just hours after Germany declared war in 1939. Throughout the war, some 12,000 Canadians served in the merchant fleet, which had 70 vessels sunk and saw 1,600 crew members lose their lives.

The parade will begin at 10:15 a.m. near the Seabus terminal, and proceed to Sailor's Point Park, where a proposed Merchant Navy Museum will be built. Finlay noted the museum will be next door to the old Vancouver shipyards where hundreds of wartime ships were capably built by Canadian workers. "Our wartime crews were capable of building all kinds of ships," he said.