Preparations pick up for papal presence

I love a throng. I have always enjoyed being swept along in a massive crowd of people. There is something really rewarding about being one of a crowd that has a common mood, how much more so if that common mood is celebratory. Going to sporting events is always fun because there are so many people coming to and fro. When the Calgary Flames were making their playoff run in 2004, people of all levels of interest in the game would gather and just celebrate. I didn’t go then, but in 2006 I made it to a post game celebration on the Red Mile, and had so much fun. It is a people watcher’s paradise, and the mood is so upbeat. Canada Day in Ottawa was a similar experience for me, a few hundred thousand people all celebrating together. Of course when the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993, it was quite a to-do in Saskatoon. There were thousands of people on 8th Street running around having fun, and then all of a sudden it turned into a riot. In a classic chicken and egg scenario, I don’t know if the police in their riot gear caused it or if it was the revellers who necessitated the riot police. Anyway, it was very interesting and I quite enjoyed the spectacle. Ironically, there wasn’t any rioting anywhere else in Canada that night, only in Saskatoon which has a pretty marginal interest in baseball at the best of times.
It is currently World Youth Day in Sydney and there are many thousands of Catholics from all over the world in and around the city. The Pope is arriving by ferry to Darling Harbour today and then will drive around the downtown area. Streets are blocked off and excitement is mounting. Instantly a cold and impersonal city is transformed into a fun and welcoming city with impromptu conversations starting everywhere you turn, with people waving their flags and singing songs in the street. I walked down to the harbour yesterday and was amazed at how many people there were. I was swept along in the crowd of people who were just walking, singing, being friendly etc. You look around and you see all kinds of people, just with more monks, nuns and priests than you might normally expect to see. People are exchanging pins and flags and other mementoes of their country. I stepped into a pavilion on my way home from work yesterday and heard a boy band singing. They were called the Altar Boys; they were dressed entirely in white and had moves reminiscent of the Backstreet Boys. The one song I heard had them singing “We are the Altar Boys and we are going to alter your mind!” This was entertaining too, but not quite in the same way as the rest of the day. Very many pilgrims are walking around with huge flags draped around their necks. I find that my flag recognition is pretty poor beyond about 40 flags or so. I had to ask a guy where he was from when I couldn’t place his colours. Turns out I had never seen the Sri Lankan flag before. Other cues can be used to determine the nationalities of people in the street. I cast my gaze on a couple and tried to guess where they were from. They were both Caucasian with dirty blond hair. They could have been from nearly anywhere in Europe or North America or other select parts of the globe, but I guessed correctly that they were American. My clue was that the guy was wearing New Balance shoes. I suppose the marketing machine for New Balance would say it was a lucky guess, but I was pretty confident in it. I talked with a guy on the train last night who was from Brasilia. He was married 3 months ago, and his wife is about a month into her pregnancy. Due to the arrangements of their billets, they are staying at different places in Sydney, with the men in one residence and the women in another. He took the day off of the WYD celebrations to be with her as she was feeling pretty sick. All in all, it has been a great time in the city and promises to be more of the same. The final mass is expected to bring in 500,000 people to hear the Pope say the mass. In summary, I would like to turn a phrase made popular by a certain movie: “I love the smell of a throng in the morning”. Do with that what you will, I just thought it was funny.