What crowds? Were we expecting crowds?

HMMMM.... all is quiet on the crowds scene in downtown Vancouver right now. Where are all the Paralympic people?

The zipline across Robson is up and running again, the olympic torch in Coal Harbour is lit up, and all the other crowd gathering points are once again open for gathering, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest any more.

It is nice that the helicopters that pounded the air around us every day of the Olympics have stopped - there was some excitement on the weekend, but we're back to normal city noise now.

The sports action in Whistler and the various venues in Vancouver is going well, but the crowds are not as numerous as for the Olympics.

Did we overdo it on the 2 weeks of Olympic excitement? Are we all too pooped to party? Or is it just a Tuesday, wait for the weekend time?

Will the crowds be different for the Paralympics?

The constant reverberating sounds of helicopters flying low over Vancouver's downtown signals the start of the 2010 Paralympic games as I wonder what this crowd of athletes and watchers will be like.

The opening ceremonies are tomorrow, but the crowds have not been as big as they were just before the Olympics began.

The last set was happy, enthusiastic, healthy (except most of them were committing slow suicide by sucking on cancer sticks), and really didn't understand what to do about people in wheelchairs around them. Reminders of human mortality were not what they were expecting.

But these new athletes are paralympians, not olympians, so many of them are in wheelchairs. Top performing athletes in wheelchairs.

I expect the crowds will be different, but I'll wait and see. I'm almost looking forward to crowds... and odd thing indeed.