They are, hands down, the must-have accessory of the Vancouver Games.
Red mittens, with a white maple leaf on the palm and the Olympic rings on the back, are everywhere – most recently waving deliriously by the hundreds as Alexandre Bilodeau finally won gold for Canada at Cypress Mountain on Sunday.
At $10, they’re the perfect souvenir. One problem: I can’t get my bare, cold hands on them.
Olympic shop at the Main Press Center? Sold out days ago. Storefronts all over downtown? Mittens galore, but not the genuine article.
I tried superstore Hudson’s Bay Co., an authorized reseller, on my lunch break. What I found – in addition to a crowd that would have incited a riot had they been anyone other than Canadians – was a letdown.
Extra-large, check. Small-and-medium bin, empty. Unless you had hands the size of Quatchi, the lovable sasquatch mascot of the games, you were out of luck.
So the quest goes on. I was grousing about it to a colleague over dinner last night when a Canadian woman at the next table leaned over and said she couldn’t help overhearing.
“I bought 20!” she enthused.
She wished me luck as she left and cheerily urged us to write nice things about Canada while we’re here.
I’ll be happy to. If she’s willing to part with a pair.