Tag Archives: Ottawa
Canada Day Reflections – II
When my children were younger and complained about something I would tell them not to just complain but to offer a solution as well. It is a sound principle: be part of the answer, not just part of the problem. Otherwise you are just a whiner. I have complained a couple of times about the […]
Canada Day Celebrations – IV
Just a photo essay today, the rest of my fireworks pictures. I had thought about splitting them over two days, but decided to let you have them all at once.
Canada Day Celebrations – III
Pretty much anyone in Ottawa will tell you that the worst place to watch the national Canada Day fireworks display is on Parliament Hill. But I went anyway. You would think the Hill would be the best place, given that the fireworks are set of more or less at its base. The Hill […]
Canada Day Celebrations – II
After Bono and The Edge performed early Saturday afternoon, I left Parliament Hill. Since I didn’t have to wait in line for hours to get onto the site, I figured I could take a break and go back in the evening for the later portions of the show. The early evening thunderstorm had almost abated […]
Canada Day Celebrations – I
I remember Canada’s 100th birthday, July 1, 1967. I celebrated at Expo67 in Montreal, part of a crowd of, if I remember correctly, 471,000 people who gathered to celebrate the centennial. So when they predicted 450,000-500,000 people converging in Ottawa for Canada Day 2017 I wasn’t deterred by the thought of a crowd that […]
Canada Day 2017
Canada celebrates its 150th birthday today. I can’t decide whether I should head downtown to Parliament Hill for the festivities and fireworks. I haven’t made the trek for at least 15 years, but had decided that this year I should. The fireworks show will be extra-spectacular given the year, and Bono and The Edge (from […]
Into The Sunset
Yesterday’s post was a milestone, and I didn’t realize it at the time. It was my 1,000th post in this space. I just thought it was worth mentioning, given that today’s post is about another milestone. Today is my last day on Parliament Hill. After 10 years of working at the heart of our democracy, […]
A Beautiful Day In Ottawa?
As I was sitting in the upper level of Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Friday, listening to U2, Bono, the band’s vocalist, started talking about Canada. He seems to hold a high view of us as a country. That may be because he hasn’t spent all that much time here, hasn’t had time to get a […]
Ribfest 2017
One of the nice things about working on Parliament Hill is that it is only a block from Sparks Street, which is home to several Ottawa festivals. This year’s edition of Ribfest started on Wednesday and runs until tomorrow. At the annual Poutinefest I have difficulty making a choice, so many tasty possibilities. I find […]
Presto!
I broke the law and have no regrets. They didn’t catch me. Well, technically it wasn’t a law, but I think a city bylaw. I didn’t ask what rules I was about to break, just told the transit employee I was going to take my chances and be riding the bus without paying. Now before […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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