Tag Archives: Ottawa
Tulipfest 2016
Ottawa’s annual Tulip Festival wrapped up Monday. Most years I ignore the event, not being all that enamoured of watching flowers grow (though admittedly it is more interesting than watching paint dry). However, being a dutiful husband, when my wife said “let’s go see the tulips,” I went to see the tulips. And enjoyed myself […]
Mer Bleue Once Again
We were there Christmas Eve when it was unseasonably warm – two months later than our usual last visit for the year. Yesterday was Easter, and it was also unseasonably warm, so we headed back to Mer Bleue. We avoided the wooded trails, which were certain to be all mud, and stuck to the boardwalk. […]
Am I A Criminal?
Canada does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a statute of limitations on criminal acts. There is no sunset clause for minor offences, as is found in some American jurisdictions. I mention this because I am about to confess to a crime. My hope is that the authorities will decide it isn’t worth […]
Bus Etiquette
I pushed my way through the group of four young adults blocking the bus’s exit. Clustered in front of the door you would think they were planning on getting off when I was, but that was not the case. I did a quick count as I exited. There were at least six empty seats in […]
The Aftermath
Two days after Ottawa was hit with a major 50 cm snowstorm the bus system still doesn’t appear to be back to normal. Thursday afternoon buses were traveling through the downtown core were 45 minutes behind schedule. Supposedly that was due to high traffic volumes, which struck me as a strange excuse given that most […]
White Chaos
I occasionally poke fun at my American friends whose communities seem to be unable to handle a severe winter storm. Canadians, I tell them, aren’t afraid of a little snow. We know how to deal with the stuff. My contempt has its roots in a trip to New York City in 2001, where we experienced […]
More Than Culture Shock!
Today’s predicted high temperature in Damascus, according to the BBC is 18 degrees Celsius. Today’s predicted high in Ottawa is -22 degrees Celsius. With the wind chill it will feel like -36. We have hundreds of newcomers in Ottawa, refugees escaping the fighting in Syria. Everything here is new to them, the language, the food, […]
Winter is Here???!!!
After an unseasonably warm Fall I woke up this morning to freezing rain with colder temperatures and some major snowfalls in the forecast. Looks like it might be here to stay. Mind you, we normally get around 75 centimetres of snow before Christmas. This yer we had one, which quickly melted. It was 16 degrees […]
Memory
I went to a party last night. I hate parties. As I was explaining to friend by email before the event, I can do small talk really well – I just don’t like it. Superficial is easy, but why should I care about the superficial? I want meat, not milk. (Sorry about that if you […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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