BC Family

🇨🇦🍁Happy Canada Day!! 🍁🇨🇦 Wait for it...past 9 seconds... ;) I saw an interview on CBC with Paul Langlois of The Tragically Hip and the GOAT of all Canadian journalists -- Adrienne Arsenault. (So sweet that Paul, despite his own fame, feels the same.) It seems that Ottawa had a day of scorching hot weather followed by a torrential downpour.
🇨🇦
Lost in the annals of history is the fact that 49 years ago the weather was equally as unaccommodating on The Hill. As a GenX child, I came over to Ottawa from Aylmer in Gatineau with my family on Canada Day. As we arrived on the empty grassy hill in front of the Parliament buildings, I recall a couple sitting on the grass -- no fancy outdoor chairs or fold up mats in those days. The man was wearing a cream coloured aran sweater for the cool weather.
🇨🇦
The evening had barely begun when the sky opened up and a torrential downpour landed on us. This was the easy breezy 70s. Nobody had checked the weather in advance. We had no umbrellas. No plastic mats. We all got drenched as 1,000s ran off The Hill looking for shelter. My mum, brother and I ended up in the lobby of The Chateau Laurier hotel. (Ottawa's version of the Hotel Vancouver.) There were no cellphones to help coordinate but I suspect my dad went to get the car.
🇨🇦
This kind of craziness does happen from time to time during Ottawa's typically humid summers. (Fun fact -- Ottawa was considered to be a swamp back in the mid 19th century.) But it is still regrettable that we didn't hear the collab on Ahead by a Century today.
🇨🇦
Meanwhile, while I was waiting in an industrial park next to the City of Surrey Canada Day celebrations today, as my daughter and schoolmates prepared for an international Irish dance competition in Florida next week, I could hear the celebrations on the wind. 🔊⬆️
🇨🇦
Hope you had a fun and restful day wherever you were in Canada and abroad.