A Few Quick Notes 583

-Despite the fact that yesterday was not the hottest day we've experienced in Ottawa, it really felt particularly hot and stickily.  At times I felt as though I as though I was just wearing wet clothing for some unclear reason.  Anyway, despite the fact that today is a little more overcast, it's still on the muggy side of things.  Gross.

-Earlier today we were buzzed by a few jets.  I'm pretty sure these jets must have been Snowbirds and/or CF-18s as both plane types were set to fly over Parliament Hill as part of today's Canada Day celebrations.  I have to imagine that just being buzzed by these planes was a little less exciting than actually seeing them fly by at a low altitude.

-Yesterday while Jeannette and I were out on a bike ride in Gatineau we happened to be riding along the river when we saw a giant hovercraft doing its thing.

Just a few minutes later we rode around a bend in the path and found that the hovercraft had beached itself a few feet in from the edge of the rover.  I have no idea why it was out in the river or why it was beached where it was.

-Our balcony garden continues to grow, though I'm not sure if the plants are developing at the same rate they were just a few weeks ago.

The plant in the garden that seems to be developing the most quickly is the sweet pepper plant.  I can't help but hope that in maybe just a few more weeks we will have a few peppers to harvest.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on our growing bean collection (which now includes two pots of edamame soy beans).

A few days ago we were able to harvest a handful of beans.

Definitely exciting times in the world of our container garden.

-Oh, just a few minutes ago I learned that there is a webcam that broadcasts an image of Parliament Hill.  This might be useful if you wanted to see which protests are occurring on a daily basis, or if you wanted to say that you watched today's festivities but you don't actually want to hear them or see them in any detail.

Apparently I do respond to news coverage

Yesterday I saw some of the coverage of the accidental self-impaling of a ceremonial guardsman at the daily changing of the guard ceremony on Parliament Hill.  Not only did this story remind me that it's now the time of year when I can see such a ceremony, but it also made it clear that these guys are carrying real bayonets.

I know these guardsman are technically soldiers, but why are they carrying real bayonets?

I hope their guns aren't also loaded with real bullets.

Anyway, because I was reminded of this ceremony by the story and also aware of its schedule I decided to head to today's iteration (and I haven't seen it since the summer of 1995).

Despite the fact that the news story indicated that the event occurs daily at 10:00 AM, as I was approaching about 10 minutes before 10:00 AM I saw the pipers and a batch of soldiers just beginning their march towards the lawn (they arrived on site a fell 5 minutes before 10:00).  Maybe this smaller parade isn't considered to be an official portion of the ceremony?

Just after this group passed me I crossed the street just in side the walls of the parliament hill compound only to see the manhole covers that were likely the cause of the aforementioned self-impaling.  It seems that at some point between yesterday and today they have been painted with some kind of gray anti-slip paint.

After the pipers, drummer, and soldiers arrived on the lawn they just stood around without moving for a while.  It was a little less than exciting.

After a few minutes of standing on a sidewalk watching these guys stand motionless in the sun we were informed that we'd have to move, but we couldn't stand behind where we'd been standing because that was an active road.  Really?  

They have major tourist event every morning and they still haven't figured out a way to effectively direct traffic and pedestrians?  Oh, and they probably shouldn't allow people to block the band's entrance until the band has entered, then they wouldn't have to clear everyone out and and help them find a non-road based spot for them to stand until the band enters.

Anyway, eventually the band and another batch of soldiers made their way to the lawn.  The presence of a few flags and cones allowed me to trick myself into thinking that we may be in for some fancy marching and whatnot.  

Boy was I disappointed.

Once the band (along with the pipers) were in position the two groups of soldiers stood across from each other on the lawn.  There was then some kind of 'inspection of the troops' that went on for about 25 minutes.  During the inspection, aside from a few shimmies and the placing and removal of bayonets, the soldiers were largely motionless. Of course at this point I was still hopeful that some fancy marching would still take place.  At least the band was occasionally playing during the inspection.

Sadly, after the inspection of the troops concluded everyone moved to the centre in formation to leave.  They then marched off of parliament hill and down Wellington and Elgin.

In case you're curious, as they left all of the soldiers appeared to have bayonets on their rifles.  Fortunately there weren't any additional self-impalings during the course of the event.

Anyway, if you are planning in being in Ottawa and though you might want to check this event out I would recommend getting there a few minutes before 10:00 to watch the arrival of the two sets of musicians and then leave a few minutes into the inspection.  Once you've seen a guy looking down the barrel of a rifle once you get the idea of what's going to go on for the next 25 minutes and there's really no need witness him looking down the barrel of every rifle present.