DG's Journal: Canada Day in the Capital

Ever since we stopped racing, we stopped travelling all over North America to attend races. Niner has been going through serious travel withdrawl, and she finally snapped - she bought us tickets to Ottawa, so we could spend Canada Day in the nation's capital.

We caught the train from Windsor to Toronto, and from there to Ottawa. Left Windsor at 0600, had a 2-hour layover in TO, and made Ottawa by 1630. Time enough to hit the Canadian War Museum until it closed, and then head up to the Hill for the concert and the fireworks.

I've passed through Ottawa a few times, but never stopped to look around. It's a lot nicer than I expected; very clean. After the fireworks, the entire downtown core was covered in the usual post-party detritus, but at 0700 the next morning, everything had been cleaned up. Wow.

The CWM was really very cool; particularly the huge garage full of vehicles - although it was a little sad to see how many of them were in service during my tenure. It's weird to see the stuff you used on a daily basis sitting in a museum; and some of it (like the Leo 1C2) isn't really all that old.

Got my picture taken in front of a Grant tank too. :D

So as we're looking at all the various vehicles, I'm giving my usual running commentary/lecture to Niner. I'm an AFV recognition geek; it's part of my job, and I'm chock-a-block with UFI about armoured vehicles. Pretty soon, we've got an entourage of people listening in and asking questions.

Standing in front of a T34-85 (the upgunned Russian tank that won the tank war on the Eastern Front) I'm pointing out the rough-cast nature of the hull and turret (they were cranking those puppies out so fast there was no time for nicieties like fit and finish) and Joe Random Civillian asks me "So, where would you put the grenade to blow one of these up?"

Stopped me cold. Here we are, standing in front of 30 tons of killing machine, and buddy wants to know where to put the *grenade*?

"Uh, well, a grenade wouldn't do much against this. In combat, all the hatches would be locked down - see the latches here? - and there's no way to get one inside. If you don't have any specialized anti-tank weapons, you're pretty much out of luck. You might try sticking one in the suspension, maybe blow a track off, but that's a low percentage option - your best bet is to run away. There's a reason why we call the infantry "crunchies" y'know"

At that last, he shot me a look of pure horror... dude, it's the *WAR* museum! It ain't a tractor!

I wonder if there's any money in being a private tour guide....

Anyway, big thumbs up for the war museum.

Up to the Hill, we caught the last half-hour of the concert, then watched the fireworks. Is there anything quite as cool as singing "O, Canada" with ten thousand people on the front lawn of Parliment? And props to the guys pulling the trigger on the fireworks - they timed it so the very second the song ended, the first firework exploded. Well done!

The next morning, we walked back to the Hill, and wandered the grounds, then watched the GGFG and the CG do the changing of the guard, which is one of those "better you than me" moments. I've done enough ceremonial parades in scarlets for one lifetime, thanks.

And then we caught the train for home.

Train geek moment, courtesy of my GPS - a Via train has a top speed of 160 km/h.

All in all, a great weekend.

DG

not funny

[sparky4]

but "crunchies" cracked me up !

Out of context, congrats on the new home and pool.