I was going to write about the horrible events that took place at the War Memorial and on Parliament Hill, but I think what I wrote on the day after is sufficient. Listening to the audio from the video clip I mentioned a year ago on the radio this morning made chills run down my spine.

Thank you, Corporal Nathan Cirillo. Thank you to the all the people who stopped to help him as he lay there.

Thank you is not enough.

I started writing this on September 26th, but I set it aside because my browser was giving me grief. Apparently, I didn’t return to it until now.

I went kayaking one nice day a couple of weeks ago at Rideau Rowing and Paddling, which is at Chapman Mills. My friend Sarah is the owner and she asked if I minded if she came along. She mentioned there was a small creek a little ways downstream that might be worth exploring. So, off we went.

Paddling a few hundred metres downstream, we found the mouth the creek hidden amongst some reeds. Making our way upstream, we found a number of sheltered docks belonging to a few houses. The water must have been quite deep because there were several motor boats tied up. Heading upstream a bit further, the creek narrowed and took us under River Road and then Leitrim Road.

Continuing upstream, we picked up a few pieces of trash, took some pictures and enjoyed the paddle.

Until the Incredible Stench.

Sarah was about 20 meters upstream of me when I caught a faint whiff of something rotting combined with methane. Judging by her reaction, it was much stronger where she was. Deciding that since the creek was getting narrower, the fact that it looked like there was a tree blocking the way at the next corner, and the Incredible Stench, we beat a hasty retreat.

In all, our excursion up the creek took about 2 hours from the time we left the dock to the time we got back to it.

Hopefully, there will be one nice day to get out for a paddle, but we’re approaching the end of the season and soon she’ll put her fleet away for the winter.

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I want to say up front that my experiences with taxis in Ottawa have generally been positive over the years. Most taxi drivers work long hours and take pride in their cars and the service they provide. But a few are going to ruin it for all of them and it’s to this minority that I’m referring to below.

So, I’ve been thinking about writing about the taxi drivers blocking traffic on the Airport Parkway because of their dispute over pickup fees with Coventry Connections and the Ottawa Airport Authority for a while now. Last week, the “protesters” attacked a taxi with a passenger, breaking the windows. Fortunately, the perpetrators (or at least some of them) have been arrested, so hopefully some of them will be held to account for their actions.

It’s completely unacceptable for this behaviour to be tolerated. I have no problems with the taxi drivers picketing in front of Coventry Connections or the business offices of the airport authority, but they have no right to block the Airport Parkway and certainly no right to cause damage and attack people as some of them have done recently. If/When they block traffic, they should be arrested and their vehicles towed.

My mom summed up the situation nicely last week in a letter to the editor in the Ottawa Citizen:

I am appalled at the violence of the protesting locked-out airport fleet taxi drivers on Tuesday. Why are they able to block a public road — the Airport Parkway at the Uplands Drive overpass — and attack the vehicle of another cab driver in such a violent manner with complete disregard for the safety of the public? Why did the police who were out there not act to stop the violence?

The citizens of Ottawa and our visitors arriving at the airport should be able to travel safely on our public roads without fear of being attacked by these people behaving like thugs. I sincerely hope that the perpetrators of this violence who were captured on video will be charged and that it happens before someone gets seriously injured.

I’m not a supporter of Uber because they’re are operating unlicensed taxis, but if some of the licensed cab drivers are going to act like asshats, perhaps it’s time to figure out how to allow Uber to operate legally in the City of Ottawa.

Both of the teams I’m steering for at the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival have their final practices this evening, so naturally the weather is shaping up to be a little more exciting that necessary:

TAF CYOW 241740Z 2418/2518 27010G20KT P6SM FEW060
FM241900 29012KT P6SM BKN050 TEMPO 2420/2424 P6SM -SHRA PROB30
2420/2423 21/2SM TSRA BR BKN020 OVC040CB
FM250200 31008KT P6SM FEW050
BECMG 2504/2506 VRB03KT
FM251500 33007KT P6SM SCT050 BKN120
RMK NXT FCST BY 242100Z=

Hopefully, the 30% chance of moderate thunderstorms will not interrupt the light rain showers (which, frankly, I could do without).

Compared to this time last week, the weather this evening looks perfect for dragonboating:

TAF CYOW 191738Z 1918/2018 30008KT P6SM FEW040
BECMG 2001/2003 VRB03KT
RMK NXT FCST BY 192100Z=

Almost no wind or clouds in the forecast. I think this will make three practices in a row that I won’t have needed head-to-toe Goretex. 🙂

As you’ve probably noticed if you live in Ottawa, it has been raining all day today. That means the chances are high the I have a dragonboat practice this evening (which I do) and it looks like it’s going to be (another) wet one, at least for the first part of the practice:

TAF AMD CYOW 121851Z 1218/1318 VRB03KT 6SM -RA BR OVC030
TEMPO 1218/1220 3SM -RA BR BKN020 OVC050 PROB30 1218/1220 2SM TSRA BR BKN008 OVC015CB
FM122000 18005KT 6SM -RA BR SCT006 OVC012
TEMPO 1220/1302 2SM RA BR BKN006 OVC012
BECMG 1222/1224 06006KT
FM130300 05006KT P6SM BKN012 OVC090
FM130500 33005KT 3SM BR FEW015 PROB30 1305/1312 1/4SM FG VV001
FM131200 31010KT P6SM FEW025
RMK NXT FCST BY 122100Z

Thank goodness for GoreTex™!

My physiotherapist moved a while back from being within walking distance to a bit farther away that has terrible parking options, so lately, I’ve been taking the bus once or twice a week. I acquired a PRESTO card a few months ago because I rarely have bus tickets and I don’t tend to have a pocket full o’ coins most days.

I checked the PRESTO website to confirm my balance and found it’s sitting at -$2. Odd, I thought, because I have an autoload set up to load $20 whenever it drops below $5. The website even said the autoload was active:

Based on that, I concluded that everything was set up properly and that the problem of my card not auto-loading was on their end. When I called the PRESTO customer service number, the person I eventually reached told me that the autoload was expired, even though the website said it was active. Apparently, I didn’t tap my card within 30 days of setting up the autoload, even though I’m reasonably certain I did. I can’t confirm this with 100% certainty because you can only pull up transactions from the last three months and this would have been sometime in November or early-December.

So, the customer service person resent the autoload confirmation so it’ll be added to my PRESTO card the next time I tap it. But, because the card has a negative balance, it won’t automatically load money to the card until after the balance is brought above $0. And loading money onto a card can take up to 24 hours, so even though I loaded money today, it’s highly unlikely that it’ll be there when I tap my card to go to my physio appointment this afternoon. Fortunately, I think I have some bus tickets in my wallet. (Hopefully they haven’t expired, too!)

There is no obvious way I could tell from the website that the autoload had expired. PRESTO/Metrolinx needs to update their website so that it clearly indicates when an autoload contract hasn’t been completed within the time limit. Other autoloading things I use let you know right away when there’s a problem and there’s no excuse for the PRESTO card website not to do the same.