Intro to Ottawa - 2003

INTRO TO OTTAWA

This past summer I had the privilege of working in our nation’s capital for three weeks. What an honour to be working almost within sight of our elected officials. Joanie joined me to clean up my breakfast dish and cup each morning. One should always learn from these opportunities and I thought I would share some of our discoveries and experiences.

Each day, after I made the five minute excursion from the hotel to my office, Joanie would go out to discover Ottawa. After the first day she became very jealous. She was one of the few people in downtown Ottawa not to be wearing a building security pass around her neck or clipped to her clothes. In Vancouver these are quickly hidden from sight when one leaves an office building, particularly if you work for a less popular employer like Canada Customs and Revenue. In Ottawa, civil servants proudly display these symbols of public employment from the time they leave their home until they get back home, and possibly even longer. So, if you spend some time in Ottawa, get a photo ID card and hang it around your neck if you don’t want to stick out.

We also discovered very quickly that the “Don’t Walk” hand signal does not mean what we thought it does. In Ottawa it is either just a suggestion, or is some form of greeting. In either case, you will only find out-of-town visitors standing at a crosswalk waiting for the “Walk” sign. Locals, if they are very cool, do not even slow down before crossing. However, this all changes at rush hour. Then, for half an hour each day, traffic builds and pedestrians do wait, sort of. The trick is to anticipate when the “Walk” sign is about to go on, so that you can be at least half way across the street before it does, leaving those out-of-towners in your dust. By day three, Joanie and I had both mastered the art of crossing the street, scoffing at the rookies standing at the curb.

Rules also vary according to where you are. As noted, pedestrians are free to ignore any traffic sign that might slow them down. Similarly, drivers take posted speed limits as meaning the minimum, not the maximum speed. Anyone traveling less than 120 Km./hr. shouldn’t be on the highway, or any four lane street for that matter, and what’s with the pedestrians in the crosswalk anyway? The right of way depends on if you are walking or driving, much like here.

One should not go to Ottawa without taking in some culture. Ottawa seems to have more museums than Tim Hortons, which explains why there is no CRC in downtown. The only thing missing seems to be a museum of politics, but I think that is being fixed.

Joanie and I decided to take in a cultural event, along with my brother, who was visiting from the centre of the universe. It just so happened that a group of lads from Vancouver, known as the B.C. Lions, were to take on the local chaps in a Canadian institution, a football game. Being somewhat familiar with this, we decided to take in the exhibit. We trekked the 45 minutes up the Rideau Canal to the stadium under a sky threatening to rain at any time. This made us feel quite at home. However, once the activities began we were quite surprised by the lack of cultural awareness of the locals. The west coast guests were trying to put on a clinic for their hosts. After some time, they demonstrated the art of scoring a long touchdown. The three of us sprang to our feet and shouted “Cheerio, good show lads!” or words to that effect. To our surprise, 24,000 people sitting around us sat silently, apparently not understanding the significance of the event. Never before have I heard such deathly silence when a team has scored so beautifully and so often. Feeling that perhaps the people had missed the point of the exercise, the Lions repeated this many more times. Each time the effect was the same. Three people standing and shouting words of encouragement among a sea of emotionless faces. After the score became 48 to 14, it was clear that these people didn’t understand culture like us folks out west.

Joanie was also fortunate enough to witness the changing of the guard at Parliament Hill which happens daily at 10AM. While I believe a simple timecard would be much simpler, this big show about a bunch of guards getting off work is designed to instill confidence for the people, knowing that this group of college students is guarding the seat of power. At the same time, it’s a little embarrassing. When the Canadian economy finally turns around, I think we need to invest in buying these boys some nice light caps for the summer, rather than making them wear their bear fur hats all year round.

While I visit Ottawa regularly, seldom is it during the summer months, when the natives are out of hibernation. The area around Parliament Hill and the market are bustling even past midnight. I guess when you live in the shadows of where our government does its business, its hard to sleep at night.

One final word of wisdom. Ontarions (?) own cottages, not cabins. While the distinction was lost on Websters and Funk and Wagnall, it seems a cabin is a lower form of dwelling found west of the Rockies.