On a warm sunny day in July 2005, I took this snap of Canada's War Memorial which you can see there in the middle of the frame. I took this shot from the Peace Tower's observation deck high above the Centre Block or House of Commons. Though unveiled in 1922 and officially known as the Tower of Victory and Peace to commemorate the Canadians who had given their lives during the World War I, many here may have felt the name symbolically suggested the Canadian way of life, that is going about our day peacefully and somewhat detached from the terrorist threats plagued by so many other countries. That all changed a week ago at around 10 am when chaos erupted in Ottawa as an army reservist guarding the National War Memorial's "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was shot and killed by a masked gunman. Soon after, it was reported as many as 50 shots being fired inside the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. Then it was later confirmed that the gunman was shot dead
inside the building by the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms and the RCMP. Not knowing whether more attacks were imminent, much of Ottawa's downtown core was placed under lockdown.
When I returned to work as an OC Transpo bus operator at 12:30, I was told many drivers were asked to come back in early to help get the thousands of people out of the downtown core. Fortunately for me, much of my work that day was servicing neighbourhoods in the west and south ends of the city with the exception of one route that would take me through the core later in the afternoon. Regardless though, it was easy to see that the shock and horror being experience by so many near Parliament Hill was also being felt throughout the city. So many of my customers were in disbelief and eager to get home, while others showed signs of anxiety and would rather stay on my bus than go to work or wherever. Though the lockdown did not officially end until late Wednesday night, our main west and easterly routing through the downtown core had been reopened by the time I made my last trip of the day through there just after 5 pm. It's a drive-through that I'll never forget. I wouldn't go so far as saying you could hear a pin drop, but it was very quiet and surreal. Each street heading up to Parliament Hill was empty and motionless, barricaded by police and their cruisers, and the bright lights of a TV reports being broadcasted "LIVE" could be seen at almost every corner.
As days go by, we're first told the radicalized gunman acted alone, that he was troubled and mentally unstable, then on Monday he was deemed a terrorist once again as a video taped days before the attack surfaced outlining his intended actions and political beliefs. It's been a pretty rough week as two Canadian soldiers were killed within a day of each other due to terrorist ideology, the first resulting from a hit & run in Quebec on October 20th. Though it's been stated that Canadians will not be intimidated, and we are also encouraged to simply
'STAY CALM & CARRY ON"!! which is probably the best policy. However in doing so we have to remember though we were all knocked down, we've since got up again, and nothing is going to keep us down (Sorry Chumbawamba).
For me, it's just more of the status quo: operating my bus with my
"EYES WIDE OPEN" while whistling or singing a tune to myself like
"Don't worry, BE HAPPY", and just like any other day I will continue to enjoy time with my family and friends, and as often as possible, publish blogposts about
BOATS, like....
...while returning home from
"Old Stomping Ground Tour & Back", we figured if traffic on the 401 continued to move along, we might see the 730' CSL self unloader
ATLANTIC ERIE transit Iroquois Lock. Yes indeedy, we made it just as the sun was starting to set which didn't allow for a lot of great boat snaps, but the fall colours sure looked great, eh? Then just as the downbound
ERIE was exiting the lock, Janie tells me the upbound
CSL NIAGARA was just passing Morrisburg.
YES!! So back in the car we go hoping to snap the CSL fleetmates pass each further down river.
With luck on our side, that's exacting what happened. Motoring at a good clip and with her long unloading boom lifted high above her deck, the
CSL NIAGARA looked like a medieval jouster protecting our honour, ON GUARD FOR THEE!! while bearing down on still in the water
ATLANTIC ERIE. Or perhaps NOT c):-s
Well it definitely was a pretty close encounter just the same as you can see from Janie's snaps below taken with her iPhone while I stood amongst the sumacs along the river bank (see bottom right-hand corner for MOI). The two big self unloaders just kept getting closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...until they looked like one, side by side...
...then continued on their merry way. The
ATLANTIC ERIE to Belledune, New Brunswick and
CSL NIAGARA to Duluth, Minnesota.
It was quite a hoot for Janie and I to snap these two CSL self unloaders and if you listen closely to our YouTube video, you can hear the excitement of both crews as the fleetmates passed by (
http://youtu.be/ERxvuupcdTg).
The last time I snapped these two boats together, the
ATLANTIC ERIE was the "high in the water" vessel motoring upbound above Lock 7 in Thorold, Ontario. For more info about her, click onto this earlier Carlz Boat post link (
http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/06/self-unloader-atlantic-erie-revisited.html), or NOT!! c);-b
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