Bill Mason Centre Trail

It takes effort to keep on looking for new hikes around Ottawa. We have no grand mountains or stormy oceans. No vast desserts, midnight sun, or ancient ruins. Not even a notable amusement park! In sum, nothing epic to visit. 

Still, there is a rough and tumble beauty to the area, with the Ontario side being a bit more pastoral and the Quebec side a bit more rugged. And as long as Margot keeps letting me drag her across the country, while we chatter life's worries away, I'm going to keep exploring the area.

I thought I had discovered most hikes within 60 minutes of my house by now (my maximum radius for a day-trip) but it turns out there are still a few hidden gems out there because this past weekend we discovered the Bill Mason Centre Trail, near Dunrobin, west of Ottawa.

The trail is tucked behind a school so it is inaccessible to the public during the week. Maybe that's why I have never heard of it before. But it's completely open on the weekend and so Margot, Glossette Girl and I took full advantage of a glorious September day to stroll it's boardwalks and woods.

I loved how empty it was.

Whenever we hike a beautiful trail a part of me wonders whether it's time to pack city life in and move to the country. I don't need epic mountains to realize how realize how much I love nature. And Margot is an avid horseback rider after all....

Just kidding, until I retire I think I'm going to be a city guy. I like the conveniences of Hintonburg and the proximity to culture and restaurants and life that the neighbourhood brings. But a man can dream...

I want to Ride My Bicycle, I want to Ride my Bike

I'm kindof ashamed to admit it but I haven't been on a bike in almost 20-years. The last time I biked, it was when I was in University. I would bike across town  - without a helmet - to the co-op job I had at the time. The bike I used was an old-school CCM bike, which weighed a TON, had faulty breaks and was originally given to me at the start of high school. 

Now that I have more disposable income, and especially since the pandemic started, I've been meaning to rectify this 20-year gap and get me a decent set of wheels - two-wheels that is!

Westboro, the gentrified area just west of Ottawa is sortof the local mecca of bikes and other sporting goods stores (along with nearby Wellington West). The area includes:

• MEC
• Bushtakah
• Lululemon
• Fresh Air Experience
• Great Escape Outfitters

What was primarily holding me back from serious bike shopping was all the news stories about just how hard it is to buy a bike these days due to the high demand and disruption in supply chains caused by COVID. Still, a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and start shopping. After checking out a place in Quebec, I started with Bushtakah, which is an Ottawa store.

I had a super positive experience shopping at Bushtakah. The staff person I spoke to was nice, not pushy and knew his stuff. He also didn't make fun of me for my lack of cycling knowledge! Eventually I put down a deposit for a Trek FX 2, which is a mid-range (price wise) hybrid bike. Delivery of the bike was scheduled for November (so four months away) but in these crazy times, that seemed reasonable. 

However, guess what? I must be born under a lucky star because my bike was delivered 3-months early! So, after only one-month of waiting I'm now the proud owner of a pretty fine piece of equipment if I do say so myself.

I've only just tried cycling around my street so far but it's so light - it's like hovering over the air! I feel like a kid again.*

 * a kid with a little pot belly.

Empty Flights

The summer is slowly winding down and the old routines are starting up again. Margot is back in school for her 6th and last year at École élémentaire catholique Saint-François-d'Assise (in person!), my work is starting to develop hybrid in-person work plans, and autumn is just around the corner.

Since I'm still working from home I took the opportunity to visit my family in Newmarket and Toronto, Ontario. The flight from Ottawa to Toronto is actually very short: just 1 hour.  It used to be a commuter flight for business travelers.  However, this time, my experience was very different. For one, it's all masks, all the time. But I'm used to that now from my recent trip to Alberta. The biggest change I noticed this time was that there was no one on the plane!

It was pretty lonely back there in seat 10D

I stand corrected, there were six passengers on my flight (although I think was an airline employee). Toronto Island Airport, where I landed, was even more surreal. There was nobody there! And that includes outside the airport too. Normally the entrance to the airport is wall-to-wall taxi cabs waiting to pick up passengers.  This time? Not a single cab!

 

Just me at Billy Bishop Airport

 

Now it may be that all of this is due to the fact that Porter Airlines, which is the main airline flying out of that airport, has only restarted flying. However, I'm curious if short haul business travel will ever come back again. I used to travel for work a lot but those days seem like a distant memory now. Another sign as to just how much the Coronavirus has changed things?

The Play's the Thing

Well, I didn't see that coming!

I was trying to think of something to do this Labour Day weekend and I stumbled upon a play being held at the Gladstone Theatre, which is just down around the block from our house. The play: Much Ado about Nothing, being produced by Company of Adventurers, a young people's company based in Ottawa.

For someone who used to go to a lot of plays, I must admit I've been slacking lately about seeing any shows this past year for um...well the obvious reason: COVID!  I just assumed this form of entertainment was dormant for the moment (sadly). I guess I was wrong!

Doth mine eyes deceive me?

Being put on by an amateur youth company, the cost of tickets for the production was fair ($0 [plus a voluntary donation to help out the Gladstone Theatre]) and I jumped at the opportunity for Margot, Glosette Girl and I to go see an afternoon matinee.

Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell

I have to say they did a pretty good job! I wasn't expecting much but the young people (ages 10-19) really impressed me! They knew their lines from top to bottom and they had a pretty decent sense of timing, tone and emotion.

Just going to the theatre was such a fascinating experience.There were 50 people in the audience, all wearing masks, and all spread out and socially distanced. The actors themselves were maskless but put masks on whenever they interacted with the audience (there were a few scenes where they walked up and down the aisles). Is this the future or just an example of the temporary compromises we have to live in in this weird post-vaccine era? I don't know but it was cool to see that COVID hasn't killed theatre after all. Remind me to keep a look out for more shows.

All the world’s a stage...!