From: ad206@FreeNet.Carleton.CA   
      
   "Dangerous" (dangerous@telus.net) writes:   
   > Happy Birthday Dennis.  I am so sorry I over looked your Bday.  So much =   
   > had been happening lately.   
   > Especially since the last of our warm riding weather is still around.   
   > Hope your day was special and filled with lots of surprises.   
      
   Thanks, Dora! - Yes, it was. Our daughter is on the police force   
   (forensics), and was taking a course at Algonquin College, where I teach. She   
   and Diane surprised me by showing up during her lunch break from classes, and   
   took me to lunch at the local eatery next to the college.   
      
   A lot has been happening here, too - never seems to end.   
   Last weekend, I had a bittersweet Sunday. During the week, the Ottawa   
   Citizen newspaper reported that, in honour of the 65th anniversary of the   
   Battle of Britain, there would be a flypast at "the War Museum" that was   
   to include the Lancaster and B-25 Mitchell from Hamilton, a Canadair   
   Challenger decked out in D-Day colours, plus a Spitfire, Mustang and   
   Harvard (the last in yellow trainer livery).   
      
   Yahoo! The ceremonies would be at 10am, and the flypast at 11:00.   
   I bussed down to the museum, as one of the curators had told me that, on   
   the May 8 celebrations, he had stood on the top of the new War Museum (a   
   public area) and the Lancaster had roared low over his head and scared the   
   wits out of him. I was looking forward to the same experience.   
      
   First glitch was the lousy Sunday bus schedules - I did not arrive at the   
   War Museum until after 10:00. There was no ceremony in progress on the   
   ceremonial square, so I ventured inside the museum. Only visitors and tour   
   guides - no ceremony. I then tried the top of the museum - maybe everyone   
   was up there.   
   Nothing.   
      
      
      
   As I came back to ground level in front of the museum, there was a guy in   
   uniform telling the first in a line of about 12 cars that "You're at the   
   wrong museum!!"   
   My heart sank. If I had thought about it, the Battle of Britain involved   
   several [  :^)  ] AIRPLANES...perhaps the ceremonies were at the Canadian   
   AVIATION museum - way over on the east end of the city...   
   Sigh...I figured that I had read the paper incorrectly.   
      
   I hopped a bus downtown and walked quickly past the Chateau Laurier hotel,   
   through Major's Hill park and past the National Gallery up onto Nepean   
   Point - I figured that, if the aircraft made their usual west-to-east run,   
   they would pass right over my position, and at least I could get photos of   
   SOMETHING.   
   As luck would have it, wind conditions (or something) made them fly   
   south-to-north, so all I got to see were tiny dots buzzing lazily across a   
   distant sky...sigh...   
      
   At least, if I closed my eyes, perched up there on the cold, grey stone base   
   of the statue of Samuel de Champlain, I could listen to the unmistakable   
   roar of the four-engined Lancaster, the twin-engined Mitchell and the uniquely   
   distinctive whine of the Harvard's supersonic propellor tips, and imagine   
   that they were closer than they actually were.   
      
   What ticks me off is that, not only did I miss seeing all of these rare   
   war birds flying closely overhead together, but I also missed imagining   
   the thrill that those two pilots, in the Mustang and Spitfire, must have   
   been experiencing as they "escorted" those two big, vintage bombers   
   through the sky, just as young men did 65 years ago...   
      
   Later in the week, I retrieved the newspaper article from the bulletin   
   board at school - I had posted it, in case any of my Museum students   
   wished to witness this rare and interesting event - and discovered that,   
   indeed, the dummy reporter had mistakenly written that the flypast was at   
   "the War Museum," instead of the Aviation Museum.   
   Twice.   
   In the same article.   
      
   Anyway, I took advantage of being downtown to take a walk over to the   
   National War Memorial and Grave of the Unknown Soldier to say some prayers and   
   thank those who did what they did for us. I told them about the ceremony   
   and the flypast, and hoped all the airforce folks had witnessed the memorial.   
   All in all, despite the disapointment, not a bad Sunday morning.   
      
   Then came the week from Hell, which will finally end late tomorrow   
   (student presentations this week).   
   Diane and I are off to the "Bytown Ball" on Saturday - a gala fundraiser   
   for two local community museums. We are both dressing in Edwardian costume   
   (hey, if I am DRESSED like one, do I hafta BEHAVE like a "gentleman?").   
   Next week, the schedule is a lot clearer - ahhhhh - some breathing  space...   
   Dennis Lloyd.   
   Ottawa.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)