A midsummer night’s peeve

It is indecently hot and sticky this week and no, that didn’t stop me from running and kickboxing and frisbeeing and generally sweating buckets. It’s vacation time for many people and as we head into the August long weekend (who cares what it’s called or why?) and untold number of hours spent doing yard work with recalcitrant teenagers I want to raise a recyclable plastic glass filled with lager to new places for people that are starting, at long last, to pop up across Ottawa. The latest is a lovely tavern on Bate Island which has the best view of Parliament Hill this town has to offer (the Museum of History’s view is better but it’s on the Quebec side).

As I sprawled myself across a very cushy seat, I pondered what makes this town great and what makes it infuriating and this Citizen column is the result of that. There’s direct flights and police choppers and yes — that little thing about cutting LRT frequency in half just as public servants are forced into the office three days a week.

Cheers anyway, eh.