Category Archives: Ottawa

It’s the end of January. More or less. And I had originally intended to cleverly follow up on my diatribe about premature year-in-review summaries by offering either a 2013 year-in-review or a 2012-in-review addendum, for those that relied on newspapers and magazines to put the year in its proper perspective.

But dang if those early editions didn’t have a point. No one cares about 2012 anymore. Just ask Psy. So I’ll limit my reminiscences to words of tribute to important music figures lost in the final days of an eventful year. Internationally, that means a mention of the passing of Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar. Locally, we’re talking the colourful Lance Matthews — the man behind The Whipping Post and a fixture at the Dominion Tavern and The Rainbow Bistro — as well as Dave Seal, the man who kept the beat for 1980s local faves Gonks Go Beat. All will be, and already are, missed. Continue reading →

So what does one do for fun in this town? Perhaps the most effective way to answer that eternal question is through process of elimination. Determine what is not fun, and the rest writes itself. And not being in the mood for a colonoscopy at the moment, I decided this week the logical place to start was with two days of observing Ottawa City Council in action.

In light of the snail’s pace of progress in our city, I have at times wondered what exactly goes on at council meetings. Surely, proposals are made and discussed, in the hope of in some way moving Ottawa forward. For all we know, council meetings may well be knock-down-drag-out affairs where only the strong survive. Or not. The public is welcome to attend such meetings; few do. Fortunately, dear reader, I am here for you. Continue reading →

Today, our American cousins celebrate Black Friday, a day that as far as I can tell commemorates the time the Pilgrims first headed to the outlet malls to purchase blankets, probably to replace the disease-ridden ones they’d given away the day before.

Here in Canada, of course, Black Friday is meaningless. Not that retailers let that stop them from declaring its arrival north of the border. No need to cross-border shop, bargain hunters, even if the Harper Government went out of its way earlier this year to encourage the practice. You can find deals here at home. Deals. Deals. And more deals. Stores here may not open at midnight, as many do Stateside, but, oh, let’s say 7 a.m. Will that work for you? I mean, Thursday is a school night. Continue reading →

“This is history,” an elderly woman laments as she takes one last look around while perched in a corner of the Zellers Family Restaurant at Bayshore Shopping Centre. Reluctantly making her way to the cash to pay for her lunch, she bids farewell to Maria Gomez, the server she has come to know well over the past dozen years.

“I think a lot of the seniors are really going to miss it,” fellow customer Rachelle Tesslar observes as she finishes her Pepsi. “They come in and have breakfast, chit-chat. That lady was really, really upset that this is closing.”

But closing it is, on the heels of the loss, earlier this year, of Sears Carlingwood’s long-standing diner. Zellers itself is, of course, closing its many doors soon. The in-house restaurants, it seems, will not be available for a last supper. Bayshore’s diner will call it a day Saturday, Nov. 3, and Gomez estimates the few remaining menu items will not last the day. It’s an unceremonious exit for a fast-fading institution: the department-store restaurant. When Target takes over selected Zellers stores in the new year, store-run restaurants are not expected to be part of the deal. Continue reading →