The party continues
Six long months have gone by since the city started lighting the candles on a virtual birthday cake. Back on the end of New Year’s Eve, we stood in a very cold parking lot to watch the shock and awe from the city centre. Tonight, some of the family are enroute for part two, bigger and better, the best ever according to all the media. Thirty minutes of fireworks from a set of barges anchored in the middle of the river. My ride fell through, with only minutes to go, so I’ll listen to the play by play on the radio and pretend that I see all the colours.
It’s been a vicarious day. The big show with Vigneault, Charlebois, Dubois, Dufresne and others went off under heavy rain, but I was at work. Happily the media want me to know what I missed, so the refrain is the same. The bells rang across the country, and I actually stood out in the rain and listened. Rain is very loud. Bells in the rain are not. The demonstrations against the military presence and the lack of attention to certain segments of the population did not have me as a bystander. Vicarious means that you have to be absent from the best parts.
I’ll give credit to the organizers, though. There are some tall ships in the harbour, and the city is ecstatic over the attention from the rest of the world. It’s a real party for a lady that has aged gracefully. We have some new places to go for a stroll, and the city hasn’t emptied the coffers (yet). After all, any party that plans to go for a whole year needs deep pockets.
… forty minutes later…
Well, I did go for a walk, and I did watch thiry minutes of fireworks in the distance. Happily, the radio broadcast of a soundtrack featuring Jorane did keep the experience from being a cold and lonely experience. After all, even the distant thud of a mortar doesn’t have much to offer one in the dark. There were thousands of sparkly blossoms (and no, I didn’t keep count). I did witness the longest pyrotechnic event in Canada, and that’s worth something in this world.
