Santa Claus Parade

It was the coldest day to date. 9 degrees below (without wind chill) - when I woke up in the morning, I found pretty snowflakes on my window. When the sun came out a bit, the snowflakes sparkled like diamonds! Despite the crazy temperatures, I decided to go ahead and attend the annual Santa Claus parade along Laurier Ave West. Tim was supposed to come with me, but he had to fly to Toronto at the last minute, so I walked down on my own. On the way there, I saw some signs that the Rideau Canal has started to freeze over. Uh-oh.

I got there about a minute before the parade started. There were so many people lining the streets! This parade is quite interesting - it's organised by the firefighters, and isn't just a display of pretty floats. As the floats pass, people can pass the floaters (i'm sure there's a proper name for them, I just don't know what!) bags of new toys that will go to needy kids. Floaters and other parade participants also hand out candy cane along the way, especially to the children who are watching.

The whole event was so festive - hearing carols amidst snow just creates a totally different mood. Oh, there was this guy on one of the floats who shouted out to the crowd, "Who votes to do this in July instead (i.e. summer)?" and everyone's hands shot up at once :-p Men hoisted up babies on their shoulders to get a better view, and everyone was wrapped up 3 times over! Some of the kids were waving so hard at the floats that went by, I thought their arms would drop off! Hmm, actually some of the adults were like that too...

Unfortunately, I wasn't fully prepared for standing for 1 hour in the open in -9 deg weather, so by the time the parade ended, I was frozen stiff, and started feeling some symptoms of hypothermia e.g. rumbling/shivering that starts from inside my gut. Went into a bus stop to escape from the wind, and started chatting with an elderly couple with their 3 grandchildren. We waited forever - then someone finally came and said she saw buses being diverted and perhaps they weren't coming this way at all. So I walked with this elderly couple and the kids back to the mall, after which I quickly got myself a decent plate of food and felt much better... :-( It was worth the chill and burning pain - this happens once a year after all. At least now, I can gauge how much more to layer on for Quebec City on Monday and Tuesday, which will be colder than Ottawa...