all at once the crowd begins to sing Yesterday Devin and I bought some used skates from Play It Again Sports and headed out on the Rideau Canal to test our shaky feet. It's impressive how many people get out there on that 7 kilometre stretch - lots and lots of folks. But the city knows how to make it appealing with several places along the route where you can stop and warm yourself by a fire or order a "beaver tail" (fried dough and sugar) and hot chocolate or coffee.

Ottawa can be a very windy town, and lately that means there's a brutal wind chill. Skating on the canal was decent except for some random gusts. It's been years since I've skated, so I didn't want to try anything crazy, but I managed okay other than one hard fall on my right butt and right elbow. Ouch.

Here's a tiny glimpse.

  | ¶ 3:12 p.m.