Drive-By Shooting

One thing I really miss about the old Twitter—back when it was actually a good social-media site—was that I was pretty up-to-date about the news around me. In particular, local news that was unfolding before the mainstream media was able to report on it.

So far, with Mastodon and Threads, I don't seem to be as informed about my community as I used to be. It's a shame, because had I been as connected, I wouldn't have attempted to venture downtown.

I had dropped DW off at the gym, who had a yoga class to attend. Since she's been out of work, she's immersed herself in fitness, getting a membership at the local Movati. She goes at least once each day; sometimes, two times or more.

I wanted to capture images of fall leaves. Even though it was a rainy day, I wanted to get some fresh air after being sick for more than a week. And the autumn colours were not going to remain for much longer.

I had more than an hour and a half, from dropping DW at the doors to the athletic centre, to capture some images and be back to pick her up again. I had more than enough time.

I thought of driving to the Vimy Memorial Bridge, about five minutes away. Capturing the leaves on the trees near this triple-arched bridge would make for a nice photo shoot.

But when I got to a good vantage of the bridge, I saw that most of the leaves on the trees had already fallen, and that those that remained weren't as vibrant as I was hoping for. I snapped a couple of shots before returning to the car.

(I'll share those photos on Friday.)

I remembered seeing some photos on Instagram, recently, that showed the trees beneath Parliament Hill in bright orange and yellow, and thought it might be good to get shots at the Rideau locks, where the canal cuts between Parliament Hill and the Chateau Laurier. I still had more than an hour to get downtown, park near the National Gallery, run to the locks, take my shot, and get back to Barrhaven in time to meet DW.

It's a fairly straight path from Vimy Memorial Bridge to the ByWard Market, when you think of it. Head north on Prince of Wales Drive to Hog's Back, and then follow Colonel By Drive all the way until you hit Sussex Drive. The drive should only take about 20 minutes to complete.

I didn't realize I was in trouble until I was rounding the bend at the University of Ottawa, when I could see brake lights further ahead, near the Department of Defense building. But of course, at that point, there are no streets upon which I could exit. I suppose I could have made a U-turn, but the cars did seem to be moving forward, albeit slowly.

Stop and go, but steady.

I watched the clock and told myself that I would be cutting it fine, but the shots would still be doable. As long as we kept this pace and as long as traffic wasn't backed up on Sussex.

By the time I reached the Shaw Centre, I could see what was going on and it didn't look good. Lots of Palestinian flags waving and police regulating traffic at Rideau and Sussex. There was a demonstration moving along Rideau Street.

There was no way that I was going to get through in time.

I didn't feel bad that this demonstration was holding me up. I agreed with the calls against the violence that was being inflicted upon innocent people in Gaza after the brutal attack against Israeli civilians by Hamas. While the Israeli government has a right to defend its citizens and go after a terrorist organization, it does not have the right to punish the innocent people on the other side of the border.

I saw three women, wearing black-and-white checkered head scarves and carrying Palestinian flags, jump out of a car behind me and start running toward the march. I caught the eye of one of them and waved with one hand while holding a thumbs up with the other, and she smiled before turning away.

I needed an exit strategy. When I reached Daly Avenue, I turned right and broke free of the congestion. But I made the mistake of turning right, again, onto Waller, which left me with little option but to turn onto Mackenzie Street, where construction led to more tie-ups.

I'd be lucky to get back to Movati at the appointed time.

As soon as I reached Elgin, I turned left and found that while it, too, was busy, it was moving steadily, with stops only caused by traffic lights. It wouldn't take me long to reach the Queen Elizabeth Drive side of the Rideau Canal and head southward, back to Prince of Wales.

I was disappointed that I didn't know about the demonstration. I saw nothing in my social media feeds. I'm sure the old Twitter and my connections on that site would have given me a heads up.

I really felt that my time had been wasted, that I drove all this way, only to come back empty-handed as far as photographs was concerned. No autumn leaves: not even a shot of reflections on the rainy streets.

But as I approached a red light, I could see the rain-soaked street of Elgin and the deep-red brick of The Waverley restaurant, and a glint of inspiration hit me. My camera was on the seat next to me, and I quickly grabbed it as I hit the switch to lower my window.

I didn't have a lot of time but I stuck the camera out the window as the car nearly came to a stop. I didn't look at my camera at all, didn't see how I was aiming the lens. I just trusted that the last settings I had were good enough.

I took three quick shots, threw the camera onto the passenger seat, rolled up my window, and started rolling faster, as the light had changed to green and the cars ahead of me started moving.

As soon as I reached the canal, it was smooth sailing to Barrhaven. DW called me almost five minutes beyond our meeting time and I informed her that I was two minutes away. She didn't have to wait long.

I didn't see the photos until after we got home. I also convinced DW to let me drive to Manotick, to see if there were any fall colours around Watson's Mill. I'll share those photos, tomorrow.

One shot from Elgin Street turned out not too badly, considering I didn't look at the camera and aimed blindly while most of my attention was focused on the road ahead. It wasn't as dramatic as the shot I took, in 1989, of New York City, while driving along a freeway, but the mood in the shot is pretty good and captures the rain of the day.

(I'll see about sharing the NYC photo for Throwback Thursday.)

It seems my drive downtown wasn't a total waste. I learned about a protest and shared my support, although in the most minimal of ways. And I captured an autumn shower on an old street.

Not a waste at all.