Ottawa

I've been reminiscing about Ottawa after following today's news.  The National War Memorial is visible from where I worked in City Hall, and I would often visit it at lunchtime or after work.  I'd see the reservists on guard there and wonder what they were thinking.  My condolences for Cpl Cirillo and his family, friends and regiment.

My deepest respect to Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers and the rest of the law enforcement, security and other officers on Parliament Hill and elsewhere in the Capital for rising to the occasion and responding appropriately and with superb professionalism.  We don't often think of the Sergeant at Arms as anything other than a quaint relic of a bygone era, when we see him parade the mace at the opening of Parliament, but with the actions of Mr Vickers today, and those of René Jalbert at the Quebec National Assembly in 1984, are evidence of the nature of the men recruited to fill those positions of trust and responsibility.

It was interesting to see twitter feeds from various politicians emerging through the crisis.  I'll admit that my first thoughts on reading some of them included rolling my eyes or raising my eyebrows, but on reflection I now realise that my initial reaction was uncharitable.  Twitter has become an interesting phenomenon, allowing us to read the first, unfiltered thoughts of the writers.  It's interesting to see the information that the twitter writers find most important to share first.

Keep calm and carry on, eh.