Parade Day

The morning of Stampede I woke up confused and unrested. The streets were noisy the night before through my earplugs and the parade people had started arriving before 6.00 am in costume to get ready for their floats on the street below. I opened the curtain a crack and saw Darth Vader from Star Wars on the street below. Also some martial artists stretching and air-kicking at each other. I gave up poking at my foggy brain to register this as normal and retreated for the shower.

The morning got weirder. Upon stepping out of the bathroom I almost trod on a thin blonde lady in cowgirl gear at 7.00 am. This was my introduction to Hiking Lisa, one of the three Lisas in Calgary Laura is friends with. I am known as Aussie Lisa. Hiking Lisa drove in early to avoid the shutdown of the downtown core for the parade. Laura was already up and had set to work making pancake mix with real blueberries (she's wonderful) and as the guests started arriving I made mimosas.

Now in Oz we call them champagne and orange juice. For some inexplicable and daft reason the British call them "Bucks Fizz". I like the name mimosa. You can tell your kids you're drinking one for breakfast and they never need know there is alcohol in them. Clever.

That morning was the only time for the year Laura had her three Lisas together. "Work Lisa" arrived with her Kiwi fiance Dom, who kept Marc entertained with stories of his years working in Melbourne.

We had a first class view of the parade from Laura's balcony. Thousands of people lined the streets below and we were up on the 2nd floor watching it with pancakes and mimosas and ready access to a bathroom and chairs, both which became important as the parade lasted at least 2 hours. It was an international gathering of an American, Canadians, an Aussie, a Kiwi a Scot, a Belgian, his Flemish parents (who didn't speak English but enjoyed the pagentry) and a Frenchwoman.

The parade was something out of this world. Apart from Darth Vader and a bunch of stormtroopers (not sure which group they belonged to) most of the floats were Canadian themed. The parade was led by a bunch of young guys in cowboy hats and sneakers on skateboards. Each year a person or group are picked to be "Parade Marshalls" to lead the parade. It is usually a sporting hero, political figure or celebrity. This year the theme of Stampede was, "Tough enough to wear Pink" supporting breast cancer research. The skateboarders picked were not celebrities or public figures. They had skated all the way across Canada on their boards to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Pretty impressive stuff and they led the giant floats, RCMP on their horses the Stampede Queen and the Indian Princess on their battered boards.

The army marched, to great cheering. It's not every day you see a tank following a horse down the street. Many people here do not support the war in Afghanistan. But they most definitely support the troops. Nearly every week a dead soldier is brought home to Ottawa with all solemnity, colours and ceremony.

Similarly, the RCMP have suffered a lot of casualties domestically over the past few years. They looked great on parade and the Canadian pride was out.

I will add a web album soon. Watch that space.