Erika and Elizabeth had been practicing karate after school, and I agreed to give her a quick ride home. As I pulled onto Sunnyside, we noticed that Waze had an unusual number of police car activity. We were wondering what was going on at first, and then I remembered that the US president was scheduled to come to Ottawa today. "I guess I'd better go home on Bank", I said, because it looked like they were getting ready to close off Bronson. Now, I remember having dignitaries before. It's very common to close the road while they come in from the airport, but the last time we were held up it was about 15 minutes.
Anyway, I dropped Erika off and headed to Bank and was confused to discover that Sunnyside and Bank were completely blocked. Huh. I went down Sunnyside, and then one of the cops started letting people through so I quickly u-turned and followed. It was obvious the bridge was blocked. "I guess I'll go to the library", I thought. Well, that wasn't happening. The library was open, but the parking lot was definitely off-limits. The cops were not interested in answering any questions from the increasing number of cars trying to get home, but doing some googling and looking at maps it became evident that a) the Bronson bridge was closed b) the Bank street bridge was closed c) the exits into the Glebe off the highway were closed d) the bridges across Colonel By were closed. It was impossible to get home by car or even on foot.
So I went to the library and spent an hour there. Eventually the 90+ motorcade went by in the fog. We milled around for another fifteen minutes and then the cops opened Bank street bridge, but not the blockade at Sunnyside and Bank, so no actual cars could go by. I was just contemplating whether to go and get a cup of tea at a friend's house when finally they agreed to open the blockades and I got home.
The following day when they were prepping to close the bridges again around the time Elizabeth got out of karate you can be sure that we paid attention to the reports. As soon as the President was reported to be on his way, Elizabeth and I left karate and booted it home across the bridge. Just in time!
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