Christmas in Ottawa

So, I went home to Ottawa for Christmas. It was pretty quiet. The biggest news was that the Giant Tiger nearly burned down. I may have mentioned Giant Tiger before: it's a chain of discount stores in Eastern Ontario. The branch near my mom's place has been there since I was in high school, and my mom does all, I mean ALL, of her shopping there. I was planning to stop in and stock up on socks and toiletries before heading back to Toronto, but then on Christmas Eve, my mom's partner Rene opened the Ottawa Citizen, and there, all over the top front half of the Local section, was a huge photo of the Giant Tiger with the windows all busted in and firefighters walking around inside. Biggest local news in Ottawa: FIRE AT THE HINTONBURG GIANT TIGER! OMG!!

Fortunately the fire, the result of some electrical problem, was contained to the basement. No-one was hurt, but there was smoke damage to much of the merchandise. A re-opening is planned for February, and my mom and her friends are already anticipating the fire sale.



On Christmas Day we went for a walk around the old neighbourhood, Hintonburg/Mechanicsville, which was very quiet. Have a look at my photos here.

Happy New Year, everyone!