At nightfall on Canada Day, yesterday, Chris and I stood on the MacDonald Cartier Bridge over the Ottawa River waiting for the start of the fireworks to be launched from Nepean Point. We'd walked there from our house. Canadians, young and old, of multiracial origins but mostly dressed in red and white. We were families, groups of friends, couples or people on their own, all hanging over the railing for the whole length of the bridge as traffic rumbled by behind us. A few people had carried lawn chairs to sit on and some of the children sat in strollers to wait. Below us, the river was covered with little boats at anchor, over 100 of them for sure, too numerous to count. Small groups of people on board were partying and each boat had a stern light to show the others where it was. Police boats with blue lights were patrolling the line of boats closest to the Nepean Point headland, to make sure nobody sailed any closer to where the spent fireworks would fall.
The show began promptly at 10 o'clock in ideal weather conditions, not too hot, with just enough of a breeze to keep us cool but not too much to affect the trajectory of the fireworks whose colours were reflected in the windows of the high buildings on the Gatineau side of the river. After 15 minutes the fireworks came to a noisy climax and a huge, high bursts of colour. (The highest shells can climb over 300 metres into the air, i.e. to over 1000 feet above ground level). When the last burst had faded away, the watchers on both banks and on the boats and bridges applauded and cheered. Then everyone walked home or back to where they'd parked their cars in a cheerful mood, under a bright full moon.
There was no shouting or pushing or complaining and no rowdiness at all. Very well behaved people, these Canadians!
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