JANUARY 2022 

 Well,  what a horrible month its been !

More COVID 19 lockdowns due to the Omicron variant, really cold weather , and the first big dump of snow in my area.

To top all this off, gas prices reached an all time high of $1-50 per litre,

On many occasions the temperatures have been below minus 20 C.

With indoor dining closed once again, it was a boring month , and to stop myself going crazy, I went on a few joyrides, to take some pictures. 

On the 16th, with the sun shining and temperature up to a balmy minus 17 degrees Centigrade, I thought it was a good day for a ‘Rick @ the River’ joy ride. I drove to Point de Cascades in Quebec to take a few pictures. This is the place where the old defunct Soulanges Canal meets the St Lawrence River. Many years ago before the Seaway project was completed , this was a major shipping route as it by-passed the rapids between Lac Saint Louis and Lake Saint Francis.,

Another short drive , was down to Morrisburg , where I took picture of the static train display , at Upper Canada Village beside Highway 2..

As the month drew to the end , the big news in the media, was the the Truckdrivers “Freedom Convoy” to Ottawa , in protest to the COVID 19 restrictions.

Initially it was going to be a Convoy protest against the mandatory vaccination needed for their work. All though , it’s been reported,  that over 80% of truckers are already vaccinated, there are still some that want the freedom of choice. 

From those original beginnings , the Convoy  soon became a bigger deal , as support grew from the public . The protest soon became aimed at the COVID restrictions in general.

On the 29th of January, Truck Convoys from all over Canada converged on the Houses of Parliament on Capital Hill to make their point. 

Unfortunately , our Prime Minister wasn’t going to be available to meet them. ( I will say no more about that LOL )

The streets of the city became gridlocked when the rally took place

I’ve been fully vaccinated and think its a good thing,  , but like so many other Canadians, I’m fed up with the unnecessary  lockdowns and  travel restrictions, so I  gave it my support.

One portion of the convoy was leaving from my home City of Cornwall , so I joined hundreds of others in minus 20 C temperatures  ,to  watch it leave Boundary Road on its way to the Capital.

 

There were so many people patriotically waving their Canadian flags , it felt more like CANADA DAY.

After watching the Convoy leave Cornwall at 10-00 am, I headed off for my first racing fix of the year.

It was opening day of the Kahnawake Ice Racing season on the Mohawk reserve in Montreal.

Things were a little different this year. For some reason the ramp to access the ice , could not be used at the Marina, and instead, a ramp had been made the opposite side of the river.

This time I had to park on the ice, and nowhere near the warmth of the Marina Bar and Restaurant

It was bitterly cold and I could only take about 5 minutes at a time before needing to get back in the car. 

I must remark about one unusual thing which was a ‘first’ for me.

The pace car was a tiny FIAT 500.

 

I stayed around , and watched each division do at least one heat race,, before making my exit

 I was back in Cornwall and the warmth of my home  by 3-00pm .

On Sunday the Kilo Watts Ice Racing club were having there season opener at Beauharnois, but I decided to give this a miss, and hopefully I’ll get there in a few weeks time.