MV Parades in the rain

[robin craig]

As the VE Day anniversary parade later this morning in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) loomed large yesterday afternoon I looked out from our shop across a drenched yard and contemplated what it was going to be like loading and unloading and doing the parade in the rain that is forecast. Yuck I thought and didnt I want to stay indoors in front of the telly and relax for a change.

 

I have a two hour drive to float our Supacat Mk2A up to the event and I guess the pressure of a less than stellar week at work this last week kind of was getting me down. I phoned my mate Dan Sicotte in Montreal who is also going, with a Ferret, and let him know I was thinking of bailing out of the parade because of the weather.

 

I was brought back to earth at a rapid rate when Dan reminded me that the veterans who fell in that and other conflicts endured far worse weather and DEATH in those wars.

 

So, I snapped out of my own gloom and re focused.

 

It is still pouring down and its now 0140 hrs our time and the Supcat is loaded and i'm set for an early departure in a couple of hours and all my wet weather gear is packed.

 

How selfish to think of myself when they gave so much.

 

Thanks for reminding me of the reality Dan.

 

Robin

[snowtracdave]

Don't be too hard on yourself Robin : It is easy , at this distance from those events , to forget the privations endured by those that served and in the pressure of modern living to become absorbed in the entanglements of our own problems and worries .

 

Hope you have had a good day in spite , or maybe even because of , the prevailing conditions .

[trustmeimamechanic]

few years ago returning in a RIB from some dives of one of the Carribean Islands it was raining so hard it hurt and was a very un-carribean temp , one of the local guys turned to me with a smile and said " no worrys man... its just liquid sunshine " .

That thought still often makes me smile as in my day job I find myself laying in 6 inches of water/mud trying to fix some random large machine.

[mkVsten]

Robin,

 

I know the feeling oh too well. Been there, done that, but would and will do it again.

 

Photos from November 11th tell the tale, it rained the day before the parade during the drive to the event, it was still raining when I stowed my "soaked" Universal carrier at the local Armories for the night and as the last photo from the drivers position will show, it rained/snowed during the parade.

 

It rained so hard, I though about how nice it would have been to have a bilge pump as there was a good 1 inch of water rolling around on the floor...no kidding! Did I mention the temp was hovering around 1-2 degrees celsius? :-)

 

Cheers

[robin craig]

Brad,

 

Wonderful pictures of your carrier in the rain! I just about fell off my perch laughing reading your comment about wanting a bilge pump as the Supacat I was driving has two of them!

 

We had a good parade, including a Lynx (wheeled) from the Canadian War Museum collection and a variety of eras of Jeeps and Dan Sicotte from Montreal in his Mk 2/3 Brit Ferret. I left my camera in my truck as the heavens had opened and I just didnt want to drown it.

 

There are some pictures coming i'm told and will put them up eventually.

 

Robin