I was in Ottawa this past weekend to visit the folks and on my way out of town, travelling along old Hwy 16, I noticed some construction cranes over the tree-lines. As I drove closer I could make out a building... a magnificent structure. A structure blessed with the famous JDS Uniphase logo. I decided to drive in and have a look.
As I drove into the site I was overwhelmed by the long line of cars leading up to the main entrance. It was Sunday, so I was extremely surprised. The line-up was something you would encounter on any given morning at a Tim Horton's Drive-thru.
I parked to one side and was astonished at what I observed. Drivers were getting out their cars... walking a few steps to the sidewalk leading to the entrance.... and then dropping to their knees... heads briefly gazing up at the JDS Uniphase Logo on the door and then, with great emotion on their faces, they slowly leaned forward and gently kissed the ground. In some cases I saw entire families performing this ritual-like task. All this was going on with the temperature at a frigid 20 below celsius.
As cars departed more cars arrived. All the cars I saw were late model, in fact, just about all of them could have just been purchased from a lot. Most had personalized licence plates. I remember a few of them. One Ferari had "LUV JDU". A Mercedes had "BUY ETK". A fully loaded Lexus had the name -- I assume it was a name -- "STOVIN" while other flashy cars had plates with names like "G MCDGL", "MUDGEY" and a peculiar one, which I couldn't figure out, simply had "T2".
All in all, it was quite a sight. On the drive back home, I couldn't help but wonder if this happened every Sunday. My, how Ottawa has changed from when I grew up there.
Blaireo |
