Winterlude Dinner

My company has decided that the best way to hold it's yearly banquet, is to have it coincide with the start of Ottawa's biggest winter carnival - Winterlude. It makes sense, because having the company party a full month after Christmas generally means that most people can attend, and that everyone is in a little more of a chilled out headspace.



















After having the gala event at the Chateau Laurier hotel for the last few years, it was changed up a bit this time, and we moved over to Quebec to have it in the Grand Hall at the Museum of Civilization. The venue was surreal, with one entire wall full of 50 foot high windows looking down onto the Ottawa River, and across to the Parliament Hill. On the interior, our meal was watched over closely by the towering totem poles of the West Coast Aboriginal peoples display.

I wasn't sure that I was going to make this event, and only flew into Ottawa 2 hours before it started. I had been stuck in Pearson airport after a lengthy day of flight delays, and interactions with full grown businessmen throwing tantrums. Worst job ever - Customer service clerk for Air Canada in Toronto anytime is snows more than a few centimetres.

Maybe its the large French component of the company, or the fact that the bar was open for a solid hour before the night began, but the dance floor always fills up immediately. It's a nice change from my history with Manitoba socials, and that the only way to fill the dance floor was to throw on "so, take those old records off the shelf....", followed by the flourescent lights coming on immediately for 50/50 draw.