I’m just wrapping up a couple of fun days hanging in Ottawa with my good friend Jenn and her hubby Simon (you know, the ones I married). I’ve long said that Vancouver is the world’s most dog-friendly city, but now I have to add a close second to my too-short list of cities that are nice for dogs to live. Ottawa is full of green space (in the summer anyway – it’s white space for a few months of the year) and parks full of dogs that are bounding happily off their leashes, suggesting that the signs that say ‘on leash only’ are not strictly enforced by city employees.

I had to pick up some dog food for the week I’m here with Chorizo, and the pet shop had a sign I couldn’t resist adding to my basket.

Don’t worry,  I won’t be facing any fines with Budget when I return my micro-miniature Chevy Spark next week. It’s a magnet, and I’ll be taking it home to proudly mount on my own car. When do you ever get a chance to personalize your rental car, other than with fast food garbage and empty water bottles?

Chorizo and I will bump-bump-bump along the horrendously potholed roads of Quebec tomorrow as we make our way to the venue and settle in for a weekend of awesome sport, three-day style.  The forecast is more slicker than sun screen; but I’m hoping the meteorologists here are as bad at accurately predicting the weather as they are in Vancouver, and that if there is any of the wet stuff it’s brief and untorrential.

Back tomorrow.

Chorizo can now add our nation's capital and Quebec to his 'been there done that' list.