Wasn't that a party!

The Scots sure know how to bring in the new year. By my estimate, some 15,000 people showed up at Lansdowne Park last night for the Scottish Society of Ottawa's 4th annual Hogmanay. While most of the music dancing, the eating and scotch-tasting, the story-telling and face-painting took place in the Aberdeen Pavilion and the Horticulture Building, all day long there was a lot of action on the skating rink near Queen Elizabeth Drive.

It's a great little family-friendly rink -- just big enough to get a good crowd of folks skating about.  It doesn't have the romance or the size of the Rideau Canal Skateway, but we should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

So if the weather does not cooperate, and the canal ice isn't thick enough for the National Capital Commission to open the Skateway, we'll assemble at the Aberdeen Pavilion rink to celebrate Sir John A's 201st anniversary with a kilt skate.

Watch this website and the Facebook page of the Scottish Society of Ottawa for further details. In the meantime, we'll gather and post plans in other cities to celebrate Sir John A with bare knees and ice.