Westfest-ing...

The big Westfest weekend in my neighbourhood got off to a troubling start. As I was walking home from the bus stop on Friday evening, I noticed that the top of my street was blocked off... Nothing unusual there, in light of the street closures and festivities that were to come. But somehow, I didn't remember them using crime scene tape and police cruisers last year. Metal barricades had seemed to suffice. I arrived home to find out that there was a hostage-taking in progress at one of the shops just around the corner. Whaaat?! That sort of thing just doesn't happen here!

I'm happy to report that it ended without tragedy, however I can't imagine the pain (of the suicidal hostage-taker) and the terror (of the shop owner) that must have been felt. In the end, the shop owner convinced the knife-wielding man to let him walk out and even tried to talk him into walking out with him, assuring him that the police would not harm him. Once the shop owner was safe, the hostage-taker started using the knife on himself and the police stormed the shop and took him to safety.

The most amazing part of all this is that the shop owner was back at his store for the Westfest events the next day. He was quoted in the paper as saying that he knew a lot of people were worried about him and he needed to let them all know that he was OK. Yikes. What a start to the weekend!

Here are a few things that caught my attention on what ended up being a most gorgeous weekend...

PAX,