I knew there was something missing but I never realized it until now, well until my sister sent me a text message this morning. Aside from the garbage piling up, libraries being shut down and public pools not being filled with youngsters splashing around, there’s something else that’s happening because of the civic strike in Vancouver. Actually, it’s something that’s not happening concerning the 9 o’clock gun.

It’s been a fixture on the Seawall for over 100 years, it was made just one year after Napolean was defeated at Waterloo.

[...]

Park Board general manager Susan Mundick said there’s a specially trained person who looks after the charges. “Because of the strike, that person is not working at this point and so the gun will not fire until the staff return to work and can package up the gun powder and put it into the gun.” [News1130]

You’ll hear the cannon fire at 9:00 every evening, its booming sound echoing and ricocheting off high rises downtown and often heard from far and wide. If you’re in Coal Harbour looking over at Stanley Park when it happens you’ll also notice a plume of spoke, but not anymore. Obviously I can survive without the gun (although I like it so much that I wrote about it in April 06), but it’s just ‘one of those Vancouver things’ that you can count on every day, like the “O! Canada” horns at noon.