R.I.P. Jack Layton

Adding my voice ... I can't really focus today because I'm suddenly, and totally by surprise, gutted by the loss of Jack Layton. Among many, many other things, he was a proud cyclist: and I just (thanks to Spacing Ottawa) found this absolutely moving tribute on Flickr - his name written in chalk on bike lanes in Toronto.

The Citizen's cycling blog just posted a series of pictures of Jack and bikes, too: one of my favorites:

It sucks that I'm coming back to this blog after a long hiatus for such a sad reason. . . I've been extremely busy this summer - general life-related chaos, which I hope is beginning to settle into shape and will give me more time for blogging.

But right now, I'm just mourning the loss of a man who stuck to his guns, fought hard with a smile on his face, and will leave a gaping Jack-shaped hole in Canadian politics.