Byward Market, close by the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa is a vibrant, colourful place full of activity, people coming together to drop into the many cafes and chat, tourists coming along to take in the sights of an everpresent traditional local market where local growers display rank upon rank of fresh vegetables at harvest time along with flowers and decorative plants for sale. And no end of stalls displaying and selling local crafts, as well as crafts coming from the far ends of the Earth.

Close by within easy walking distance there are federal museums and galleries, and foreign embassies. Even closer there are streets that beckon the eye of the passerby with shops dedicated to high fashion, and funk fashion alike. It is a place meant for strolling, for gawking, for entertaining. And to pick up one's favourite magazines from a shop that sells more titles than you might ever thought possible, magazines whose topics range from politics to fashion to the arcane.

And small establishments who sell both local and imported cheese specialties, another irresistible draw. When passing the stalls whose shelves hold garden zucchini, garlic, squashes, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts still on their stalks, heritage tomatoes and bell peppers, local mushrooms and corn, it's impossible not to linger and purchase a few items for one's own table.

Like the basket brimming with strawberries from Quebec that we found irresistible, and even more to our pleasure, the best we've ever tasted. And the entertainment quotient of the market doesn't stop there. On full display at various points there are buskers, talented men and women singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, offering free classic or popular music to please the ears of anyone.

Though we've seen musician groups from Peru and Mexico in the past, Tuesday marked the first time we had seen a young woman in classical Japanese Edo period dress, playing the Shamisen.

The market is also a place where men and women young and old gravitate to, to ask of passersby if they can "spare a few coins", to enable them to buy food. These are people who fall into various categories; runaway teens (usually from abusive home backgrounds), drug- or alcohol-addicted people, and people whose mental instability has placed them in the environment of life on the streets. I'd meant to return to where the Shamisen player was located to express my appreciation, but before I could, I was accosted by a smiling, beautiful young woman, very well dressed, who asked for "loose change".

Responding as I always do, but realizing that I hadn't much loose change to offer, she watched diligently as I withdrew two $10 bills from my purse, searching for the change she had asked for. She thanked me for the meagre handful I offered, then made an offer of her own. She would take one of those $10 bills off my hands and return to me $6 in change; and the difference would enable her to "buy food for my dinner".

Wordlessly, I handed her the ten, waved aside her offered 'change', smiled and went to move on. While she called out after me "god bless you", and I was left to wonder at the strangeness of human nature.