All good things must come to an end. I had breakfast with Dave and Ellie; Dave decided I should have a substantial breakfast before getting my flight so I had mushrooms and tomato on toast, along with a fried egg.
Ellie left for work and a short while later Dave drove me to terminal two at Heathrow. What a maze of roads and buildings; I'd definitely need a guide or a navigation gadget if I were doing it. I said goodbye to Dave and headed into the terminal. It's not my favourite pastime any more as I always worry about something going wrong - and it usually does.
This time I couldn't work the machine for checking in. I'd already got my boarding passes at Dave's home so there wasn't that much more that needed to be done, but things went wrong. A picture shows you how to put your passport into the machine and it shows a passport face up. It didn't work for me and, after asking an employee, I learned it should be face down. Then it asked if I was American or another nationality, followed by questions about ID numbers; I typed in my passport number but it was the wrong one. I had nothing else to give so I pressed 'quit' and headed for the next machine. There I put in my Aeroplan number and seconds later out came my baggage tag. So why the earlier problem?
I thought all of this meant I'd sail through but it wasn't to be; I ended up queuing with people who hadn't done any prior work. I eventually got rid of my bag and set off for departures. I put my belongings in the trays for x-ray and joined the line to walk through the security gate. It beeped! "Take your shoes off and go back and put them in a tray". I did that. "Do you have anything in your pockets?" Now for me that means do you have anything metal in your pockets. I said I didn't. "You have something in that pocket", the man said. I took out my pound notes. "I said take everything out of your pockets", so that meant my grotty handkerchief, toothpick and money. "Stand on those yellow markers and hold your hands in the air." He then wandered off leaving me standing there looking like a twit. He finally came back and the machine did its thing. Then I had to stand, with my arms outstretched, to be frisked. Don't ask me what I'd done. I stood around to see if it was happening to other people and I noticed they'd picked on a little elderly lady. Meanwhile all those suspicious looking characters were going through with no problem at all.
I sat in the lounge, wrote a note to Dave to say I'd made it, and did my usual venting. The flight was very good, which is something new for me to say about Air Canada. The staff were healthy, not overweight, hard working and very friendly. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact they were French Canadian as I was flying to Montreal. The chicken dinner and mashed potatoes was good, the salad was a tabouli which was too cold for me and dessert a cookie. I made up for it by having two bottles of wine, two cans of beer and a Bailey's. I thought, "Why not!" Usually, I just sit in my seat and accept what comes along but this time I got exercise by going to the back of the plane and asking for something - and it works too.
Someone at the back of the plane was sick so the staff asked if there was a doctor on the plane. I saw a number of people getting up and going to the back. When we landed we were told we couldn't get out of our seats until the paramedics had come on board to remove the patient. We sat for half an hour and I didn't see anything exciting going on although I did see a black family, with children, walking down the aisle towards the exit.
I panicked because I didn't have long to wait before I caught my Edmonton flight. In Montreal we exit our plane and land up in the public area which was full of people, restaurants, shops and bars. I prefer empty passage ways so this was a challenge. I went through electronic security and, as usual, I was honest and said I was going to a farm. That meant I was sent to speak with Jean-Michel who was a very large black chap with long braided hair and wearing black plastic gloves. I couldn't decide if elegance or protection from germs was the reason for the gloves. The officer in the next booth had bare hands so I think it was an affectation. He let me through which was nice of him.
The flight was full and a drag as it was four hours and I'd already been travelling around 10 hours since leaving Dave's home. I couldn't find a movie to watch so I saw bits and pieces. The music wasn't inspiring either so I did my best to switch off and ignore life.
In Edmonton I was met by Sulaiman, which was a real treat. He'd been picked up by Waris to come along for the ride. His job was to find me in the airport while Waris sat in his parked car at the service station up the road. It was pouring with rain but it stopped just as we reached St. Albert. The big news was that I had to expect three days of snow starting from tomorrow. It's lovely to be back in sunny Alberta! Waris talked about Bill wanting to dig up the potatoes tomorrow, which I thought was a daft idea as they would be caked with mud. I think he was joking; in any case, I won't be doing it as I'll be suffering from jet lag!
We dropped Sulaiman off at home and we eventually reached the farm. I got Waris to stop by the hedge so I could walk across the lawn and not wake people up. I have no water in the basement until Thursday so I have to use the bathroom upstairs. Pipes are missing from my bedroom and the downstairs shower has gone. I've been telling the family not to spend money on a new one but they've gone and done it anyway. There's nothing wrong with the shower, it's the quality of the water that has chemicals in it that bung up the shower holes. Anyway, I decided I didn't care so I took a happy pill and went to bed. And so ends a lovely month and now another short chapter starts as I've only got 18 days before I leave again for Cambodia.
