Home & Happy

I’M BACK!!!!!!

We left Inukjuak Friday afternoon (-30 and blowin’ bears!) about 3:30 and after a brief stop to drop off and pick up passengers in Umiujaq we made the short hop to Kuujjuaraapik where we all got offloaded in order to pass through security before heading to Montreal.
I’ve mentioned this before in other blog entries but basically the smaller communities don’t have any facilities for proper security screening so anyone southbound has to get off the plane in either Kuujjuaraapik, Kuujjuaq or La Grande, go through screening and get back on the aircraft to continue their journey.

We had all been wondering about getting into Montreal as the weather forecast was not good. Our alternate was apparently Ottawa but I was pushing the pilot to head for Sudbury, if not Manitoulin East! Despite all our worries though the Montreal weather was still fine when we got close so it was back to the good old Holiday Inn for the night. I’m getting to be on a first name basis with many of the staff there now that it is a regular stopover for me. I highly recommend the lamb chops if the buffet is open when you arrive. (Sorry, can’t apologize to the vegans, these are just too good!)

So after a good nights sleep it was up at 6:00 a.m. to check the email and off to the airport on the 7:00 a.m. shuttle. The predicted storm was just starting to hit the city and it was a bit of a hairy ride slipping and sliding around Cote de Liesse and into Pierre Trudeau Airport but we made it on time and after a Burger King breakfast I headed off to clear security and wait for my flight. I’ve always found Montreal one of the harder security checkpoints to get through (Timmins is actually the worst, followed by Sudbury!) and this was another normal day there with “boots off, belt off, wallet out, swab the computer” routine. It’s great entertainment when you travel out west and you see all these Saskatchewan and Alberta fellows hopping around taking off their cowboy boots but no fun when you’re certain you won’t set off the alarm yourself this time but get patted down anyway.

Anyway, at the airport, checked in and through security ahead of schedule and the flight is still on time… until they let us know that the aircraft we’re taking is enroute from Halifax and left there late. So… aircraft arrived late, we boarded late, we had to de-ice and then while we were holding short waiting on final clearance some sort of alarm went off in the cockpit and it took them 20 minutes to decide that it was a false alarm and we took off anyway. This isn’t the first time I’ve been on Air Canada and they’ve come on and said, “We’re sure it’s nothing and we’re going for it.” This doesn’t particularly bother me as I been bush flying for over 30 years and so far “going for it” has never been a problem. (I am convinced that when I die it will be on a flight that is completely routine however and not an iffy situation at all.) The bottom line here is that we arrived in Toronto 20 minutes after my flight for Sudbury had left so that bumped me to the next one and I arrived only an hour and half late.

I was happy to see Gloria, Andrew, Sandra and Nicholas there to pick me up and off we headed to good old Manitoulin following a Quarter Pounder with cheese lunch and a stop for a large double-double. Ahh... it's these little things you start to miss when you're away for any length of time.

I didn’t realize how much I also missed the island and being home until I walked out on the deck and heard absolutely nothing. That’s right, nothing. Not an arctic wind blowing, not a snowmobile running, not a bunch of kids jumping on containers, not the glycol heating system in the house roaring like the ocean all night long… nothing.

Here’s to Silence, Home and Happy again…