Monday, 31 December 2007

From 6 to 8 pm we spent at the ice rink with the neighbours from just down the road. They do it every new year's eve. I skated for the first time in my life! Well if pulling oneself shakily along the edge of the rink is skating, then I was skating! Only fell once, and actually managed to let go the very narrow rail from time to time. Had a few episodes where my legs went all over the place and got some strange looks from people going round and round and round. Actually while I had a Tim Horton's donut in my hand I did fairly well, it seemed to take my mind off the intense operation at hand. As I put the last bit of the donut into my mouth I went straight into the edge of the rink with my face flat up against the perspex window, looking at a very startled lady sitting in the stands. I felt like a cartoon character and was surprised I hadn't fallen over flat on my back! It was very funny.

After skating we went to the neighbour's house for Chinese take away and my trifle - they liked it. Then just before midnight we got into their hot tub with light snow falling and sipped champagne to see the new year in. Didn't think I'd be doing that either - sitting in the hot tub in the falling snow!

Sunday, 30 December 2007

My bed was comfortable - very important, and I slept well. The aircon unit came on at about 5 am and blew heated air into the house to stop us from succumbing to the Canadian winter. Unfortunately the unit is next to my basement bedroom and I'm not used to an early morning disturbance. The air outlet is directly under my bed so the occasional blasts of air filtered up through my bed and warmed me up a bit too much. My brother in law kindly turned the temperature down to 20º C later in the day. It's still overcast. We decided to drive to Niagara Falls to see the amazing sight in winter. It wasn't as spectacular as we'd anticipated. There was only a bit of old snow around, the falls had no ice or snow on them and the water looked a bit muddy. We walked along the edge of the gorge as far as we could go until we got wet in the huge spray from the falls, then walked back to the car through a light snow fall. It was a pleasant outing all the same.

At about 6 pm there was a ring at the door and my lost suitcase had arrived. That was a relief, but I found a small slit in the top of the case and my 2 rechargable penlight batteries had disappeared. Hmmm. I hope whoever took them has a good use for them. Neighbours from 2 houses along the road came over at about 9 pm to meet me. They’re very nice people.

Got to bed after midnight. This is going to be 2 in a row...

Saturday 29 December

We didn't do much on Saturday, just drove around looking for a graphics card, ram and a DVD writer for a computer. Had lunch and coffee at Tim Horton's and settled in.

Visit to Canada 2007/8

Thursday/Friday, 27/28 December 2007

I like to get to airports early and not rush around trying to find out where I'm supposed to be. My flight was at 5:40 pm but my friend got me to Durban airport at about 2:30 on the afternoon of the 27th. Got to Joburg on time and headed for the international departure terminal and wasn't sure where I was supposed to go. As I had my boarding pass and had booked my 2 cases right the way through to Toronto in Durban I could proceed to the boarding gate, which was almost at the end of the terminal. A plane to New York was boarding when I got to the gate almost 2 hours before necessary and I was told to sit somewhere else to wait. Each passenger and their hand luggage was searched thoroughly, and other passengers were not permitted to walk on the side of the walkway closest to the boarding passengers - very strict security.

About 30 minutes before the scheduled boarding time one of the passengers noticed the boarding gate number had changed, so we all had to go to another part of the terminal to wait. A bus collected us at the gate and took us to our plane, and we departed on time at 10 pm. No intense searching procedure for us going to London thank goodness.

Sleeping on a plane is not possible for me. I cannot get comfortable and sleep. I emerged from some sort of slumber at around 4 am as we were flying over north Africa somewhere. I noticed planes criss crossing the sky as we neared Europe. Over south London we were put into a 10 minute holding pattern which didn't do anything for my nerves because I had 45 minutes from the expected landing time to the boarding time of the Air Canada flight to Toronto. Circling low was very nice, but we needed to get down!

I managed to push myself to the front of the plane to get out first, then ran where I could from terminal 1 to terminal 3, and had no idea where it was. I looked at a clock just before joining a queue for a bus to Terminal 3 and it was already 8 o'clock. Boarding time as at 8:15! Aaaaagh! So much for me liking to get to an airport early! The bus had to weave itself along narrow road ways, between columns to the terminal and I was really getting worried. To make matters worse I had no gate number on my boarding pass and could find no one to ask. I saw there was a Toronto flight at gate 42, but didn't recognise the flight number as 3 numbers were flashing. I decided to head for gate 42. It was the last gate in the terminal, and they were already boarding. I was at the right one! Air Canada have this very organised method of getting people on their planes. They board in sections from the back of the plane to the front so people are not falling over each other trying to get in. Very civilised. I was near the front, so wasn't boarding yet. Time to get my breath back and literally wipe the sweat from my forehead. I felt sorry for the people sitting round me on the 8 hour flight across the Atlantic as all the running had made me very hot!!!

The flight wasn't too bad. I had breakfast again, watched a movie, dozed and ate lunch. All do-able things. I hoped my 2 suitcases had managed to get from the SAA flight to the Air Canada flight in London quicker than I had. Hmmm!

We landed in Toronto after a straight in approach at 12:20 - on time. Passing through immigration control was a breeze, and I didn't have to wait long for the first of my 2 bags to appear on the carousel. So they made the flight after all - I was impressed. But the 2nd bag didn't appear. I thought it was too good to be true. I waited and waited, everyone got their bags and left and mine still hadn't come up. I decided to ask at the counter what the story was. The clerk entered my bag number on the computer and told me it hadn't left Johannesburg!!!! It would go on the next London flight and connecting Toronto flight and they'd deliver it to my door. How's that for service. But would it really make it?

My family was there to meet me and we went into the freezing cold air outside. My first taste of winter in Canada. It was 2ºC, apparently quite warm compared to the -5º on Christmas day. There was scattered snow on the sides of the roads, and it increased as we got further away from Toronto and Lake Ontario.

Stratford was covered in old snow. Those typical winter wonderland pictures we know in warmer climes. The size of their cottage-looking house was deceiving from the front. Three bedrooms, lounge and dining room, nice sized kitchen, and 2 bedrooms and lounge in the basement; much roomier that it looked from the street. We had a cup of coffee and I settled in quickly.