Wednesday, September 7, 2011
36 thousand feet above the North Atlantic
Late morning for us, lazy, up slowly to shower and change, then out on the road hiking down toward the Sylvia Hotel for brunch. Sun is out, its hot, and Jan is feeling the heat as we walk along. No surprise, it is 11:15am and not exactly early in the day. We walked up Drake from our hotel at Howe and Drake, then crossed Burrard and turned north toward downtown and crossing Burnaby street. On an impulse, and because Jan was complaining of the heat and I noticed a very shady sidewalk, we turned left along Burnaby street. We walked about half a block and ran into, almost literally, a woman named 'Syl' ('Sylvia' I think) who had been a neighbor of Leanne and Tara when they lived in the west end. They were here, one block down on Harwood, three years ago for about three years. Syl was actually an assistant manager of the apartment block as well as their down-the-hall neighbor, and knew the girls well. She and her partner, as well as all the other building inhabitants, looked after the girls so well and knowing all of them as we did, Jan and I didn't worry about the girls as much as we could have. Syl is a lovely person and we exchanged contact information and will get in touch with her on our return from this trip. Meanwhile, a huge warm hug from her to the girls.
Then on down to the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay, where we sat out on the balcony overlooking the seashore. Lots of pedestrian, bycycle, and foot traffic around and about today. We sat on the balcony, chatted, and watched the people go by. We talked of them, of us, and how in our 32nd year of marriage life was pretty, pretty good. And getting better. So good to hear those happy thoughts from my partner of so long, and to hear from myself to her. We are very lucky, and we know it.
Then we saddled up and headed toward Davie street, and beyond to Burnaby street along english bay. Then, leaving the beautiful vista behind us, up Burnaby to the hotel that has been 'home' for the last two days, packing, the arranged late checkout, the cab ride, and finally the airport. BTW, interesting cab ride - the cabbie an Armenian (which is different from the 99% East Indian cabbies of Vancouver) who had VERY STRONG views of religion and the evils that it has inflicted on humanity. Based partly on his family history of the Turkish (read Islamic) massacre of the Armenians around the time of the First World War, and then on the family experience in Beirut, as refugees, and how the Christians and the Muslims fought it out for power as the first 'Palistinian' rufugee influx unbalanced the religious structure of the region. But, as he pointed out emphatically, it isn't the religion that is at fault, it is the priests and imams that call the people to rebel, revolt, repudiate authority, then take the law into their own hands. Then make 'their' law into "god's" law and make it not just all right, but justifiable and holy to take the lives of innocents and countrymen in the name of 'god'. Horrible. This man was in real pain, crying out for someone who would listen and not condemn. Today, this afternoon, Jan and I were his audience. Jan is filled with belief in the inherent goodness of others. Not naively, but honestly, she believes people are good. That is her solace. But I'm with the cabbie - the evil of this world is in the heart of the deeply religious because only there lives the belief of an ultimate truth. And that their truth is the only truth. And that nonbelievers of that truth must die, or at least must never achieve the salvation of their particular heaven. Witness the Irish conflicts over the years, or anything involving the Islamic / Jewish issues of the middle east.
With those cheery thoughts in my mind, we found our way to the Air Canada check-in kiosk, and dropped our bags. We were early, by about three and a half hours, but we found our way to the boarding lounge through customs and relaxed for about three hours in wait for the boarding time. A pleasant and happy time, Jan and I both relaxed. We are on a 'trip of a lifetime' here, as I promised Jan a holiday to the Greek Islands for our fifth aniversary. And here we are now, only twenty-six years late.
Eventually onto a very full plane and an on-time takeoff. Spent the night over Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and the North Atlantic. Flying Air Canada this time, a huge array of movies and music to choose from and great food too. However, no sleep for Jan or I, and we landed at about 2:30am body-clock time. Yuk, but we're used to it now.
