Jill Browne, from home and away

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
and
Away: Guelph, Ontario, Canada

My first trip of the year!

Guilt: flying so far for such a short trip.
Guilt: leaving home when I really shouldn’t.

OK, that’s over with.

The in-plane experience was OK, crowded but OK. Usually I’m lucky and get on flights that are less than full, but this one wasn’t.

I can’t report any big travel experiences from today. I got safely from A to B and when I got to B, I went to bed!

I’d love to regale you with tales of Guelph, which is really a beautiful and historic city, but that will be a story, or many stories, for other days.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Warmer today, even a little slushy

Central Mountain Air flies to the top and bottom of Alberta and British Columbia, and from side to side as well.

Here’s a map of their routes. Ever heard of Rainbow Lake? Fort Nelson? Smithers? Now you know how to get there.

The people at Central Mountain Air were brilliant at helping a Special Person get off their plane and into a wheelchair.

THANK YOU.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Ouch. Pain struck my family and we needed help.

Thanks all round, to:

Central Mountain Air for such care in the sky and on the ground;

Colleagues from work for so much personal support when needed most;

Panther Sports Medicine (Bonaventure) for being so accommodating with a desperately-needed appointment;

All the emergency staff , volunteers, and behind-the-scenes support at Rockyview for doing what we depend upon you for, but seldom notice until it’s our turn.

My friends!

Not fun but much better than other health crises I’ve dealt with.

Thanks so very much.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Weather:  Cold.  The same cold as yesterday, but no snow today. Yesterday we had enough to have to shovel.  It’s still a dry cold.  And no sun, what’s that all about?

This is one of those stories I don’t like telling, because it reflects poorly on my city.

Yesterday on the afternoon news, I heard that an 82-year-old lady with a gel-filled prosthetic breast had been humiliated by the security screeners at our airport.  She didn’t say she was carrying more than the allowed amount of liquids and gels, never thinking the prosthetic would count.  Result?  Public humiliation.

What made me even more sad about the story was that the lady was so upset she said she was done with travelling.

To the lady and her family, I would like to say, please don’t let this bad experience keep you from enjoying travel again.  As a resident, I am very sorry to hear of this whole incident, and I trust the authorities are making sure it won’t happen again.

I was at the airport last night to pick someone up.  Couldn’t help but wonder, as I passed the occasional security person in the terminal, “Are you the one?”, and that is really unfair to them.  It only takes one jerk to give everybody a bad name.

“Airport security apologizes to B.C. woman, 82“, from CBC.ca