Friday, August 27, 2004
The day does not start well. I check my emails in the morning to discover that a good friend of mine is chronically ill, and is due for at least a year's worth of hospital treatment. And Glenn, who was staying overnight, told me when he got up that Black Cat now had an infection in her belly, where she had managed to pull out the stitches from her spaying operation exactly a week ago. I send off what I hope is a consoling email to my friend, and then begin to bury myself in finishing off the packing I had started in earnest last night. Since the flight wasn't until the evening, I had originally planned to spend the day by heading to Oakville to see some of my old work colleagues and share a drink or two with them prior to heading off to the airport. But those plans are dashed by the necessity of taking Black Cat to the local vet, which I end up doing at around 10am.
Turns out I end up waiting for about three-quarters of an hour with Black Cat in the waiting room of the vet clinic. I have my Blackberry with me and am able to read and fire off a few email messages in between consoling Black Cat in her carry box and dealing with the dotty-but-well-meaning receptionist's questions about Black Cat.
One of the emails I read in between the work-related ones is from someone who has bowed out of becoming an instructor at the Professional Learning Center and whom I have been trying to get details of her plans for the course for the past few days to see whether or not I can teach it in her stead. Turns out she is currently in Vienna on a consulting job and not currently able to send me the background material that I need. Ugh. I respond by telling her that I am about to head off to France for a week, and don't want to make a decision about teaching the course without having anything more than its bare outline, and suggest we try to reconvene in a week when we are both back from Europe, but in the meantime give the director for the program as a whole the chance to find another prospective lecturer for this course while I am away. Teaching three 8-week courses will be a lot of work. I don't want to rush into this one, especially since I would want to do a good job on it. Will see how things work out after the vacation.
After dealing with that and a few work-related emails, it's time for the vet to see Black Cat. Despite her problem, Black Cat is still frisky and her coat shiny, but it turns out she has a slight temperature, and you don't need to be a physician to see that her wound has become infected. After checking her out thoroughly, the vet decides that she does need surgery to clean her up and patch her back up. I arrange to board the cat for the night, and arrange for Glenn, who's staying at the house while we are all away, to pick her up tomorrow morning. I end up putting a deposit down for everything, totaling more than $450, with the likely prospect of more to pay when we return. Ugh, again. Still, this young cat is worth it. She has character and spunk, and I could not face the prospect of putting her down for mere convenience's sake, especially since she had every prospect of recovering.
Head back home, and finish off my packing. Glenn is still there, feeling a bit under the weather but about to head off to work anyways, and I manage to fill him in on everything. He and his family are planning on staying at our place over the weekend, and the house and Black Cat couldn't be in better hands.
Head out for lunch, with the intention of getting some Euros from the local bank. Turns out the local bank doesn't stock Euros, so I have to settle for getting some at the Airport. Instead, I end up grabbing a few magazines to read on the flight over, as well as a book apiece for the girls. Afterwards head over to the local Starbucks to chill out with a grande vanilla bean frappacino, which goes down extremely well. First chance to really relax a bit today.
Get back home and book the limo to the airport. Then I draw a bath, and soak the remaining stress of my day away.
A last minute check around, lock things up, and the limo arrives slightly ahead of schedule, which I expected, given the rush hour traffic. Despite that, it's a smooth ride to the airport, leaving plenty of time to spare. I get my tickets - first to Paris, then to Nice - check in my bags, go through customs and wait until boarding time. I thought about duty free, but the idea of bringing any alcohol to a vineyard seems like bringing coals to Newcastle. I buy some maple syrup in a tin as a token gift instead.
Air France Airbus A320 at Pearson Airport
This is the first airplane that I've been on that has colour LED screen embedded in the back of each seat, providing a customized program of movies, cartoons, some TV shows, news, games as well as a geographic locator, saying exactly where the plane is at that moment. The TV/movie functionality turns out to be problematic, so I end up playing several of the games, eventually settling upon several rounds of chess. The one set in front of the empty seat I tune to the geographic locator, so I can watch the slow but steady progress of the little plane indicator across great swaths of the northern hemisphere.
Somewhere over the Atlantic, I cross my own personal midnight and the day ends.
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