Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Due to a deadline crunch, I ended up putting in three days' worth of working hours in the space of two, so I decided to take Wednesday morning off before heading to Montreal for a business-related trip. This all turned out for the best, as it turned out that Vanessa had an appointment at a radiology clinic in order to have x-rays of her teeth taken for likely future orthodontic work. Erika would have had to take Annie with her (and thus miss some school) in order to get Vanessa to her appointment, so things worked out for the best when I became available to accompany Vanessa instead.
I took Vanessa to the clinic, a place on Elm Street near Queen's Park that turned out to be an adjunct of the U. of T. Vanessa was a little bit nervous about things, but I managed to cheer her up and keep her mind off of things, and when she was called in, she went in by herself. I waited nervously while she was having her x-rays taken, and noticed a young boy, likely a year or two older than Vanessa, insist on his mother being there with him as he went in. Vanessa emerged smiling from behind the clinic's door about a half hour later, and I followed her back so that she could take me to doctor who had her x-rays so that we could both review them. I have to admit I was fascinated by the picture of her skull, showing all of the small buds of future teeth burgeoning underneath some of her remaining baby teeth, and even the start of future wisdom teeth just starting to grow. And as the doctor jokingly told her, she has a lot of brains as well. ;-)
She asked to be taken to a nearby McDonalds afterwards for lunch, where she taught me some useful French expressions she thought I might need, such as "where is the McDonalds?" and "I would like one slice of pizza please". ;-) Afterwards we headed back to her school in order for her to do an audition with one of her friends for a talent show. Tears in her eyes, I gave her a big hug before another friend of hers in the school yard came over and soon they were both tearing off across the schoolyard.
I made my way back home, first dropping by the bank, and then briefly into the bookstore to see if I could find a good simple guide to Montreal at a reasonable price. Didn't buy anything since I couldn't find anything that fit the bill that wasn't under $20. Got home just in time to see Annie off, with Erika taking her to the Healthy Earth nursery school. Annie is much more stoic about goodbyes than Vanessa, but gave me an extra strong hug anyways, after asking me to bring back something for her.
When I got home I answered the numerous emails that had accumulated on my work Blackberry, and finally got around to packing in earnest. When I had finished I walked down to the corner to get a Chai Latte to go from the local Starbucks, grabbed a cab and headed off to Union Station.
My tickets had already been pre-paid for by the company, so I decided to treat myself to an upgrade to first class. The business justification was that it would allow me to work on my notebook computer all of the way there since electrical plugs are available on first class cars, but I was more glad to have some extra leg-room and be able to stretch out comfortably.
When passing by Belleville I dug out Glenn A.'s last email that he had sent to me and used it to send one his way. I was surprised when it "bounced", which happened again when I did a resend. Wonder what happened there...
The trip itself was relatively uneventful, which is generally a good thing. The trip was comfortable, I had the double seat to myself so I could spread things out, the meal was good, and by the time I got to Montreal several hours latter I felt energized and refreshed, and perhaps feeling just a bit happy from all of the wine I had flowed into my plastic tumbler over the course of the trip. My business companion who traveled in coach by comparison looked decidedly dazed when he emerged.
We walked to the hotel with our baggage, the Novotel Montreal, at 1180 rue de Montagne. It was only a few short blocks away. We checked in, he to a room on the 8th floor looking south, me to a room on the 9th floor situated to the north and with a view looking east. Caught some of the latest Olympic news on the television before hitting the hay, which turned out to be general disappointment in the Canadian men's team's loss against Russia, thereby shutting the Canadians out of medal contention. Undoubtedly the sort of thing that will caused my hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth for the next little while, but frankly I could really care less. Not the sort of thing that would keep me awake, though I did end up having a restless night, typical of my first night in a new place on a different bed.
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