Flying back, ironic style

So after three weeks at home, yesterday was time to go "home" to Toronto. Ironically, it wasn't the Toronto winter but the "storm" in Vancouver that threatened to cancel my flight. Thankfully, the runways at YVR were equipped with better plows than the rest of the city and my flight was only delayed by about 15 minutes.

I was lucky enough to get the seat by the emergency exit aisle, which meant that I would have had first dibs at exiting the plane had we been involved in the (unlikely, of course) event of a water landing. But perhaps even more importantly, this seat also offered a lot more leg room than regular seats. In return for this extra bit of realestate, all I had to do was learn the three simple steps to open the emergency hatch -- break glass, turn knob, lift and push door towards outside of the plane so that it doesn't block other passengers from exiting...and competing with me for life vessels...hmmm...I wonder if improvisation would be allowed in a real emergency). Thankfully, I didn't have to use any of this information because it would have been embarassing if the rest of the passengers had to discover to their absolute horror that my limp, noodle arms were too weak to save them.

After we pushed off from the gate, the captain informed us that snow on the wings is not aerodynamically favorable for takeoff, and so we had to make a pit stop at the de-icing station. Now, at this point the coffee I had had before boarding was starting to work its diuretic magic and I was hearing nature's call get louder and louder. To see a man hosing down the plane with a waist-level hose was not helping me quiet the call. As soon as we hit cruising altitude, I bolted for the ummm...in short, it was a close call.

That about sums it up for the flight home. It wasn't the greatest flight ever, but the landing was smooth and I got back in one piece. I got lots of thinking done on the plane and the New Year is off to an interesting start.


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