Arrival!

I was up at the crack of 5:30 am yesterday to be chauffeured to the airport to catch my flight. A lucky guess put me in the correct terminal, and I checked in with no queue at all! I said goodbye to Dad over a hot chocolate and croissant then proceeded to queue to get through departures. Once on the other side, I only had to wait 10 minutes or so until the gate opened, and was rather surprised to see a familiar face looking at the same departures TVs as me. Cam is a pupil from my old school, and lives in Medicine Hat near Calgary, and was going home for half term accompanied by his grandmother. As I waited at the gate to be called through for the 10:20 am flight, I started reading 'Life Support', a book which I'd been lent for the journey, which turned out to be quite a disturbing medical crime thriller. I still managed to eat my lunch.

The 9-hour flight was uneventful, I was mostly kept amused by the book, Sailplane & Gliding, and the TV with a film called Stranger Than Fiction, which I quite enjoyed.




My little window gave some nice views on the flight. A cloudy, wet and foggy departure from Gatwick, stratus over the Atlantic Ocean, and finally lovely weather (esp. for gliders...) turning into Calgary.

I was surprised to see a pupil from DYRMS waiting at Gatwick- he was going to Calgary on the same flight as me.


On arrival in Calgary it took my 45 minutes to get processed through Customs and Immigration, but I emerged the other side with a Work Permit and authorised passport. John Barrett, my host for the first couple of days, was waiting for me.After applying for my Social Insurance Number, John and I went to his work, then on to a steak restaurant for a farewell meal for one of his colleages. I had a delicious steak with a stuffed potato (jacket potato, mashed and put back in) with sour cream, chives and bacon bits on top! There was also some veg. I couldn't finish it- the portions were huge- but anyone could guess which part I left out (sorry Mum!). However, the restaurant had a 'hands free washroom', which caught me out for ages, I won't go into the detail. We browsed some shops just to kill some time (I'd not been to a hunting megastore before...), I also bought a sim card for my phone which I'm pleased to say works here in Canada. But then it was getting late, so we headed back to Okotoks, where John lives. By 11:00 I'd had a shower, made up the bed and was snuggled warmly inside. I'd been awake for 24 1/2 hours...

This morning I woke at 7:00, which is a lot better than I expected! Today I'm going to get an Albertan driving licence, register in the bank, and do some shopping for John. Tomorrow, my plans aren't certain, but here's where i'd like to go if there's nothing better to do...