A Speeding Ticket - A Wedding - A Week Off - A Wasted Flight

A fair bit has happened so I want to jot this down before I fall any further behind.

So, my plan worked...mostly. I drove down to St. John's Thursday and spent the night at a B&B in St. John's. I was able to pick up my wedding gift although I did no other shopping since I wasn't sure I was going to have enough space after buying the winter tires.

Well, on Friday morning I showed up at the dealership just before 8 am and, as promised, they whisked my car in for another maintenance check. Once again they chastised me for not bringing the car in on schedule. I know I'm risking my warranty by not following the schedule but it seems like Canadians are being lumped into the "Extreme Conditions" schedule where you're supposed to bring your car in every 5000 km or every 3 months (whichever is sooner). Unfortunately, due to the remoteness of where I live, every 5000 km is going to be difficult but every 3 months is reasonable. It's just not going to be feasible for me to come in that frequently. On the other hand, I'm not obligated to get my car serviced in St. John's so I suppose I can get the oil changed here in town. Hopefully, the dealership in St. John's will treat me leniently seeing how I've been patronizing them for past 4 months.

So, just after 9 am they gave the car back along with 4 new Nokian Hakka 5 studded tires. I didn't check them out until well after I've returned to St. Anthony (about 10 days) and to my disappointment I saw that they were the plain boring black steel rims. The dealership told me they had a "sale" where you could get 4 rims for the price of 3 (at $75 ea.). I asked if they were authentic Suzuki Rims and he replied that they were. Now, in hindsight, I should have clarified if they were the aluminum rims with the Suzuki logo on them (which was what I was expecting). Since I could get black steel generic rims from Canadian tire at $45 each this was not a good deal! (Sigh).

I hit the highway and I had 6 hours to travel 600 km to catch a flight. Since I wanted to arrive at the airport with at least a 30 minute buffer before the flight leaves I decided to speed. It was a calculated risk but I tried driving between 115 and 120 km/h (the limit on the Trans Canada was 100). Although there were a few other cars driving as fast as I was, I also passed my fair share of cars. And then it happened....

For those who haven't driven on the Trans Canada, it is usually a 2 lane highway with no center median and there are 3 lane sections to enable passing. I was headed downhill in a single lane and I had the option to pass by using the center lane which had opposing traffic. There was a tractor trailer in front of me which was going at a good clip (~110). I just did what I always did when passing on a 2 lane highway -- I floored it. Well, when I completed the pass, I saw the red and yellow lights start flashing on a car going the opposite way. My stomach sank as I realized what was going to happen next...

Fifteen minutes later I was in possession of a yellow slip proclaiming my traffic violation. I was caught going 136 but the cop saw I was trying to pass a truck and he was nice and decided to knock it down to 130. Let me just say the Newfoundland traffic tickets are extremely uninformative -- there was no indication of what the fine was or how many demerit points I've incurred. I had to find that out later by calling a phone number ($230 and 3 demerits, respectively -- OUCH!). While I do feel a little guilty for speeding in general I'm actually somewhat unrepentant for passing at high speed -- passing at the speed limit is a contradiction in terms!

Well, I made it to Deer Lake with 45 minutes to spare and then I was on a flight to Halifax. On arrival, I caught up with some friends from med school and then crashed for the night. Unfortunately, my internal clock still had not adjusted from Daylight Savings Time the week before and being on Newfoundland time didn't help matters much either. We wandered around the Farmer's Market in downtown Halifax (held at the Alexander Keith's Brewery) the morning of the wedding and then returned to the hotel where the groom, the parents, and the photographers started off with the preliminaries. Next it was on to the church for a simple, efficient yet elegant ceremony. The reception was held at a ranch later that evening. It was a great time with good food. In fact, we were all amazed that seconds were offered (never saw that at wedding before). The bride and groom had to return to the rat race the following day while we hung out for 2 more days in Halifax with a short trip to Peggy's Cove.

Next it was off to Ottawa to visit another friend from med school. I haven't visited her for a few years so a trip was overdue. Having been to Ottawa before there wasn't much in particular I wanted to do but I was able to spend an afternoon at the War Museum which is one of the newer ones. I actually ran out of time as I found myself reading most of the displays. The rest of my time was spent chilling out and playing two viciously competitive games of Settlers of Catan.

Lastly, it was back to Toronto to catch up with the family. My relationship with my Dad is still somewhat strained. Somebody famous once said you should try to disagree without being disagreeable and, unfortunately, it ain't happenin'. Prolonged disagreements inevitably escalate and become somewhat heated with my Dad standing on one side not understanding why his kids can't just accept what he's saying and myself (or one of my siblings) feeling he's trying just a little too hard to impose his will on things. We were arguing over how to manage our savings especially in light of the current economic turmoil. For those who don't know, my Dad is essentially into real estate and into rental apartment buildings in particular. He has near total faith in the real estate market and he is totally confident in using it as a tool to generate wealth. He proposed that we all contribute and help him invest in apartment buildings and gradually work our way up to multiple buildings. This is essentially how he and his brothers started out when they arrived in Canada. I pointed out to Dad that this is quite a large undertaking and requires large amounts of capital to which he replied it was OK since he could go it alone without us contributing much. I was receptive up until this point but then he demanded that we stop making other investments, like RRSPs, because he wanted us to fully commit to his master plan, all or nothing. I won't repeat the litany of objections I had to this here (you guys can probably guess most of them) but I can slowly feel my "inner teen" rearing its ugly head against the "Dad knows best" attitude. The other interesting point in this discussion was that my Dad was hoping that by having a family owned business this would be a way of uniting the family so that we would not scatter to the 4 winds. This is clearly a deeply engrained fear of my father's and he clings tightly to the ideal that all family members must live within close proximity to each other. I initially attributed this to a cultural belief since in China (especially rural China) extended families typically lived under the same roof. While in Halifax a friend of mine astutely pointed out that this is actually a generational belief as well and my Dad simply hasn't accepted that times have changed. Indeed, I think if you were to go to China you'd probably find there has been more migration than in the past -- it is fairly common to see rural migrant workers leaving for the big cities looking for work.

To make matters worse my Dad also raised the issue of an arranged marriage again. He casually mentioned that he was thinking of going back to China in February and he wouldn't be expecting the entire family to come. Okay, so far so good. He wanted me to come along and asked how much time I could spare and I casually said maybe 10 days, maybe a week. He chuckled and said "A week? I can't show you that many women with that little time...."

To quote Queen Victoria: "We are not amused".

I am still reluctant to refuse my Dad outright but to (not so) subtly signal my displeasure I am thinking of limiting the trip to 7 days only and also insisting that my Dad pay for the airfare. If I am going to China "on business" (and not pleasure) then it's only fair that "the boss" pays for it!

I know, I know, I should try to act my age and sit down with my Dad and discuss this like adults. My challenge is to do it in a fashion so that I don't increase his stress levels and I don't leave him despondent over the impending doom of the Lee bloodline. (No worries, my brother can take care of that!)

Not only did I get my first speeding ticket this week but I also had my first wasted flight. I foolishly thought that only St. John's and Newfoundland in general had unreliable airports due to the weather. After this experience I can now wisely amend that to include Halifax and the rest of Atlantic Canada. I got on the plane in Toronto and 2 hours later we started to land in Halifax. I looked outside and what I initially thought was thick cloud actually turned out to be fog as thick as the proverbial pea soup. The descent was relatively calm and I kept staring out the window wondering when I was going to see land. Then the engines suddenly revved up and the plane started ascending. "Uh oh", I thought, the pilot just aborted the landing! After 10 minutes without turning I instinctively knew what was happening. The pilot went on the intercom and announced that due to the weather conditions we couldn't land in Halifax and we were being diverted to Montreal. Apparently, visibility was zero and there were sustained winds of 100 km/h at Halifax Airport. The ILS (instrumented landing system), an electronic guidance system which helps pilots land, was non-functional on the optimal runway so the pilot had an impossible choice: he could either have a guided landing with 100 km/h crosswinds or land into thick fog with no ILS. He made one attempt at an unguided landing and aborted.

So we turned around and head to Montreal. An hour and a half later my spidey sense started tingling and I thought, "why aren't we descending?". Sure enough, the pilot came on again and announced that 15 flights into Halifax were diverted and Montreal was now full! "Fortunately", we had enough fuel to make it to Toronto and we were being diverted there. A big groan echoed throughout the cabin while a number of us (yours truly included) laughed at the cruel misfortune which had befallen us. And so, I spent 4 hours on a plane only to return to Toronto.

Actually, it was fortunate that I returned to Toronto -- it is usually advantageous to get stuck at a hub airport as you'll likely have more options. It just so happened that there was a direct flight to Deer Lake leaving later that evening. Great! I can bypass Halifax. But the weather gods weren't going to cooperate. As we were boarding the plane they announced that the weather in Halifax had settled down...and was moving towards Newfoundland. The arrival of the bad weather was going to coincide with our arrival! Unfortunately, Deer Lake is a single runway airport which does not give the pilot many options when it comes to high winds. They made no promises and warned that we may be diverted to Halifax.

We all groaned again and got on the plane. As we descended the pilot again made no promises but he thought our chances were "better than average". The descent into Deer Lake was actually bumpier than the last time. This is only the 3rd time in my life I saw a commercial jet get tossed around by the wind. I think the lady behind me said it best when a particularly strong gust of tailwind caused the plane to suddenly drop: "Oh shhhhiiiiiii.......". A few moments before landing there was a strange lull and then the runway suddenly appeared and pilot successfully landed the plane. Just like my last flight, the cabin broke out in applause because A) we were still alive and B) we weren't going to Halifax.

Day 7: Charlottetown to Halifax

Well, here I am in New Scotland and I'm at the midway point of my trip. I'm starting to feel a little worn down. I'm going to try turning in early tonight.

First, I went to see Charlottetown and I visited two historic sites in particular: the Hall of Founders and Province House. Although the weather was crummy with light showers I actually welcomed the respite from the sun -- my skin is starting to suffer a little bit from the past week. No sunburn yet though.

The Hall of Founders was basically a multimedia self-guided museum which presented the history of confederation right up until Nunavut. The format was a hybrid of a documentary and a mock news show. Although it was campy and cheesy in some places it kept me interested and it reminded me how little I remember from my Gr. 7, 8, and 9 History classes!

Province House (pictured below) is the legislature building for PEI and it was also the building where the Fathers of Confederation met. This is the more serious counterpoint to Hall of Founders where you can watch a 17 minute documentary and tour the inside of the building. The long green table was the exact same table and in the exact same room where everybody met. Two facts about Confederation which I never knew: 1) Nothing was ever signed at the Charlottetown meeting ("Gentleman's Agreement" to meet again in one month) and 2) The meeting was originally supposed to be about maritime unity and Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec) weren't even invited -- they crashed the party!

Then it was off to Nova Scotia via the Wood Islands ferry. Although it would have been $10 cheaper to drive back across Confed bridge it would have added an extra 100 km of driving distance. Plus, the ferry ride wasn't that long (1 hr. 15 min) and I welcomed a break from driving. I shot this parting picture of PEI:
Next I drove straight to Halifax and checked into Gerard Res at Dal. It was 4 pm and since most of the museums close at 5 pm I decided to have dinner first and then check out the other sites which were still open.

To all you ex-Kingstonians out there -- I ate at Curry Village. I had completely forgotten that they had a Halifax restaurant and I couldn't resist. Afterwards, I went a nice stroll around downtown. First to the Public Gardens which I think was the first Victorian-style park built in Canada.

Next, I walked to the harbourfront to check out the historic properties (which have been converted into a tourist trap) and the rest of downtown:

Once again I'm not going to get the full Halifax experience. However, I've been to Halifax before and I'm actually going to come back in a few months for a wedding so I'll have more opportunities to check out the sites I will miss. It's the non-big city sites in my trip that I want to focus my time on.

Tomorrow: Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay, and Lunenberg