Monthly Archives: August 2005
Smokey Smith Heads Off Planet
| 8/4/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Sgt. Ernest (Smokey) Smith, holder of the Order of Canada, the only Canadian private to receive the Victoria Cross and the last of the Canadian holders of the VC has died at the age of 91. His military exploits which earned him the VC was the stuff which Hollywood loved, the difference is he did it for real. For more on his life see here. Read the rest of this entry »
Miracle in Toronto
| 8/2/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Quite a busy day today. Just back from taking my niece home to London. She had a blast in Montreal and completely fell in love with the city, especially the old city. She wants to go back. We had a great visit, but then I always do with her.
I was returning from London when I got caught in one nasty rain and hail storm. At the time I was about (in normal road conditions) 5 minutes away from Pearson Airport. The storm was so nasty the highway 401 was down to about 10mph or less. The hail was pounding onto my truck steadily and the wipers were barely managing to clear the rain. Usually in a rain like that if you pass under an overpass the rain will break momentarily — that rain was driving so hard that going under an overpass merely broke the hail for a moment.
At the same time an Air France plane was running off the runway and bursting into flames. I was listening to CFRB 1010 in Toronto as the reports started coming in. It sure sounded like I was bound to be passing the scene of a lot of deaths as the reports of it going off the runway and immediately bursting into flames came in. Took about 45 minutes to get abreast of the airport, the rain had let up and most of the slow highway speed had become congestion caused by the crash.
I found it pretty funny when reports came in that the American media had initially reported the crash as a potential terrorist attack. Meanwhile in Toronto, eye witnesses are reporting the plane appeared to be struck by lightning. So, if it was a terrorist attack… them folks have corralled the power of Mother Nature to do their work.
By the time I got abreast of the airport and saw the burning plane I’d heard the first reports that there were survivors. Some had wandered up onto the west bound commuter lanes of the 401, thank God, the drivers managed to avoid hitting them. A bunch of the obviously dazed and in shock passengers had been herded safely underneath an overpass awaiting emergency crews getting to them. That was encouraging news.
I looked as most people were doing but only briefly as I knew I needed to keep some focus on the highway because lots of others likely were watching the accident scene than where they were going. The westbound lanes were being closed down to allow emergency crews to move in safely to get to the scene and the survivors. I was most thankful I was eastbound.
Didn’t take me too long to clear the scene and head on into rush hour traffic in Toronto. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t take me too long to get right across Toronto considering it was the height of rush hour. All along I was listening to Micheal Coren (who was filling in for John Moore) keeping the public as up to date as possible on what was happening at the crash scene. One of the few times I’ve heard Coren and not considered him an utter fool. He was being most careful to avoid the public rushing to the wrong conclusions when the full details just weren’t known.
I decided to pull off the highway at Oshawa and stop into head office. As I arrived at the door one of the staff rushed out into the hallway to tell me she had heard from our Ottawa agent about the plane explosion at Pearson Airport. Well, so much for being careful and avoiding the public rushing to conclusions.
Before I arrived back at my home in Colborne, I had heard the great news on the radio that all 309 passengers and crew had gotten safely off the plane before it was engulfed in flames. The plane had been cleared in about 90 seconds. What a miracle!
Da Niece Arriving Today
| 8/1/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
My niece will be coming in from Montreal later on today. Hopefully she’s had a blast down there linking back up with some of the people she was in Katimavik with. What a great program for young people. Challenges them to learn more about themselves and reach beyond their comfort zones. Read the rest of this entry »
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