20.08.03 - 11:49 AM - Information Jim
No excuses. Long break=lots o' stuff happening. Unfortunately, said stuff is still goin on at full tilt, so I won't have time to do a full description. That being said, here are a few of the highlights:
I attempted to fly to St. John's, missing my connecting flight in Hamilton. Luckily my sister waited for me, so misery got company. We spent the night in the Airport Inn, a frightening little motel in the industrial area that, had the driver not known where he was going, we never would have figured to be a motel. It looked condemned, and was not far off. The room was of the style with an inside door and an outside door leading to the parking lot. At 2:30 AM we awoke to someone banging on the outside door and screaming 'OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!' After I soiled the sheets I decided the best course of action was to stay very still and hope it stopped. He soon moved on to the next room.
The next day we asked for a shuttle to the airport and were told that, as we had not booked the previous day, we would be SOL. It took me a few minutes to pry my foot out of the guy's arse, but we decided to kill a few hours by walking the 10 or so km to the airport.
Hamilton is an, um, interesting little city. The stretch of road connecting sleazy motel row to the airport is lined with old places, most of which have strange things on their lawns. Things like cows (live ones), or barber shop signs painted in runny red and blue, leaning precariously by the side of the road. One sign advertised back and shoulder waxin for $25. Another place had a sign that said "NEW computers! $499!!" but don't take their word for it, just look at the fabulous machines stacked on a bridge table on the lawn, unattended.
My favourite sign was that of Information Jim. I can only assume that this is Jim's nick name, as the sign only said "Information Jim 555-5555" with a little rider attached proclaiming "HERE!". We were still a ways off from the airport, so I thought about asking good ole Information Jim if he knew how far we still had to walk. Maybe we would be better off asking someone else, but I couldn't shake the feeling that they'd just sigh, hang their heads and ask condescendingly, "Did you ask Information Jim?"
We eventually made it to St. John's, where we were screeched-in in record time, landing at 10:30 and screeched at 11:15 -- now that's an honourary Newfie...
Out of time (sorry). Other points of interest I will later touch on, time permitting, include working at an airport during the blackout (fun, fun, fun), being Best Man at a wedding, getting ready to film this week-end, and a few other anecdotes of our stay in Newfoundland.
Oh yeah, and my Gold Membership has expired. Not quite sure whether I'll renew. In the meantime I'll design something else soon when I have time -- hahahaha!!! -- seriously, though, you may be staring at an incomplete Canuckian flag for while...
