Foggy, drizzly weather in Sidney, early Saturday morning, made me wonder whether I might be making a mad dash for the ferry, rather than taking the plane to Vancouver that way, where I would pick up the Air Transat flight to London.... but the sun broke through just in time to burn off the fog.
I had several hours to spend chilling out at YVR, then just as I was about to board my flight, I had an unexpected encounter! Amongst the motley collection of passengers also waiting to board, I noticed this one particular, statuesque ' lovely lady of a certain age', who looked somewhat familiar.... so I asked whether she was who I thought she was. With a surprised look on her face, she replied that she was indeed....... Patricia Stokes..... immediately realizing who it was who was accosting her!. She had been a year ahead of me at The Abbey, more than fifty years ago! The last time I had seen her was in Montreal, in the eighties -another unexpected encounter! - during the visit to the city, of the Archbishop of Canterbury. A number of years ago, she moved back to England, to escape those brutal Montreal winters.. We spent a pleasant interlude, catching up on what had occurred during the intervening years since our paths had last crossed.... then it was to time to be on our way. She hadn't heard about the School Reunion coming up next weekend, but would have come, even at such short notice, had she not had something else scheduled for that day.
Once underway, all went according to plan, with us arriving on schedule, - greeted by drizzly, chilly weather. Welcome to... 'Cool Britannia'! (Since then, I have seen the sun, though.) Shortly after I arrived, a special treat was to meet up with Ruth (friend of long-standing, also from The Abbey) and her husband, Bern and daughter, Briony, who was flying out to Jamaica, to begin a seven week practicum there (This was a planned meeting!) Our time together, over a lengthy breakfast, turned out to be much longer than we had originally thought, owing to the almost four-hour delay of Briony's flight....
I was definitely ready for some serious down time, by the time I arrived here at the Ibis....and now I am ready to do some serious sleeping. Stay tuned for more....
I had several hours to spend chilling out at YVR, then just as I was about to board my flight, I had an unexpected encounter! Amongst the motley collection of passengers also waiting to board, I noticed this one particular, statuesque ' lovely lady of a certain age', who looked somewhat familiar.... so I asked whether she was who I thought she was. With a surprised look on her face, she replied that she was indeed....... Patricia Stokes..... immediately realizing who it was who was accosting her!. She had been a year ahead of me at The Abbey, more than fifty years ago! The last time I had seen her was in Montreal, in the eighties -another unexpected encounter! - during the visit to the city, of the Archbishop of Canterbury. A number of years ago, she moved back to England, to escape those brutal Montreal winters.. We spent a pleasant interlude, catching up on what had occurred during the intervening years since our paths had last crossed.... then it was to time to be on our way. She hadn't heard about the School Reunion coming up next weekend, but would have come, even at such short notice, had she not had something else scheduled for that day.
Once underway, all went according to plan, with us arriving on schedule, - greeted by drizzly, chilly weather. Welcome to... 'Cool Britannia'! (Since then, I have seen the sun, though.) Shortly after I arrived, a special treat was to meet up with Ruth (friend of long-standing, also from The Abbey) and her husband, Bern and daughter, Briony, who was flying out to Jamaica, to begin a seven week practicum there (This was a planned meeting!) Our time together, over a lengthy breakfast, turned out to be much longer than we had originally thought, owing to the almost four-hour delay of Briony's flight....
I was definitely ready for some serious down time, by the time I arrived here at the Ibis....and now I am ready to do some serious sleeping. Stay tuned for more....
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