I am in Canada.
I woke up around three-thirty this morning, in the dark of the continued black-out, and caught a train into Jamaica. Across the platform, at my station, was another guy, who I thought was waiting for another train, but who then called across the tracks, asking me to dial 911.
“Um…why?” I wondered aloud, once I figured out that’s what he was asking.
“Because I know that guy,” he said, cryptically. I think he was pointing at another person who’d just arrived, down at the other end of the platform. There wasn’t anybody else there that early in the morning.
“I’m just about to get on this train,” I said. My train was just then pulling into the station.
“I know!” he said. “That’s why.”
He continued to gesture at me through the window, from across the track, even as I got on the train and left him behind. I didn’t call 911. I really have no idea why he wanted me to, if he was crazy or drunk or that’s just his idea of a weird joke. I was just glad two tracks separated us, and I was more than happy to leave him behind. Maybe I let some dangerous criminal board the same train as me, but I think I more likely just let some weird creep hanging out at the station before dawn disappointed.
It was kind of a weird start to the day.
The rest of it, though, went by pretty much as expected. I spent a lot longer checking in at the airport than I would have liked — there was some kind of tour group or family or just lots of people all from the same neighborhood who’d coincidentally shown up — and I had to go through the back-scatter x-ray machine for the first time. (Ineffective, potentially risky, possible violation of civil liberties and it takes considerably longer? Oh, sign me up!) But I made it to my gate in time for my 7 am flight to Salt Lake City.
Where I was for, I think, all of twenty minutes before my connecting flight to Calgary.
I’m staying at the Farimnt Palliser downtown, which is nice, although I’m probably too exhausted and here for too short a time to really enjoy it, even with my complimentary room upgrade. (Even that’s only because I think business is slow. Today, at least, there don’t seem to be too many other people here. But still, the room is nice.)
So I won’t see an awful lot of Calgary. I walked around a little, and the weather’s quite nice so far, but most of the trip here will be spent in Banff.
All of which starts tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it!