I'll bet he turns out to be a human just like us after all. Your
encounter is exciting just the same. We are all proud of John and Jo and their
three wonderful 'guys'.
Don.
Hi all,
Mentioned to some of you that while on my evening
flight from Toronto to Ottawa the other week, Paul Martin was on the flight, a
couple of rows ahead (in business class). That was Brush With
Smarminess part one (actually, part one was Geddy Lee as my seatmate to LA a
few years ago). (Actually, part two was Ed Kilroy (president of IBM
canada) as my seatmate from Edmonton last year, three weeks after IBM's
takeover of my company - good thing I was well behaved). So Paul Martin
is actually BWS part three.
So, I thought for my flight tonight, I would take
the business class upgrade, and see if I might see any other notable
dignitaries. Darned if John McCallum (Minister of National Defence)
wasn't two seats over.
But even more interesting than him was
this:
As the flight arrived at the gate, we all rose to
gather our belongings. I grabbed my suitcase from the overhead bin,
turned around, and came face to face with his excellency, John Ralston Saul
(and his security detail of three), whose wife is Adrienne Clarkson, our
governor-general. Actually, I almost bonked him in the head with my
laptop bag.
Mr. Saul was wearing a blue, three quarter length
wool coat that had some beautiful beaded embrodiery on it. I remarked to
him that it was a beautiful coat. He said to me:
"Yes, it was made by a woman in Fort Simpson, she
is known for her beadwork".
I said to him, "Fort Simpson. Hm. I know
who you mean, she's the one who uses Porcupine quills for
thread".
He looked at me like I was from another planet,
and asked me how I could possibly have known that.
I replied that my brother is a bush pilot who
lives in Fort Simpson, and that he had asked this Dene woman to make a pair of
moccasins for my son.
Of course, then his attache started talking to
me, asking about which airline he flew for. I mentioned that he
used to fly for Ted at Simpson Air, but most recently was flying for Jacques
at South Nahanni Airways.
Then John Saul broke in, and asked if that was
the outfit that flew that big twin engined floatplane, and yadda yadda
yadda.
I was going to bum a ride in their limo, but the
RCMP guy (long cheap trenchcoat, big moustache, complete cliche) was giving me
a dirty look.
later..
..Cameron
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