The Flight Back

I didn’t really do much while I was at home. I saw a few friends but mostly I just hung out with the family. My flight back was another interesting adventure. It started at round about five in the morning. My brother Chris was to drive me back to St. Louis to catch a mid morning flight. We were a little rushed for time but we made several stops to grab cheap coffee from truck stops. Neither of us are morning people.

We got to the airport all right. I was the last one to check in and I had to rush to get through security. I then found out that the flight was delayed by about 30 minutes. I bought some candy for the flight. I ended up not eating it until after I got back to Birmingham.

I talked with some of the other passengers before we boarded. They were heading to Ottawa for their second Christmas and for New Years.

The flight from St. Louis to Toronto was uneventful. I wish I had had my camera on me for when we actually flew into the city because it was one hell of a view. Seeing the CN Tower looming over the city like a giant citadel was quite a sight.
I kept checking my watch constantly. We were running late and I was going to have to hoof it to get through customs to get to my next flight on time. We did land in a separate terminal and were bussed over to the main concourse to get through customs. It was annoying just because I was running so late. Thankfully, I got through on time (and I now have a Canadian stamp) and I rushed to my next flight. Due to being so late they had bumped me but they allowed me to get on this flight. I was heading to Montreal. There is a flight between Toronto and Montreal almost every hour. I didn’t need to rush as much as I thought I had to.

I did have time to purchase a book from a News stand. I had finished the only book I brought with me on the flight and I needed something to entertain myself. I purchased City of Thieves by David Benioff. It’s a pretty solid read. I did however forget at how expensive books are in North America. I had gotten so used to UK book prices.
Once we landed in Montreal, the first thing I saw once I debarked from the flight was a restaurant. I probably could have found a different one, or a much cheaper one but I didn’t really care at this point. I just wanted food. I had a salmon steak and a vodka martini. I found out pretty quickly that I don’t really like those just because I don’t like vodka. I also had a pint of Heineken beer.

I found my gate. There was added security in the airport due to the Detroit incident. There was a doorway where once I walked through I was going to have to stay on that side no matter what. I decided to hang back at a café bar type place. I had two more pints of Rickard’s Red beer which is a very tasty Canadian beer that I had never heard of before. Very amber.

I got on the plane and due to my exhaustion, and the amount of alcohol which was in my system, I crashed the second I got comfortable. I don’t remembering taxiing. I don’t remember take off. I remember waking up half way through the flight realizing that the person next to me had gotten up and was sitting somewhere else. I did ask the stewardess if there was supposed to be a meal. Apparently I had slept through that as well. They did provide me with one though. I got a crew meal just because the economy meal wasn’t looking so good at this point. It was trout and as airplane food goes, it was actually pretty good.

We landed. I went through customs. Got to the underground and went to Euston train station. Once there I was going to buy a ticket to get home.
When I was in line to purchase my ticket there was a woman in front of me who was taking forever. I kept checking my watch repeatedly. The man behind me asked where I was going. I told him I could make the 9:23 to Birmingham if this woman would hurry up. “It’s always a life story.” I’m looking at this guy. The second he said that I start noticing that he looks very familiar. I then ask a dumb question. “Has anybody ever mistaken you for James Ellroy?”

“I am James Ellroy.”

My immediate reaction was that I thought he was lying but he kept giving me this wry smile. That’s when I realized that he wasn’t lying at all. I shook his hand and said that I was a fan of his work. For those of you who don’t know, James Ellroy is the crime novelist who wrote The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential among others. A few minutes later he went up to the woman selling the tickets and told her that she should do her job just because the line was getting pretty long. “Stop listening to this life story.” The woman with the life story thought he was being rude and while, yes, he was I’m still going to side with him.

Number One: He’s James Ellroy

Number Two: I could have made that 9:23 train if this woman didn’t have a 20 minute problem.