See a penny, pick it up

The future is in our past -

Travel is interesting, if only for the variety of people one meets along the way. Having just completed my latest journey to Paris (on the way to Australia) it can honestly be said that every journey is special and unique.

The trip to Halifax on Air Canada Jazz (wonder how they come up with that name?) was uneventful, except for the charismatic personality of Ken, the Flight Attendant. Now here's a guy who can brighten everyone's day. He called passengers by name, spoke a personal word to them and enlisted the help of excited children to pass out snacks. You are a breath of fresh air, Ken.

At the end of the journey, Ken thanked the children over the intercom. It would be just like some smart Alec Air Canada management type to put thumbs down on that kind of customer inclusion, in the interest of public safety or other such crazy rule.

In Halifax the Maple Leaf Lounge was overcrowded, which made me imagine that the Executive First promotional campaign was working well. Many of the people there were standing up, glued to the TV, watching the latest news on the death of Michael Jackson.

It was fish watching for me. A small Aquarium was filled with large fish that had hardly enough room to swim past each other. It broke my heart. My time was spent playing with one fish who played hide and seek behind a rock. It seemed curious about my hand passing in front of the glass. There's an odd one in every group, it seems.

The bomber came when, after being loaded on the Montreal bound plane in Halifax, we were asked to disembark because there were flight disruptions caused by severe thunderstorms in Montreal. It looked like there was not much chance of my connecting with the Paris flight.

As my mother used to say, "Come day, go day, God send Sunday!" Heeding that advice, there was nothing to do but settle back and wait to see what would unfold. Some who were not the beneficiaries of my mother's wisdom panicked and started to blame Air Canada. One woman, with a connection to the Middle East, kept going back to the counter to complain, only to be told the same thing... it was a God-given waiting game.

In the midst of the kafuffle another woman sauntered up to the counter and asked about a flight to St. John's that had departed an hour earlier. When she gave her name it turned out that they had paged her numerous times and even had to delay the plane to unload her baggage. How could she blame Air Canada? But she did!

About an hour later, we boarded again. Some of those with connections that might be missed were less than cordial. And then came another next charismatic Flight Attendant, Pierre.

When one woman complained repeatedly about where her carry-on baggage had to be stored, Pierre calmly, firmly and courteously told her that she had a choice - store it where he suggested or he would check it. She was subdued but kept on sputtering that it was not a choice. She wanted it stored in the Executive Class section; he stored it over the seat behind her.

Pierre was excellent but the delay made the tension palpable. When the plane finally landed in Montreal, for some the wait to disembark was unbearable. Then a penny on the floor caught my attention. It was time for me to pick up the penny and have fun. My mother used to say, "See a penny, pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck." My addition to that is, "If you give it away you'll have more luck."

As the penny passed hands, the mood lifted. Not many wished for the good luck of making their connection. They forgot the connections and instead wished to win the lottery. It really doesn't take much to flood a negative atmosphere with positivity.

The others may not have won the lottery but, for me, the penny was lucky. It was a relief to sit finally, on the plane headed for Charles De Gaulle. The relief came from no longer having to carry my two carry-on bags. Usually one backpack is enough but this trip covers two seasons, summer and Australia in winter.

The new EF seats are not all that wonderful. Whoever designed them must have been following the rules of the Emperor's New Clothes. Keep saying that something is new and better and people will believe. Still the meal was good and the sleep was welcomed.

But money still seems to trump everything. The penny passing in the plane brought out the greater desire to win the lottery, rather than the previous all-consuming desire to make a connecting flight.

All in all, the trip was great, although the melancholy brought about by thoughts of freedom, and the lack of it, lingers. The fish imprisoned in the tank reminded me of Michael Jackson. For all his money, he had nothing. For all his fifty years, he lived in prison. Everything is relative.