mke-ewr-yyt

i have found that i treat my cameras as major league baseball teams treat their pitchers in the 21st century – each has its specific use and due to this the bag becomes leaden with all that i have to carry. ubaldo’s square format is great for urban formalism as it doesn’t commit either horizontally or vertically. joãozão is great for objects in the land as the horizontality allows one to read from left to right, front to back and lower left to upper right. this also would be great in the barrens around st. shott’s as well as the town halls and abandoned conveniences. the leiquinha being 35 is the notetaking camera and the camera for experimenting. am thinking digital for the instant gratification and its even greater use for experimentation – no film wasted.

i also remember my best time on the rock – the first. i had made a commitment to 5x4 inch film so that i could develop and print the work there. the evening before the departure, i was still in doubt thinking of putting some sort of portable camera in the bag. am glad that i didn’t. i would have followed the easiest route to make snaps, i would have never touched – beyond a dilettantish dabble – the pinhole much less the deardorff.

so this time - tis the gift to be simple tis the gift to be free tis the gift to ….. – the crew joining me on the rock will be – ubaldo and being brought back out of retirement – ubirajara . while it has been on the seat beside me while i travel the highways and byways of southern wisconsin, i hasn’t been out of the country since my days at goldsmiths’. it is going in the roll of backup due to the tenuous reliability of all of my cameras.

thought about a digital camera to document the show that i am curating and hanging and for diary like use. but no while i find it frustrating that never seem to have simple snapshots of the place. no such camera is going – well except for the tom ridge which i used in nyc and seconds as a flash drive.

while i made this decision over the week-end, as i was pulling out of the driveway on the way to the airport coach, i was still second guessing. stood resolved by default i was on my way and there was nothing i could do about it now.

feel better.

mke – ewr – yyt
milwaukee
it is a burden getting to the rock, spending more time in airports than actually in the air. in that spirit i have ulysses with me and the i-book. after the coach ride up from kenosha seeing that once again the stops had changed, i tried to decide whether i should spend most of my time in main terminal or pass through security the terminal that houses continental has the dining pleasures of usingers sausages, pizza hut and miller beer served in plastic bottles. chose to spend some quality time at the starbucks boutique asking for a 20 once strong coffee and a blueberry muffin.

at the continental counter, seeing the st. john’s they gushed and asked what it was like,"i hear it is like ireland..." "no they speak funny in ireland..." being the professional international traveller that i am i handed them a business card with the website and said check it out. asked how far i would have to run when i arrived in newark to get to the gate to the rock only two away and 30 minutes to make the distance. this was going to be great – not having to wait for the shuttle from the satellite terminal at pearson’s, worrying about getting through immigration and customs and racing to the other end of the airport after going through security again – any cameras, as i empty out my bag. i would simply do that at st. john’s international airport and walk into the city with the duke still open.

found comfy seat by an outlet so that i could write the first instalment and when finished moved to the window so that i could read. if i paced myself it would be 1pm before i knew it.

at 12:30 the continental representative came over to speak with me – i guess that i am the only one heading to newfoundland – bowing and scraping saying that the flight into newark will be delayed and my not leave until 2:20 which would mean that i would miss the connexion. they could get me on the air canada flight that leaves at 6:30 making the big smoky at 9 for the 10pm flight to the city of legends arriving at 2:20.

is there any chance that continental will leave with time to make it jim and a pint of smithwicks were waiting. a free room for the evening was to be had. now it looked like the airport in with its stunning view of the wal-mart in stavenger drive and $100 loonies already spent.

hung around as long as possible but finally the representative gave me a my new air canada ticket and a $8.00us food voucher – that gets a bag of crisps and a coke i think.

leaving the terminal slowly i hear “will all continental passengers heading to newark return to the gate as the delay has been lifted and the pilot would like to leave. make the 100 yard dash back to the counter – relieved that i am not rife for a heart attack - to be told oops she used her words incorrectly – what she meant was she wanted people on the plane the delay was still on – again she was sorry. when i could finally breathe again i left and headed over to united/air canada.
make that mke-yyz- yyt
the good people at united/aircanada – knew nothing of my predicament. it seems that ever since continental has had this newark to st. john’s leg and they cannot keep to schedule they have been saying that people are on air canada when they really haven’t booked the ticket – i should have twigged when my boarding pass said milwaukee – newark – st. john’s but they crossed out continental and wrote air canada. i’ll remember this the next time i need a ten dollar bill – take a single add a zero.

united got me to toronto after speaking with air canada i was then told that i should go to the gate and they will get me a new boarding pass.

but but but. there is this nasty obstacle called security how do i get through them to get to the gate?
-show them the boarding pass.
-but the boarding pass says newark … how is this good in pearson’s?
-air canada said it will be fine. but i have to leave the secure area and re-enter it..
-air canada said it will be fine.

arriving on the rock has always been an adventure. the first time when the taxi ride to pouch was only $20cdn, the taxi driver told me of his days speeding along the straightaway between pouch and flatrock. there the thrill of trying to find the key at 2am on a moonless night in january. the driver after leaving returned worried that i may not get in and freeze to death.

i remember tripping down the outside steps of the pipe house - the sound of the waves of the north atlantic just off the last step -to the lower studio and opening the door and finding somewhat “rustic” conditions with a wood burning stove for heat.

there was the winter of the blizzard when again i arrived in pouch at 2:30am this time in my neon rental car and i couldn’t find the key. that night i slept in the car until bruce opened and i could get a coffee. it seems that 2:30 am throws a lot of people. not being sure of the time and date relationship - think television listings.

there was the time that air canada arrived late even for the night owl to st. john’s and i had to stay overnight in beautiful mississauga.

there is the time that carol and i did the yyz sprint from customs to the end of the terminal that serves atlantic canada – at times i thought that i was walking to atlantic canada. as there was only 20 minutes between flights.

there was last year when i book a car rental online saying st.john’s and yyt and hertz made the reservation for st.john new brunswick.

air canada is always adds to that experience.

the trip through newark was mixed, i like getting out of the states as quickly as possible, i like using money that doesn’t smell, i look forward to the globe and mail and canada’s answer to the onion – the national post. but the ewr-yyt flight meant possibly flying over robert frank’s place in mabou – felt like i was doing him one better by picking an even more remote island. Over alastair’s mccloud’s island. seeing or rather not seeing the ocean rather than the dark expanse of the st. laurent. i could compare the cape breton at night with newfoundland – which would be darker, is halifax brighter than st. john’s? besides i had a seat all to myself.

so now i am pacing myself choosing the perfect time in the four additional hours that i shall have to wait before turning in the food voucher for a small pizzeria uno pizza.

yyz - oh (air) canada
finally it was time. there is not much to do at mitchell and after a while trying to the passing wisconsinites with large mammals gets boring and repetitive. the pizza – i had two as i reckoned that it would be the last food that i would get until i heard the ode coming over the cbc in st.john’s – made me feel bloated and lethargic – kept falling asleep and it wasn’t due to jimmy joyce. air canada 1010 was ready for boarding and i was ready for the next round airline fear factor begins. am almost poisoned as i choose oatmeal biscuits for the inflight snack. read the ingredients – lard – who uses lard anymore?

the flight arrives at pearson’s and 9pm the flight to st. john’s departs at 10pm but where. the flight gets off on time we arrive early in the quonset hut that air canada uses for secondary us flights. the doors don’t open until the luggage is available at the bottom of the steps.

tick tick tick

get my bag with ubirajara and the 50mm lens just as a yank – who asks if the airport is a big one – pulls his from under mine having mine start its plummet to the tarmac
-nice catch
-wanker.
the shuttle waits for everyone to get on before heading to customs and lo and behold customs is empty. i am third in the queue this may work yet.

not quite. in a bastardisation of the i am canadian advert, it seems that the customs officer chatting to the woman in front of me finds out she is from sudbury and by coincidence did date her cousin’s sister.

tick tick tick

moved to another queue. carrying my luggage – all of a sudden immigration wants to know about your luggage – one man was hassled for only having a brief case. i raced through and up the stairs to an empty terminal 2 – it seems that the u.s. has pissed off the canadians so much that they moved all the domestic flights to the new wizz bang terminal 1.

good point i no longer have to run from one end of the terminal to the other, bad point i now have to wait for a shuttle then run from one end of the terminal to another.

tick tick tick…

the shuttle seems to creep up to the terminal where everyone packs in and as we are about to leave a woman entering missteps and tears the outer layer of skin of her shin.

blood gushes – no hyperbole, there is a pool on the steps there is a pool at my feet as people hand her tissues to stop it to no avail. i look through my luggage to find a handkerchief but only pull out my underwear. finally a first aid kit is found all the bandages are used as one resourceful woman makes a super bandage from all the bandaids that were in the kit.

by the way t.v. has it all wrong this blood wasn’t red it looked more like well stirred dannon blackberry yogurt.

there are still pools of blood everywhere. teaching at the tute was for once a benefit as bodily fluids are so common in work that this seemed minor. one man’s - who tried to help - hands were covered in it. i offered him a sock (clean still only pull up uinderwear from my bag) to wipe his hands. he has already used his. another gives him bottled water to clean them off.

everyone is telling the woman - who by now must have lost a pint of blood –to go to hospital. she insists on catching the rapidair to montréal.
-it looks worse than it is.

tick tick tick.

the new terminal 1 is beautiful – i think. i was too much in a panic to really stop and gawk it did seem light and airy better than any airport i have been in. art all over the place. didn’t see a tim horton’s though. instead there was the microsoft expedia café.

didn’t spend too much time as it was 9:30 and i hadn’t a clue as to where to go. the counters were packed with people so i blazed ahead to security showed them the not valid boarding pass, they discussed it, i told them about continental – united’s assurances and me doubting the whole procedure. they asked when the flight left and if i had a laptop.

got ready to pull out the cameras which used to be de rigueur in canada. no need walked through and on to find the gate.

i should mention that at the new terminal one – one enters on one floor climbs two floors for departures and security then descends a floor for the gates. while trying to take in the new terminal i realised that i couldn’t find my gate i didn’t even know what gae it was as i couldn’t find it on the board – it was probably there but they already had flights up for the next day an all i saw was flights to st. john’s that didn’t match my time or flight number. asked at a counter with an edmonton flight and got to the gate in time to hear – we are now ready to board all remaining passengers stand-by please wait until your name is called.

up to the counter a shorthanded explanation and i still had time to use a land based toilet before boarding the plane.

everything is grand now – the accents of the rock are heard all about me, even though as usual the plane is packed, i have an aisle seat, there is a tail wind blowing us to the province so we’ll arrive early – 2:20. anyone for a round of let me fish off old st mary’s?

but wait someone just threw up two seats behind me.

it is 2:30 am am in the wi-fied airport glowing irving oil sign in the distance everything is great.