Monday 11 November 2013

Good weekend for a break

I took a break this weekend, not just from flying but from Toronto in general. Don’t get me wrong I love this city but just occasionally it all gets a little too much.

When this happens RTH and I plan to get the hell out of Dodge for a while and head somewhere different. This time it was a little place just outside Paris. That would be Paris, Ontario as opposed to its European namesake.
We rented a car, booked a room in a small out of the way B and B and headed off Saturday morning. I love road trips with RTH. We always take our time getting to where we want to go, driving with no real destination in mind. No maps, no charts, no GPS. The attitude being, you can’t be lost if you’re not really trying to get anywhere. Our car did actually have a GPS but we don’t have a great track record with them. Often we antagonise them to the point where they stop talking to us.

The weekend wasn’t without aviation content. For the want of anywhere better to stop, we decided to have breakfast at Brantford airport, so we got a decent view while eating our pancakes. There was a beautiful taildragger parked up while we were eating. It taxied out and left while we were there. It made me realise that in a taildragger, you have NO forward visibility whatsoever. How the hell do you keep one of them straight?
At the B and B the aviation theme continued, one of the reasons we go to bed and breakfasts is to meet new people.  You never know who you will end up chatting to over breakfast.

This time we were sitting opposite a couple from Ottawa. He is a retired aeronautical engineer in the Canadian air force. We excitedly talked Harvards and Hawks and all manner of aircraft. Pausing occasionally to explain the differences to our hosts.
It was a cruddy weekend for flying, the weather blustery and intermittently wet. But it was a good weekend to escape and recharge the batteries.

Now I can get back to thinking about my upcoming cross country.

 

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