For those that were waiting to see it, here it is at last ...
Mar 14, 2010
Daylight Saving
It seems that every couple of years with the change for daylight savings, we get caught out. One of the things about living in Fort McMurray is that I don’t tend to pay much attention to the local media. Let’s face it, it’s pretty much restricted to local radio and for as much as they try hard, I can’t say that I am a fan and so more often than not, you’ll find me listening to a podcast rather than the radio. What it meant this year was that it snuck up on us. Someone said something late Friday to me, but that went in one ear and out the other.
So this morning I woke up, looked at the clock and realized we weren’t going to make 9am mass. I did make the effort though to get up and make sure that the kids were fed in time for the 11am mass instead. Having cooked pancakes, I logged onto the computer for a bit and then, when I though it was about 20 to, called out to Caroline to make sure she would be as ready as the rest of us. On the hour, as she emerged from the lofty heights of the second story, I politely told her that we would be rather late. At which point she asked why, given that it was only 10am. I re-checked my watch and slapped myself for being a goose.
Half an hour later, as I sat down to write here, something clicked in my head and I remembered that brief and vague conversation that I’d had on Friday that had mentioned daylight savings. I checked the internet and sure enough, it wasn’t 10:30 anymore, it was 11:30. We’d missed the mass anyway. Goose squared!
And a brief note: When the sun rises at 4am and it’s still daylight at 11pm at night in high summer, what is the point of daylight savings? It’s not really like you’re running out of the stuff!?
So this morning I woke up, looked at the clock and realized we weren’t going to make 9am mass. I did make the effort though to get up and make sure that the kids were fed in time for the 11am mass instead. Having cooked pancakes, I logged onto the computer for a bit and then, when I though it was about 20 to, called out to Caroline to make sure she would be as ready as the rest of us. On the hour, as she emerged from the lofty heights of the second story, I politely told her that we would be rather late. At which point she asked why, given that it was only 10am. I re-checked my watch and slapped myself for being a goose.
Half an hour later, as I sat down to write here, something clicked in my head and I remembered that brief and vague conversation that I’d had on Friday that had mentioned daylight savings. I checked the internet and sure enough, it wasn’t 10:30 anymore, it was 11:30. We’d missed the mass anyway. Goose squared!
And a brief note: When the sun rises at 4am and it’s still daylight at 11pm at night in high summer, what is the point of daylight savings? It’s not really like you’re running out of the stuff!?
Holiday Pt 3
Yes, it’s taken me a while to finish this off. Work has been somewhat frantic since our return, but I finally pulled my finger out and found some time to finish this off!
After all of the excitement of the shuttle launch, it was almost hard to believe that we were only at the very beginning of our holiday.
The four days that followed were consumed by Disney as we roamed the parks of Walt Disney World. We whipped fairly quickly through the Magic Kingdom as much of it was very similar (if not the same) as Disneyland in California. We had planned to go back to have a look at the bits that we skipped, but by the time that we’d been through Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios we decided that we’d take the time to get back to Fort Lauderdale ahead of the cruise.
Disney was a heap of fun, especially for the kids, but I can’t say that it quite inspires the same words that the shuttle launch did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, just that having already been to several theme parks, it wasn’t quite the unique opportunity that the launch was.
We also did some outlet shopping, but any rumour that a couple of shop owners may have managed to pay cash for luxury apartments in the Caribbean following our may be slightly exaggerated.
The truly joyous part of our endeavours in the outlet shops would have to have been the point where the clerk told me that he would have to ring for authorisation on my card. I stood there as they rang the bank, confident that there was plenty of money in the account, even substantially confident that I was in fact, me. After a brief discussion, the clerk handed over the phone so that I could speak to the bank and ensure them that yes, it was me, I was in America and I really did want to proceed with the transaction.
All was good. Then, about 30 seconds after we finished the transaction, my cell phone rang. It was the bank. Was I trying to spend $5,000 at Universal Studios Florida? Given that I hadn’t in fact been anywhere near the place at all and certainly hadn’t managed to break the laws of physics as we know them (at least whilst I was awake) I assured the nice man on the phone that I wasn’t in two places at once and indeed wasn’t trying to spend that money. My card had been compromised. Shit. I took the time to cut it up in the store and then listened as I was told that my new card would be mailed out to me in 7-10 business days. In Canada. That was going to be extremely useful seeing that in 7-10 days I would be in the middle of the Caribbean. Fortunately, it was only my card number that was compromised and there was no need to cancel Caroline’s. I t just meant that any time I wanted to spend any money, I would have tobeg ask her nicely. Huzzah!
After the fun of the launch, the shopping and the theme parks, we drove back to Fort Lauderdale where we had a one night stop over before we were due to get on the ship for our cruise. We went for a drive to the Everglades so that we could see a different sort of landscape and quite possibly a ‘gator or two.
We were almost to the turnoff to our destination when I glanced at the fuel gauge and realized that there was a reasonable chance that we simply weren’t going to make it to where we needed to go and that we were quickly approaching a point where we also wouldn’t be able to make it back to our point of origin either. The road was an arrow straight highway cutting across the everglades and in my naivety, I expected there to be interchanges somewhere with gas stations. Apparently not. We cut our losses and turnaround around, heading back to the first point that we saw a gas station and filling the van whilst grabbing some lunch. We were very excited to see a bakery, right up until the point where we went inside and didn’t really recongnise anything. Caroline and I had the Mexican equivalent of a pie but the kids were pretty much out of luck, with not one of them liking what we’d bought them.
Anyway, refueled and slightly less hungry, we stopped at a ‘quaint’ little tourist place where we could go for an airboat ride which was kind of fun, but of course it’s not until you’ve paid your money and are halfway through the ride that they tell you that the weather’s too cold and so you’re not likely to see any ‘gators. Given that they’re cold blooded and that it was in fact cool and windy, we’d expected this and wanted the airboat ride anyway, but I bet there were a few people there who wouldn’t have bothered handing cash over if they’d known. Of course, on the up side, they did have a little collection of animals that were being rehabilitated and so we saw some captive ‘gators and even managed to hold a baby one, which Emily was very very excited about.
After that, we headed out to the original place that we’d been going to go to so that Caroline could try some ‘gator nuggets. Once we’d turned off the highway and made our way toward the reservation upon which the next tourist place was built, we managed to see some ‘gators. The sun had come out and so in the reeds next to the canals, there were a number of them sunning themselves to spread some warmth through their bodies. They didn’t do anything other than lie there (which is apparently a significant part of their lifestyle) but it was great to get to see them outside of a pen.
After that, it was back to the hotel for some dinner and our final land-lubber’s sleep before the cruise.
The following afternoon it was indeed time at last to get ourselves off the land and onto the ship. Full of beans and excitement, we went through the embarkation process, grabbed some champagne and clambered aboard the Celebrity Solstice.
I have to say that our first impressions were good. The ship was beautifully decked out and for me in particular, a far far cry from the conditions in which I used to live whilst working off-shore.
Having made it through life-boat drills and found our cabins, we explored the ship, being sure to make it in quick time to the kids programs to try and off-load the extras, but unfortunately they weren’t that keen and really wanted to stay with us. That was fine for the start and we were sure that we’d off-load them the following day.
What can be said about the cruise? It wouldn’t be fair on anyone to go into a blow-by- blow account, so I am not about to do that. Let’s just say that it was quite simply a bloody fantastic holiday.
The food was great and there was always something to do if you were prepared to go look for it (and you didn’t have to look hard). From going to the gym and watching the ocean drift past as you ran, to swimming in the pool, or simply holding up one side of a bar, it was just wonderfully relaxing.
Our first stop was in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we took a great bus tour around the island before browsing through some of the shops. We were interested to realise that San Juan is a commonwealth of the United States and it had an interesting history that one could barely begin to appreciate in the time that we had there.
The second stop was St Maarten, where we pursued the shopping a little harder as it was truly duty and tax free. We dipped ourselves in the ocean (hard not to when the water is so gloriously warm and the sun is streaming down on you from above) and having more time in St Maarten than we’d had in San Juan, went back to the ship for lunch and to drop off the two older boys who weren’t quite as interested in seeing anymore of the island than they already had.
Caroline, Thomas, Emily and I returned to the Island and jumped into a taxi so that we could find another beach and see a little more. Caroline thoroughly enjoyed the taxi ride, mainly because she had the chance to speak Dutch to the driver. Whilst Caroline looked into hiring flippers and snorkels for the four of us, I noticed that happy hour and the adjacent bar was nearly over (it only ran from 11am to 4pm!) and so took my chance to pick up a beer (can’t say no when it’s a whole dollar, even if it is American). We then attempted to get out to the reef that was just off-shore, but it proved too difficult for Emily and so she and I went in and played in the shallows whilst Thomas and Caroline eyed off the fish. It was sadly a little choppy, but they did get to spend some time out there.
The third stop was Tortola, of the British Virgin Isles and again, we took a tour of the place, though because there was six of us, we ended up in a taxi rather than one of the tour buses. Whilst it might have been air-conditioned and we didn’t have to wait for other people, our driver sadly lacked the personality and joi de vivre that you would expect from an actual tour operator. At least we got to see the place. We went swimming at Cane Garden Bay, a gorgeous little spot even with all the tourists (hard to avoid when you land a ship with 3200 people on it) and again simply enjoyed the fact that we were dressing lightly, swimming in the ocean and bathing in the sun!
The final stop for the cruise (prior to disembarkation of course) was Haiti. The cruise line made much of the fact that they were stopping there so soon after the earthquake that had devastated the island. In essence, they said that they had liaised with the government prior to doing so and the fact that they brought supplies, as well as tourists who would actually spend money and support the local population meant that continuing to visit was the right thing to do. For me it meant the chance to try out the Dragon’s Breath Zip line, the world’s longest zip line.
Unfortunately it meant lots of waiting for the rest of the family and Caroline had to juggle getting Emily’s hair braided and trying to see when I’d actually come down the line. The weather closed in on our way up the hill and by the time I was off, it was raining, but it was still a very cool thing to have managed to do.
Before that we’d taken a snorkeling tour out to the reef and as we arrived there, I was not quite so thrilled to have them tell us how there wouldn’t be many fish due to the fact that the locals had been living off fish for hundreds of years (or more). There’s nothing quite like paying your money and then finding out that there isn’t going to be a lot to look at. We still saw some cool things, but it wasn’t teeming with life the way the reef in Jamaica had been the year before.
As our last stop on the tour, Labadee was a bit of a disappointment. The stopping point is owned by the cruiseline and as such, didn’t have the flavour of the other stops where you actually managed to get into the local town (even if that was a tourist haven) and take off in any direction you wanted. Basically it seemed a bit sterile. It was still better than working though!
After all of the excitement of the shuttle launch, it was almost hard to believe that we were only at the very beginning of our holiday.
The four days that followed were consumed by Disney as we roamed the parks of Walt Disney World. We whipped fairly quickly through the Magic Kingdom as much of it was very similar (if not the same) as Disneyland in California. We had planned to go back to have a look at the bits that we skipped, but by the time that we’d been through Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios we decided that we’d take the time to get back to Fort Lauderdale ahead of the cruise.
Disney was a heap of fun, especially for the kids, but I can’t say that it quite inspires the same words that the shuttle launch did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, just that having already been to several theme parks, it wasn’t quite the unique opportunity that the launch was.
We also did some outlet shopping, but any rumour that a couple of shop owners may have managed to pay cash for luxury apartments in the Caribbean following our may be slightly exaggerated.
The truly joyous part of our endeavours in the outlet shops would have to have been the point where the clerk told me that he would have to ring for authorisation on my card. I stood there as they rang the bank, confident that there was plenty of money in the account, even substantially confident that I was in fact, me. After a brief discussion, the clerk handed over the phone so that I could speak to the bank and ensure them that yes, it was me, I was in America and I really did want to proceed with the transaction.
All was good. Then, about 30 seconds after we finished the transaction, my cell phone rang. It was the bank. Was I trying to spend $5,000 at Universal Studios Florida? Given that I hadn’t in fact been anywhere near the place at all and certainly hadn’t managed to break the laws of physics as we know them (at least whilst I was awake) I assured the nice man on the phone that I wasn’t in two places at once and indeed wasn’t trying to spend that money. My card had been compromised. Shit. I took the time to cut it up in the store and then listened as I was told that my new card would be mailed out to me in 7-10 business days. In Canada. That was going to be extremely useful seeing that in 7-10 days I would be in the middle of the Caribbean. Fortunately, it was only my card number that was compromised and there was no need to cancel Caroline’s. I t just meant that any time I wanted to spend any money, I would have to
After the fun of the launch, the shopping and the theme parks, we drove back to Fort Lauderdale where we had a one night stop over before we were due to get on the ship for our cruise. We went for a drive to the Everglades so that we could see a different sort of landscape and quite possibly a ‘gator or two.
We were almost to the turnoff to our destination when I glanced at the fuel gauge and realized that there was a reasonable chance that we simply weren’t going to make it to where we needed to go and that we were quickly approaching a point where we also wouldn’t be able to make it back to our point of origin either. The road was an arrow straight highway cutting across the everglades and in my naivety, I expected there to be interchanges somewhere with gas stations. Apparently not. We cut our losses and turnaround around, heading back to the first point that we saw a gas station and filling the van whilst grabbing some lunch. We were very excited to see a bakery, right up until the point where we went inside and didn’t really recongnise anything. Caroline and I had the Mexican equivalent of a pie but the kids were pretty much out of luck, with not one of them liking what we’d bought them.
Anyway, refueled and slightly less hungry, we stopped at a ‘quaint’ little tourist place where we could go for an airboat ride which was kind of fun, but of course it’s not until you’ve paid your money and are halfway through the ride that they tell you that the weather’s too cold and so you’re not likely to see any ‘gators. Given that they’re cold blooded and that it was in fact cool and windy, we’d expected this and wanted the airboat ride anyway, but I bet there were a few people there who wouldn’t have bothered handing cash over if they’d known. Of course, on the up side, they did have a little collection of animals that were being rehabilitated and so we saw some captive ‘gators and even managed to hold a baby one, which Emily was very very excited about.
After that, we headed out to the original place that we’d been going to go to so that Caroline could try some ‘gator nuggets. Once we’d turned off the highway and made our way toward the reservation upon which the next tourist place was built, we managed to see some ‘gators. The sun had come out and so in the reeds next to the canals, there were a number of them sunning themselves to spread some warmth through their bodies. They didn’t do anything other than lie there (which is apparently a significant part of their lifestyle) but it was great to get to see them outside of a pen.
After that, it was back to the hotel for some dinner and our final land-lubber’s sleep before the cruise.
The following afternoon it was indeed time at last to get ourselves off the land and onto the ship. Full of beans and excitement, we went through the embarkation process, grabbed some champagne and clambered aboard the Celebrity Solstice.
I have to say that our first impressions were good. The ship was beautifully decked out and for me in particular, a far far cry from the conditions in which I used to live whilst working off-shore.
Having made it through life-boat drills and found our cabins, we explored the ship, being sure to make it in quick time to the kids programs to try and off-load the extras, but unfortunately they weren’t that keen and really wanted to stay with us. That was fine for the start and we were sure that we’d off-load them the following day.
What can be said about the cruise? It wouldn’t be fair on anyone to go into a blow-by- blow account, so I am not about to do that. Let’s just say that it was quite simply a bloody fantastic holiday.
The food was great and there was always something to do if you were prepared to go look for it (and you didn’t have to look hard). From going to the gym and watching the ocean drift past as you ran, to swimming in the pool, or simply holding up one side of a bar, it was just wonderfully relaxing.
Our first stop was in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we took a great bus tour around the island before browsing through some of the shops. We were interested to realise that San Juan is a commonwealth of the United States and it had an interesting history that one could barely begin to appreciate in the time that we had there.
The second stop was St Maarten, where we pursued the shopping a little harder as it was truly duty and tax free. We dipped ourselves in the ocean (hard not to when the water is so gloriously warm and the sun is streaming down on you from above) and having more time in St Maarten than we’d had in San Juan, went back to the ship for lunch and to drop off the two older boys who weren’t quite as interested in seeing anymore of the island than they already had.
Caroline, Thomas, Emily and I returned to the Island and jumped into a taxi so that we could find another beach and see a little more. Caroline thoroughly enjoyed the taxi ride, mainly because she had the chance to speak Dutch to the driver. Whilst Caroline looked into hiring flippers and snorkels for the four of us, I noticed that happy hour and the adjacent bar was nearly over (it only ran from 11am to 4pm!) and so took my chance to pick up a beer (can’t say no when it’s a whole dollar, even if it is American). We then attempted to get out to the reef that was just off-shore, but it proved too difficult for Emily and so she and I went in and played in the shallows whilst Thomas and Caroline eyed off the fish. It was sadly a little choppy, but they did get to spend some time out there.
The third stop was Tortola, of the British Virgin Isles and again, we took a tour of the place, though because there was six of us, we ended up in a taxi rather than one of the tour buses. Whilst it might have been air-conditioned and we didn’t have to wait for other people, our driver sadly lacked the personality and joi de vivre that you would expect from an actual tour operator. At least we got to see the place. We went swimming at Cane Garden Bay, a gorgeous little spot even with all the tourists (hard to avoid when you land a ship with 3200 people on it) and again simply enjoyed the fact that we were dressing lightly, swimming in the ocean and bathing in the sun!
The final stop for the cruise (prior to disembarkation of course) was Haiti. The cruise line made much of the fact that they were stopping there so soon after the earthquake that had devastated the island. In essence, they said that they had liaised with the government prior to doing so and the fact that they brought supplies, as well as tourists who would actually spend money and support the local population meant that continuing to visit was the right thing to do. For me it meant the chance to try out the Dragon’s Breath Zip line, the world’s longest zip line.
Unfortunately it meant lots of waiting for the rest of the family and Caroline had to juggle getting Emily’s hair braided and trying to see when I’d actually come down the line. The weather closed in on our way up the hill and by the time I was off, it was raining, but it was still a very cool thing to have managed to do.
Before that we’d taken a snorkeling tour out to the reef and as we arrived there, I was not quite so thrilled to have them tell us how there wouldn’t be many fish due to the fact that the locals had been living off fish for hundreds of years (or more). There’s nothing quite like paying your money and then finding out that there isn’t going to be a lot to look at. We still saw some cool things, but it wasn’t teeming with life the way the reef in Jamaica had been the year before.
As our last stop on the tour, Labadee was a bit of a disappointment. The stopping point is owned by the cruiseline and as such, didn’t have the flavour of the other stops where you actually managed to get into the local town (even if that was a tourist haven) and take off in any direction you wanted. Basically it seemed a bit sterile. It was still better than working though!
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