Tags
Canada, challenges, Friday 13th, memories, poor visibility, snow, time
Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. Long considered my many an omen of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired horror film franchises and perpetuates fear of this supposedly unlucky day.
In fact, until I started researching this blog, I did not know that the fear of Friday the 13th actually has a name: ‘Paraskevidekatriaphobia’. Yes, this term is real! The word, ‘Paraskevidekatriaphobia’ may sound like nonsense but is believed that the unlucky nature of the number “13” originated with a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest, and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. “Balder died, and the whole Earth went dark and mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day.” This major event in Norse mythology supposedly caused the number 13 to be considered unlucky.
Another theory proposes ‘unlucky Friday 13’ originates from the fact that on Friday, October 13, 1307, when officers of King Philip IV of France simultaneously arrested across Europe hundreds of the Knights Templar (a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defence of the Holy Land). They were imprisoned and later executed on false charges because the king wanted access to their financial resources. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends involving the Templars and their history, the truth remains murky.
Irrespective, whenever this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries and for many, it is a real fear. People hold off on spending or acting on Friday the 13th. They will not fly, they don’t make big financial decisions, they don’t place bets or make major decisions. Like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck and profoundly affects the way they think. But I am not at all a believer at all of ‘Bad Luck’ falling on this one particular date. After all, terrible things can happen on all sorts of dates through the year, just like good things occur too! Wouldn’t’ you agree????
Today we were travelling from Montreal to Deer Lake by plane and Marc ‘incidentally’ mentioned that today was Friday the 13th. Of course, he said this after checking the weather report for the day. It was already snowing heavily outside the hotel. The taxi was late due to having been stuck in the snow. A quick glance at the departure schedule for Montreal airport indicated that about ½ of the flights due to have departed that morning were delayed or had been cancelled. The runes were not looking favourable and too late to make an animal sacrifice to the gods.
A taxi arrives. Whether it was our booked taxi or just one that happened to be passing didn’t seem to matter since our time buffer for arriving at the airport had already been eroded by booked taxi having been caught in the snow. We arrive at the airport. Our flight is still ‘on time’. We try to check our bags in, but the ‘Bag Drop-off’ machine wouldn’t accept my suitcase although it had accepted Marc’s (an attendant came to our rescue for that one).
Anyone who has travelled in North America is aware they take their pre-flight security checks very seriously since 9/11. Today the sign outside security thanked us in advance for patience since today they were training new security officers. Not only were the queues slower but we both received a ‘pat down’ with mine being a little more ‘on, under and around the breasts’ than I was used to. Even Marc does not spend that much time on my breasts! WE won’t go there!
Waiting to board the plane we were able to look out on the apron and taxiway. The visibility was limited by the heavily falling snow. Runway? What we could only just see what presumable was a taxiway under its blanket of snow. We could not see a runway. No, not very encouraging.
Our crew were late arriving from a connecting flight so a delay. Then another delay caused by an ‘unscheduled maintenance issue’ presumably discovered by the new crew. Thoughts start swimming inside my brain…was this a minor ‘unscheduled maintenance issue’ or one I SHOULD start worrying about RIGHT NOW!
Finally, we board the plane a good hour late but then we sit, and we sit, and we sit. And we sit . Eventually the Captain says that the ground crew had simply left them stranded and until they returned, the doors could not be closed which meant we could not depart. Had they gone to lunch? They had simply disappeared and obviously not in a hurry to come back to our plane waiting for their attention. In the meantime, the main cabin door remaining propped open, the continuing snow falling outside, the consequent cool breeze blowing into the main cabin, the snow on our window making it impossible to see outside – all conspired to make it feel like we were confined in an igloo. Yes, it was ‘just a tad cold’, as I continually wrapped my scarf around my legs trying to keep warm. Thankfully, the onboard crew had given passengers access to the onboard entertainment screen, so we were able to keep ourselves distracted through this wait, as we watched more ice build-up on our window. I wonder if the pilot could see out of his window.
Finally, the ground crew arrived. Does this mean we instantly were on our way? No. The sounds of repetitive unsuccessful attempts at closing a baggage door on the underside of the plane created concerns of, “What if they do not close it properly? Could it fly off in mid-flight causing us to plummet out of the sky?” After what felt like eons of constant banging, the plane then started to move backwards, but that suddenly stopped after a huge clunk. Had we run over one of those tardy groundcrew? Serves them right? Who knows, but now the engines started, and we were on our way, although I still could not see out the window!
No, we still were not taking off. Not quite. Moving slowly along the taxiway to what I thought was leading to the runway, the pilot took us instead to a bank of trucks with large spray-booms where planes alongside us were being De-Iced! Now I had absolutely no idea what that entailed but suddenly, across our window (you know that iced up one?) comes a deluge of orange fluid.
I don’t know how I felt as I watched all these Air Canada planes, ours included, lined up were being covered in orange by this Green de Icing truck in front of them … moving from one plane to another – did I feel confident? Not sure about that.
Now for those readers who were naïve like me, De-icing is a critical maintenance process of removing snow, ice, or frost from an aircraft’s surface. It is a mixture of propylene glycol and water, heated to around 150 degrees, orange in colour, and sprayed under pressure to the wings of an aircraft. Planes (like the one I was in) are designed to fly with clean surfaces and during colder periods of the year, icy materials can build up, disrupt airflow, and interfere with a safe take-off.
Okay, good to know! I am sure I would prefer to have a safe take off, so after a brief reassuring explanation from Marc, I happily watched the flood of orange liquid splash all over the plane! Luckily he did not tell me, and I did not find out until I was writing this blog that the de-icing only works for around 22 minutes, therefore, from the time we had been sprayed down, the pilots had only 22 minutes to get air traffic control clearance, to taxi to the end of the runway, to take off and then climb above the freezing level before the plane lost the ability to fly. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! But eventually after sitting on the plane in a dormant position, almost two and half hours later, (for a two-hour journey,) we finally got off the ground and soared through the falling snow, into the night air! (Conny, I had time to watch the whole movie, Elvis!)
Our original itinerary was to land in Deer Park, Newfoundland, before nightfall, so we didn’t have to start our car trip in the dark AND the snow. But today devised other plans and did not pan out as expected. Once in the air, the captain apologised about the delays. He mentioned that there was some turbulence expected enroute, but they would try to avoid it as much as possible. Notice the italics? Well, some turbulence meant the plane was being tossed around like a cork, bobbing on the ocean. (Oh, we won’t go there with that imagery!) All I can say is that my arm rests were being gripped tightly, not to mention Marc’s hand!
After what seemed to be long enough for us to have well and truly arrived at our planned destination, you could sense the increasing tension in the air…and not just from me … amongst the passengers! No updates from the cockpit did not help the mood in the cabin either.
Three times, the plane attempted to make a landing at our airport. Three times, the aircraft’s power surged again to climb away and began circling again. Obviously, our pilots had to weigh their options between circling for a little while longer and trying another landing attempt or diverting to put down at a different airport. I now understood, the well-travelled Newfoundland passengers beside me, who had begun to make comments about perhaps being diverted to St Johns (the other side of this island, 1249 Km or 19 and half hours’ drive away).
Although the view from the windows remained the same … flying snow and no ground visible, we then heard the wing flaps deploy. Wishful thinking on the pilots’ part? We could not see anything like land out of the window. The plane kept descending but was being buffeted up and down requiring frequent engine power changes. Still nothing out of the windows. The wheels drop. Really? There is nothing out there! The passenger behind says he can see the runway. Marc looks out the window and there is it is. Just visible 10-20m below us. First time we could see anything. How had the pilot pulled off this navigational trick? Wheels touch down and we have landed. Side visibility remains extremely poor from swirling clouds of snow. We are safe!
At 7:05pm, in the dark surrounded by snow and three hours after our planned arrival, we are once more on terra firma! I didn’t know whether to cheer, clap or rush off to the amenities! (I wanted to do all three).
Doors opened and I had to laugh, the ground crew were apologising. They had had to give up for as fast as they could shovel snow off passenger ramp, the snow had reaccumulated. Marc and I tramped through the deep snow on the ramp and across the ground to the terminal doors! Just as well we had not chosen to wear our street shoes on our flight. The locals on the plane knew what to expect since they had donned thick jackets and scarves even before the cabin door opened.
And our pilot landed in that????????
Luggage collected, hire car organised and we made our way to the car.
“The black one in car space 10”.
Where?
The only way to determine which was ours, was by Marc clicking the ‘unlock’ button on and off to illuminate our vehicle. Oh, there it was!!! Under a heavy blanket of snow! All the cars were covered with so much snow that the numbers, the licence plates, and their colours had disappeared. Trudging through the snow to the warmth of that rental car, did our reprieve happen?
It was now close to 8pm. It was dark. The car was different, even the steering wheel was on the wrong side, how inconsiderate – Marc even had to ask how to open the trunk (boot). The snow was falling heavily, propelled by a strong westerly wind. What direction did we have to drive? West. On strange roads covered with snow. No orange poles to indicate the sides of the road. In fact, truly little guidance as to where the road ended, and the verge began. Couldn’t even rely on following tyre tracks since there were very few cars out (most local drivers knew it was nuts to be out in this weather) and any tyre tracks were rapidly filled with fresh snow. Marc had paid extra for snow tyres on the car but even with these on, the car wanted to drift as soon as he sped to anything faster than the outrageous speed of 60kms/hour. Forward visibility was so poor Lyndell was using her Phone GPS to forewarn Marc when the road was going to start to curve right or left. Fellow drivers were so rare that we were only passed by three vehicles during our 40km drive and they sensibly were in 4×4’s. At least for a while after they passed us, there were red taillights to follow to indicate where the road was. Finally, our exit came into view and the inn was exactly where it should be. The reception staff had been waiting for us not sure whether we were still coming. He was going to knock off shortly, but he had waited and even helped us carry our large bags through the snow to our room. On the second floor!
But naturally, even though it was Friday 13th, nothing ‘bad” had happened!
But I will leave you to make that decision!
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