The Airplane Crossing

With great hopes for a
sunrise, I waited by the
river, but in vain

~ carliewired

I was out the door at 7:15 heading for a favourite view point on the river. The weather forecast has promised a sunny day. It was 5 C and anything but sunny. The valleys were all over hung with low, grey cloud. I sat in my little red bomber wishing for some colour while listening to our Prime Minister on the radio give his apologies and offer some amends.

Mr. Trudeau had been invited to attend ceremonies here for our first Truth and Reconciliation Day, September 30th. Foolishly, he chose to fly past to have a holiday with his family at the coast instead. His belated attendance here has been received by our First Nations people with good will and some expectations. I think he's done his best to seek forgiveness for his blunder and to set the stage for a way forward. How does one really account for the hundreds of missing indigenous children across Canada? How can a government apologize for genocide?

As I listened a line from spaghetti westerns came to mind. “White man speak with forked tongue.” Actions will speak louder than words in this case. We'll see what Mr. Trudeau's government is prepared to do.

I gave up hopes of any decent photos this morning. I picked up my breakfast and headed home. If there's to be a sunny day, I'll catch it later......


After lunch, I ventured out again after a frustrating hour at the office. I headed back to Vantage Point on the Thompson River as the sky was clearing. Things were looking beautiful now. 

I sat in my car for some minutes just admiring the view. I was gauging the possiblity of releasing, not one, but two hearts. It's a challenge in an area of high activity. 

I heard and saw a small plane overhead and noticed it had pontoons. That got me out of the car with my camera. I have not seen one land on the river here before. It flew east, turned in the sky and began to ascend to the river. It touched the water with a splash and motored past the dock, turned around on the water, then motored up near the dock. While all this was happening a rather unusual pickup truck drove down by the dock. It was the front half of a truck with a lowbed affixed to its front bumper. Two people walked out to the water's edge as the plane approached. They extended a pole and attached a lead onto the front of the airplane. The truck moved forward to place the lowbed under the plane's undercarriage and pulled it up out of the water. The pilot, very jaunty in Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, stayed with the plane. The pickup backed up the ramp to the roadway, then across the roadway, through the gate to the airport and off to the hangars. Now I know why that odd roadsign is posted there! Airplanes really do cross the road here.