So we're back in Iqaluit again, with a marginally heavy heart. It's just the end-of-vacation blues. I think any place in Canada would have looked a touch depressing today with the idea of work waiting in the wings on Monday. But a cool, gray and blustery Iqaluit did little to improve the mood when we landed. Having to wait 45 minutes at the airport because the First Air and Canadian North planes landed within 10 minutes of each other didn't help. The airport was chaos. I'd suggest that the terminal might be soon in need of an upgrade given the increased levels of traffic going through the place, but more infrastructure money for Iqaluit is always bound to piss off people.
As for the last day in Ottawa, no real big observations to report other than trying to get into a half decent restaurant on a Saturday night requires some patience. I think we got some solid confirmation that if there's a recession going on, it seems Ottawa is solidly protected so far.
And, well, we certainly did our best to stimulate the economy while we were there. Although no matter how much you think you've spent while out, there's always people at the airport that can put you to shame. The ones who show up with about six large tupperware containers.
But everything managed to make it up here in one piece...well, so far. We're still waiting for the three items we have sent up via First Air Cargo. A curio cabinet and shelving unit from IKEA and we also got our Cape Dorset print framed (and yes, Mireille, we did pay too much for it). I had 100kg of free freight and our final weight total was.....98kg.
There's cutting it close, and then there's cutting it close. Of course, we now have 2 kg of extra air freight. Not entirely sure what we'll do with a whopping 2 kg, but we'll figure out something. Of course, we're just worried about it making it here without breaking. There's plenty of glass, and while we have "Fragile" and "Glass" written and stuck all over the boxes you always tend to worry about these things.
Hopefully they'll arrive on Tuesday, at least that's what they told us.
And now, back to work. sigh
Last Five
1. Redneck friend (live) - Jackson Browne
2. You can call me Al - Paul Simon
3. Istanbul (not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants*
4. All thumbs - Tracy Bonham
5. What's it going to be - Neil Diamond
4 comments:
Recessions hit different areas differently. Ottawa's gov't jobs probably insulate it. Try visiting an area where the main employers are car factories, mining or financial servies - I expect Bay Street must be pretty glum these days.
Recessions don't even hit all businesses the same way. Some are seeing a revival - like shoe repair...it almost died out in the boom years, now they can't keep up. Discount stores are doing okay...any business that helps people lower their cost of living will do fine.
No, we didn't get the Touch, although we played with it for a bit to make sure it would be something we would use.
And we both liked it, so we will end up getting one before heading to Australia. However, it is cheaper buying it online from Nunavut than getting it in Ottawa. Apple has free shipping, plus there's less tax.
I know everything in Ottawa is cheaper to buy than in Iqaluit, but man, the sales tax of 13% really does get to you after awhile. I'm kind of spoiled in dealing with the 5% GST only up here.
yep, we are one of those people with rubbermaid tubs..lol we blame it on the kids!
I guess they just kind of baffle me. Most of the ones I see are as big as a piece of luggage. I sometimes look at Cathy and go "you could fit the contents of that in a suitcase, right?" and she looks at me with a mild case of derision, as if I have dared to question her ninja packing abilities.
So I'm just not sure why so many people use them when a standard piece of luggage works just as well most of the time.
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