Summer complications

This is just going to be one of these deeply weird, marginally frustrating summers, I can tell right now. Which is fine, I guess. We went to Australia last summer and Italy in 2008. Karma-wise, we're kind of due for one of those summers where things are just off-kilter more often than not.

On the upside, I found this site listing all of the things going on around Ottawa being put off by the Government of Canada. And it looks like there are a few things I would be interested in seeing, especially seeing Amelia Curran and Hey Rosetta! play. So that's taken care of.

We're starting to put together the lists of things we need when we hit Ottawa. I think we've dropped the idea of the I Shop 4 You people because we really don't need them if we're doing all of our shopping and just deal with TSC directly. We're still thinking about trying to get a vehicle while we're in Ottawa. Because of time constraints I'm contemplating using a broker. Has anyone ever done that before and what were the results? As you can imagine, I'm reading mixed things about it online.

And no, I still have decided if we're getting a Suburu Outback or a Honda CR-V or if we're getting a new one or something just off-lease. Judging by some of the prices I'm seeing online, the savings on just off-lease vehicles are not that great.

Anyway, then things get complicated. We're flying down on First Air. We got the tickets from someone else who had won them and we bought them off of her cheap. Now, where it gets complicated is that First Air insists we fly together. However, on July 5 I'm flying back to Iqaluit. Cathy is flying to Rankin Inlet for a workshop. That means barring some last minute dose of common sense from First Air, we're just going to have to eat that portion of the ticket, which is deeply, deeply annoying.

After Cathy is finished with her workshop in Rankin, she's flying home to spend a month in St. John's. Now, here's the next part of the weirdness. Air Canada is offering an insane seat sale from Deer Lake (on the west coast of Newfoundland, for those of you not in the know) to Iqaluit for what amounts to $300, taxes included. The fight actually goes Deer Lake-St. John's-Montreal-Iqaluit. She actually has to over night in St. John's on that flight. So what would make sense if that she simply not go to Deer Lake, but instead just hop on the plane in St. John's.

Except, of course, in a stroke of airline genius, Air Canada won't let her do that. If she doesn't board the plane in Deer Lake, she's considered to have missed the flight altogether. Incidentally, a flight from St. John's to Iqaluit is more than $1,000, plus taxes.

So she has to catch a flight to Deer Lake, wait an hour, fly back to St. John's, over night there, then catch her flight to Iqaluit. If that makes even the slightest bit if sense to you, then Air Canada is hiring. Go crazy. Because someone there already is.

So yes, that's just the start of a deeply weird summer. We were supposed to sitting on a beach in Costa Rica, zip lining through rain forests and then milling about in San Diego with thousands of geeks. Instead, I'm in Iqaluit and Cathy is playing plane tag with Deer Lake.

sigh Yes, I'm whining like a mule (It's a favourite line of Cathy's from "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", which we watched the other day. Man, that movie has aged badly). I'll deal. But man, I really hope this Christmas or next summer we go somewhere fun again. I've gotten spoiled.

Last Five
1. Fountain of sorrow (live) - Jackson Browne
2. 16 shells from a 30 ought 6 - Tom Waits
3. I can't be wrong - Sean Panting*
4. Isolation - Snow Patrol
5. Cornerstone - Arctic Monkeys