Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Trip Report

Things didn't start well. When I got to work on Friday, I was told that the inbound train was about 12 hours late and that our train couldn't leave until after it got in because there wasn't enough staff to crew it. So, after the skeleton crew that was on hand scrambled to get the train set up, we boarded passengers as usual and commenced service, while the train sat at the platform for four hours. We wound up arriving in Winnipeg more than six hours late. Along the way, an elderly gentleman did a faceplant on the platform in Jasper, doing himself minor injury. Shortly after that, another old fellah somehow managed to rip a patch of skin off his arm in my car and I had to perform first aid on him. Most of the passengers were in one or another tour group, so I didn't have much personal interaction with the people. Which was fine by me.

Our late arrival into Winnipeg meant that, according to our CBA, I shouldn't have had to work home. We actually got into Winnipeg 35 minutes after the westbound train was supposed to leave, but it was nine hours late. And because Winnipeg's "spareboard" was also depleted, only one of the Vancouver-based employees was allowed to deadhead home. So I boarded the train at 1 am determined to do the absolute bare minimum that was required of me. I largely succeeded in this, but on the last day of the trip, after passing thru the Rockies in darkness, we went thru the Thompson and Fraser Canyons in broad daylight. The novelty and splendor of the scenery--along with the "natural health beverages" (a.k.a. liquid speed) I was drinking to keep my sorry ass awake--renewed my enthusiasm for my job and I started talking to passengers more. I met a lovely couple from Seattle, who it turns out are close friends of Heather Spears'. I know Heather a bit as she wrote for me a fine review of several translations of Danish poetry for the translation issue of CNQ.

I missed some real excitement en route. Because of our delays, we pulled into Jasper at 12:30 am. Because I wasn't required for the detraining and entraining of passengers, I was already asleep and dreaming by this point. While we were stopped in Jasper, a flash thunderstorm hit. Colleagues of mine reported that a tree within view of the platform was struck by lightning during the torrential downpour. Kind of disappointed I missed it. But relieved it missed us, at least. A big steel tube on steel rails is about the last place I want to be during an electrical storm...

We hauled into Pacific Central Station more than 10 hours late, but it wound up being a pretty enjoyable trip in spite of it. I'm still exhausted, even after a full night's sleep--albeit slightly interrupted by Kaleb. I might be coming down from my natural health high...

In other news, Kaleb had his final post-partum midwife visit yesterday. In six weeks, he's gained three pounds, four ounces (he's now 12-7) and has grown 2 inches to 24. He's sleeping longer (sometimes) and has had his first bottle feed. They grow up so fast.

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