Toronto to Cockshutt

The idea had been to get to Toronto and go up the CN Tower. However, as we approached the centre the traffic slowed to a crawl; the Blue Jays were playing in the sports centre next to the tower. The car parks were full, but TomTom managed to find us one close by. It started to rain as we got close to the car park, so we got quite damp just getting to the tower. It was going to take too long to go up to the pod and we only had time to go up to the observation deck,so we started to queue. It was worth the wait, the views were spectacular and we managed to get up before the weather set in; we could see it rolling in over the city.

At the airport we had to say goodbye to Ollie; it was as tough as always despite knowing we would be seeing him again in a matter of weeks. We had had a marvellous time and it was coming to an end.

It didn't take long to clear through security, though my checks took a little longer than Sue's for some reason. Once in the departure lounge, we thought we had better eat though neither of us felt like it much.

Transat boarded us a bit early; it was still raining hard and as we all settled down the Captain announced that because of lightening strikes near the airport, the baggage handlers had had to be stood down in the interests of safety, so as our hold was still open, we could not take off until they returned. It only took about 15 minutes but it seemed quite a while. Watching the aircraft take off in these conditions was interesting; the spray coming from the undercarriage would put several juggernauts to shame – with take-off speeds of over 100mph you have to admire the technical qualities of the tyres that allow this not to mention the skill of the pilots in dealing with the difficulties inherent in the situation.

We had good seats immediately aft of the business section and had plenty of legroom, although it was still a little difficult to get sufficiently comfortable for sleep because of the narrowness of the seats.

After a trouble free and pleasant flight with a lovely lady who had emigrated 40 years ago sitting next to us, we landed about 6 hours later at Manchester. It was a bit strange taking off mid afternoon, flying through the night and landing in daylight, all within 7 hours. It took some time for our bags to come through but the concourse was relatively empty at 06:30 and it didn't take us too long to go through controls and out. They were trialling a new passport recognition system for chipped passports like mine, presumably to speed up passenger throughput. Needless to say it didn't work well for me and Sue was waiting for me on the other side, the human intervention process being quicker!

It didn't take too long to get to the car and waiting for the bus in relatively warm and sunny conditions was a bit of a novelty. We had a good trip home, collected Dad and then went to bed for 2 hours (as recommended by the lady we had met on the flight to combat jet lag) before getting up and cooking Sunday dinner.

written by

rickandsuejohnson on August 11, 2008 from Shrewsbury, United Kingdom

from the travel blog: Two Thumbs up for the Canucks

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