Zoom

We live ten minutes away by car from Vancouver airport. This isn't like saying you live ten minutes away from Heathrow. Yes, we can see and hear the planes, but considering the amount of air traffic going through YVR, it really isn't much of a nuisance.

YVR also has a good website and I had had the flight arrivals open all day. Given those two factors, we can usually wait until we see the plane has landed before starting out to the airport. Last night, waiting for Laurence, we knew that timing was going to be as long as a piece of string so we left around the time the plane was due in. As we approached the airport, so did Laurence's plane, it flew right over us, there is no mistaking the Zoom airlines planes, sky blue with the word Zoom written all along the side. And it is a charter company, so most likely the only one that day, I certainly didn't see any more scheduled.
That's a weird feeling, looking up at the sky and seeing the plane that you know your son is in approaching the runway, knowing exactly how it feels to be the person in the plane that is about to land.

Since we knew we had an indeterminate wait we settled ourselves in with drinks at the Elephant and Castle bar which is the best place to see people coming into Arrivals. About 1¾ hours after the wheels of the plane touched the tarmac, Laurence walked out.

To those who don't know Laurence, this may seem quite banal stuff, but to those who do it seems like a miracle. Laurence has never personally done anything to offend the Law, but he draws trouble to him. Just 48 hours before he was due to leave, the Old Bill were standing outside his dad's house, I imagine looking a bit bemused. I won't go into that particular episode, it's not a pretty one, but they refused to take him away. Instead, they took him to the railway station and he was exiled to Portsmouth to stay with his brother until it was time to leave for Gatwick.

He should be able to stay away from the RCMP, he doesn't have any 'dodgy mates' in Canada....yet.

This morning, I took my fourth trip to the government office that issues the social insurance numbers. Every time before had involved a lengthy wait. This morning we were in and out in around five minutes. Getting a social insurance number is a five minute event. You hand over your form, already filled in, they put the details onto the computer and then give you the number. Before, it has always been a five minute operation that has taken an hour.

Being able to speak English does seem to speed up the process. Usually, the name of the person who is next in line is called. And called, and called. The staff don't seem to be able to pronounce the Chinese names accurately enough to be understood, and then there is often a great deal of language brokering that has to go on, maybe the new person to arrive doesn't yet understand enough to communicate, so several other family members are there to help out. And somewhere along the line, no-one has pointed out the numerous places where it states that you should fill in the form before you go to the office.

So,for today, for my family, all who are scheduled to land have done so. All have social insurance numbers and one even has a job. Baby steps, baby steps.