Winter Wonderland

I'm looking out my front window sipping on very strong freshly brewed coffee, thinking about Africa.  It looks pretty outside, about as Canadian and home as I could ever want, but my thoughts are still overseas.  That was a very good tour.  I flew some eighty hours, but my time in Mombasa was far too short.  I ended up extending a few days due to some training requirements, but I wouldn't have complained had they asked me to stay longer.  The seaside resort was amazing and a welcome treat, lounging with a good book while the strong breezes off the Indian Ocean rustled through the palm trees, my bare feet digging into soft, warm sand, monkeys scampering about, and whenever your heart desired, slipping into one of the many pools for a dip.  Of course I flooded yet ANOTHER watch during one of those dips.  Supposedly waterproof to two hundred feet, the warranty will cover the repair but that's two in a year from different manufacturers!  I'm sticking with dive watches with screw down crowns from now on.  This nice new mechanical Tissot is waterproof to one thousand feet, so I'm thinking it can easily tackle snorkeling and dips in the pool, and I like bezels for marking times.  I want a watch where I don't have to worry about changing batteries while overseas and that I don't have to take off every time I get wet.  I'm hoping this one lasts.  Looks cool me thinks.

The weather in Eastern Canada has been cold, with blizzard after blizzard making driving an adventure, but I don't mind.  It's home.  I find shovelling snow somehow therapeutic, generating a good sweat as the cold fresh air fills your lungs, or brisk walks with snow crunching under one's feet.  Snowboarding with my kid tomorrow.  Now with her own car, I hardly see her, so I'm looking forward to the day.

 

 

I'm off to Sesto Calende, Italy for a week next weekend.  It's my yearly simulator recurrent training and check ride, and I get to go to the factory training centre for the Italian helo I'm now flying.  It's a  treat, even though it's Northern Italy in winter.  I really do miss Stavanger, Norway and the Super Puma sim.  That swinging Norwegian village was like a second home after eleven years of instructing in their simulators.  I know Stavanger better than I know Halifax, and have quite a few friends there.  Stavanger had the Sikorsky S61 sim as well, so I'm very familiar with the place.  But, it's off to Italy shortly, and I'll make the most of it.  I'll pack for Africa too just in case they need me back early.  Stranger things have happened, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't complain.