Well, my kid has graduated! Having achieved a highly respected Chef's accreditation from a world renowned (and expensive) school, she's already found herself employment in one of the highest rated restaurants in our Nation's capital. The world is her oyster! I wish I had the cash to take her travelling around the world to some of my favourite restaurants. First stop would be The Tamarind in Mombasa followed by a safari in Tsavo, then perhaps Stavanger Norway for some trout at Skagen, or some tangine in Tangiers. In the meantime, we shared a flight over Ottawa in a 1940 WACO to celebrate.
I'm still waiting for the paperwork to clear for my next posting where I'll be a AW139 Search and Rescue check pilot. It's actually the third time in two years that I've completed all the paperwork for this specific VISA, but I always ended up being sent elsewhere. I actually think I may get there this time. Fingers crossed. Having recently completed my AW139 recurrent in Sesto Calende Italy, I offered to help out with our company's Brazilian division, as they had a pilot requiring training but the first officer was unavailable, and I wasn't doing anything. Next thing I know I'm on a plane for Newark and sitting co-joe in the AW139 simulator for a Brazilian pilot. It was a blast!
While walking around Verona, Italy a year or so ago, I wondered into a pen shop that reminded me of the magic wand shop of the Harry Potter movies. It was narrow and confined with an older gentlemen pulling numerous pens from high overhead shelves trying to meet my needs. I was really sold on a Montegrappa Ducale but the price was a tad rich for my blood. Hemingway himself wrote with a Montegrappa, and the Ducale is one of their original designs. I ended up walking out the door with a fine Delta fountain pen that I still use when I tour overseas, but I regretted not getting the Ducale. Anyway, I finally found another Montegrappa Ducale in a shop in New Jersey, and using a leather bound Manufactus Italian notebook, I finally started that novel I've always wanted to write, with my Hemingway pen no less. Fictional but set amongst situations that I am well aware. Africa. Pilots. Hardship and adventure and some drama too. Just finished Chapter 2. I've got the spare time. Stand by....
