February 11, 2010

My day began at 5:00 a.m. today. That was a little difficult to get the old bones rolling that early in the morning. My shift began at 7:00 a.m. It was pretty nice going when a lot of the people in the city remained snug in their beds. Driving was a snap. The return trip was a little different though. It was a mass of people all trying to leave the city. I either have to walk about 15 minutes or try and catch a bus. Over and over as I was walking the bus appeared as I was a block away. Oh well I thought, I'll catch another at the next stop and sure enough, I was a block away, there it was.......... I finally did catch up to one at the stop, but.......It was at THE SKY TRAIN STATION!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well the exercise won't do me any harm. Walking to the hotel is great, it's all down hill, but the other way around.....it's not! It was quite a hike. Must be about 12 blocks. Just so you're not thinking oh well what's a block, these are NO Smithers Main Street blocks, these are CITY blocks! I am starting to learn the where abouts of where I am. For a Telkwa girl with absolutely NO sense of direction, this is no small feat!

When I arrived at the hotel, there was an army of police officers all doing a sweep of the hotel, securing it the "lock down" state. Quite often there was the sound of the dogs barking. The dogs were not very friendly looking either. It has now become "secure" and to enter I have to go through the same type of security screening as what happens at the airport. All bags are x-rayed and you must pass though a metal detector. It is just fine with me though. At least I know that if they are doing it to me they are doing it to everyone else also.

I am also becoming more confident in my job. There are less questions now as there is a complete process that everyone has to go through. Now it is all black and white, there is little gray. Everyone is the president of vice president of some type of federation or another, but they are all treated equally. The RCMP officers I am working with are wonderful. I really am having a lot of fun.

On the home front. My family remains faithfully promoting my being away from them. They're the best! I hope they will still need me when I get back! They are all filling shoes that are a little different for them. They sure do understand the role of being a member of a family, and I am so proud of that!

My dad is on the mend. It was very difficult to leave him the first time, the second time was more so, but the care he is receiving at the Prince George hospital was unlike anything I have ever seen. I'm sure they will bring him back to enjoy a high quality of life. He is also in the hands of the Almighty Healer, who is looking after him so we all take great comfort in that.

Thank you all for the comments once again. It's so nice to read them. I laughed so so hard at all the comments about the stroop wafels!