Air Canada  Flight 452

Boeing 767 en route to Ottawa

June 2010

Okay, this was so worth the extra ten thousand Aeroplan miles! Of course I DID use them out of necessity to secure the flight times that facilitated my making this trip at all.... but I figured hey, if that meant flying executive class.. surely I could muster up the strength to get myself through the ordeal somehow ...!!

Earlier today, I got to nestle into one of the Maple Leaf lounge's leather armchairs and sip a gratis cappucino with the June issue of the Walrus draped brazenly across my lap thinking 'This is who I should be all the time,'. But who was I kidding.. I was much too enthusiastic to pull off first class lounge habituation. Most of the guests don't even realise there are windows up here let alone gaze wide-eyed out of them at the sight of all the planes taxiing around their ashphalt playground before disappearing into the vast celestial highway. I further exposed my naivety by proceeding to carry my empty mug to the dirty dishes bin and disposing of my shortbread wrapper in the wastebucket before returning my borrowed magazine to its home amongst the rows of wooden racks. I grinned as I imagined how the other travellers must have been chuckling at me from behind their illuminated BlackBerry screens as they left their own leavings for the wait staff's disposal. Okay, they probably didn't notice me at all! But I'm delighted that I made the effort to come check this place out upon learning that I had a half an hour before departure. (As it turned out, my flight was grossly delayed much longer than that due to the G20 summit that was in full rage that same weekend!! But I didn't allow that to put a damper on my experience. After all, it did provide the opportunity for me to see Air Force One, among other international aviation representatives, from my jet window, which was pretty darn cool!)

So upon finally boarding and encountering a much shorter aisle walk than I'm used to, I find myself sinking into one of these tidy little pods. My own little corner of avionic heaven! I smile at my inherited ability to stretch out far enough to place my feet against the footrest across from me. During the flight, I partake in every little perk that is cheerfully offered to me.. a selection of wines shortly after takeoff, a steamed hand towel draped over my fingers with tongs, oh my... is that a chocolate croissant she is bringing to me? ummm yes I'll have that! I can't believe some people get to fly like this all the time!! And they are so accustomed to it!! Indifferent even! Well, I sure am content to have created the opportunity to experience it once and I fully intend to squeeze from it every last drop of opulence that I can!

© Christine Mastroianni, all rights reserved



Wintermission at Firemen's Park, Niagara Falls, ON

                                                                                                   © Christine Mastroianni, all rights reserved

We veered into the glacial parking lot, our determined tires wavering and swimming through the densely packed snow, putting our trusty four-wheel drive system solidly to the test. The air was crowded with pristine snowflakes.. frosty feathers fluttering happily in the late afternoon breeze before coming to rest upon naked elm branches and seasonally abandoned swing seats. But it wasn't at all cold, it was pleasantly winter: fresh, agreeable, lively.

Upon retrieving two plastic toboggans and closing the hatch, I waded towards the achromatic hill behind two little guys who were bursting with innocent energy. They strode forward in anticipation, evidently oblivious to the impending downsides of going sliding: the periodic sting of cold snow against warm, exposed wrists and calves, the occasional assault of iced powder against the face upon reaching the bottom of the slope, and trudging uphill yet again with a plastic monstrosity pressed against the back, seemingly to have doubled in weight since the first run! Nope, they just wanted to slide... just as it should be!

I surveyed the modest incline and wondered if this could really be the big thrill ride that had been so heartily recommended to me over the past few snowy weeks. I decided that there must be another hill hiding somewhere around the park, but subsequently decided that it wasn't worth expending the energy to locate it. This one was perfect in their eyes, and I gleefully spent the next hour securing bright blue and green vessels against the slick launchpad, steadying them for embarking, then synchronising their release so as to ensure a fair race!

Eventually, however, some of the aforementioned consequences took their toll and one of them remembered that a tall, shiny thermos had made the trip with us. "Hot chocolate!!!!" he shrieked, and led the charge back to the parking lot. They patiently (okay, okay.. somewhat impatiently!) took turns cradling the inverted thermos cap with snow covered mittens, savouring the smooth, warm chocolate as its sweet smelling steam swirled against their flushed cheeks.. one of the definite upsides of going sliding!

Both sides of Queen Street West, Toronto

© Christine Mastroianni, all rights reserved

I am looking at a row of stores, teeming with clever merchandising displays, trance inducing sale racks, and the next big deal.... a cavalcade of retail rendezvous and commercial camaraderie. But at which side of the street am I actually looking? What I really see is the building behind me, which is the same view that the people inhabiting the floors above EB Games and clic klak are viewing. Mirrored architectural facades are a bit of a guilty pleasure with me; I always find myself enthralled by very simple concepts such as these, and so indulge. I like to imagine how much more interesting a city's streets would be if every historic building were able to look across the street and see its own reflection, or to muse about how flat and colourless this building might be without its vermillion costume of bricks and arches. I suppose if a storefront were situated across from a derelict, hulking shell of a structure, one would not want to apply reflective panes to its exterior. But here, it works. I also enjoy the way a clean image on one side is delightfully distorted on the other, a watery, stylised version of a predictable arrangement.

This was taken on one of my favourite days of 2010, a late afternoon jaunt full of autumn freshness, intriguing photographic exploration, and a breezy, schedule-free itinerary... it was one of those episodes that found me dangling before everything stimulating, frequently with a unabashedly silly grin on my face. I think as adults, we don't engage in enough frivolous downtime, we don't often allow ourselves an afternoon to guiltlessly unhook our responsibilities and toss them into the trunk with the other incidentals as we purposely seek out a locale that inspires us... or simply causes us to grin incessantly. Of course length of exposure and quality of human accompaniment affect the effectiveness of such an escape, both of which satisfied my needs quite nicely on the day in question!