Mother Nature's wild side

 Tomorrow it will be two weeks since Mother Nature dumped 17 cm on Gavle Sweden overnight.  Not everywhere flooded, but Richard and Jennie got 1.5m of flood and waste water in their basement.  Walking around the town today, the evidence of the devastation was still visible.  The normally quiet river is still roaring in rapids, the erosion under the bridge has not been fixed, and new waterfalls into the river are still draining the grass by the Konserthus.  

More personal damage was, of course, at Rich and Jenn's house.  The basement has been cleared of all items.  The dehumidifiers (3 of them), have been working non-stop for almost 2 weeks, and tomorrow the construction company comes to tear out all the interior walls in order to disinfect.  The garage and workroom are also on tap to be completely redone inside, so there is a big storage container coming tomorrow and we will empty those two rooms in the next few days.  Gardening and applesauce on hold!

And just when you thought you had seen everything

 There was a sudden severe thunderstorm about 8 pm EDT last evening.  No problems with a light show, except that airplanes don't fly through them.  Our Icelandair flight was rerouted to Ottawa and there it stayed till about 10 pm.  Yes, we were supposed to leave Pearson at 9, but as it happened, we didn't leave till after midnight.  It was a great flight, especially since I was in Saga class with a very comfortable seat with no one beside me.  The only problem, with the long delay, I missed the connecting flight to Stockholm.

Icelandair takes care of its passengers.  We got hotel for the night, all meals, and all transfers to and from the hotel, and seats on tomorrow's flight to Sweden.  It took about 1.25 hr to get from the airport to downtown -- there was a need to change buses at a station.  The countryside is bleak, rocky and very black.  The volcanic action of the past is evident everywhere.

Downtown is a strange mix of new and old buildings and there is huge variety in both types.  On the bus into town I met a Canadian lady who now lives in Sweden and in the same situation as me.  We ended up at the same hotel, and so decided to go to lunch together.  She needed another COVID test as her first had expired, so we wandered and finally came to a clinic which was doing the rapid tests this afternoon.  She got her negative result and we had a nice (but chilly 11 degree) walk back to the hotel.  

I wandered down to the waterfront and was amazed by both the natural landscape and the designed skyline.  We are headed to supper early as we are exhausted -- I did get about 1.5 hr of sleep last night-- and the wake-up call is for 3:30 am to catch the 4 am bus back to the airport.  I truly hope to be on the 7:35 flight tomorrow.  I have been waiting for this visit for a long time.

Trying to think of everything

 So I am sitting here at Terminal 3, with my mask on, waiting for the counters for Icelandair to open for my 21:00 flight to Reykjavik.  I  have two huge suitcases, a small backpack, and a piece of art 24 x 30 inches.  I have my passport, my ticket information, my COVID vaccination certificate (hard and soft copies), my Results of Antigen test from this morning, and my health card.  I have done my online checkin but not printing of baggage tags.  I have registered for arriving in Iceland.  I think, I have thought of everything.

It has been 18 months since my last trip -- when we got back from the Azores in February 2020, we were asked if we had been to China.  That seems a lifetime ago, and it is a world-changing pandemic ago.  Only passengers are allowed here in the terminal.  Everyone is masked and seats are kept open to ensure social distancing.  But, I must admit, I have not been severely impacted by COVID.  It has kept me home for more than a year, but I have been healthy, financially secure, and not very inconvenienced by the safety measures.  Mostly, the problems have been in not being able to see other people -- specifically the little people who are so important.  There were two multiple month stretches where we did not see the Toronto kids, and of course, it has now been 20 months since we saw the Swedes.  

Getting back to what we have missed!