A MAGICAL MOMENT ... AND AIRLINE PASSENGER RIGHTS

Some experiences you just can’t replicate.

 

I was lucky enough to be staying at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia last week. It was hotter than blazes during the day when I played the river course at Kingsmill Plantation, where the LPGA plays an annual tournament on a lovely course along the James River. I’d gone for a quick dinner down at the property’s Marina restaurant; really just a casual bar area with a seafood menu down along the water. I’d ordered some shrimp with Old Bay seasoning; a mainstay for folks down around Chesapeake Bay, and a cold beer and some cole slaw when the tiny bugs decided a still, 25 degree night in April was just right for taking the bite of some tourists.

 

I tried to stick it out, but without any bug spray on I was getting eaten alive so I had everything packed up in a cardboard box and retreated to my amply proportioned condo. A few minutes later I was finishing the last of the spicy shrimp and sucking the seasoning off the shells when I heard this voice coming over the lawn outside my balcony. I looked out and see a few lights from boats bobbing down in the marina but I can’t see anyone. After getting my bearings in the dark, I thought I could see a woman singing from the balcony of a nearby condo, with what sounded like instrumental backing from a CD on her stereo.

 

After a few minutes, I walked down the stairs and shuffled through the moist, deep grassy lawn and stand in a small clearing where I looked up the see the silhouetted figure of a young woman singing a song about loneliness. It was breathtaking.

 

I stood on the grass and mumbled a question about what she was singing.

 

"It’s Tilly Smith (I think that's what she said, although no such person seems to exist). "She’s my favourite country singer."

         Pause.
     

         “Am I bothering you?”

I thought she had to be kidding. There was a thin crescent moon rising over the James River, the stars were covering the Virginia sky like a thick, creamy blanket and this beautiful voice was floating down at me from above and she thought it was a nuisance?

 

"Naw, I was just typing some stuff and heard you and didn’t know what was going on. It’s great. Don't stop."

You can come here anytime you like and stay in the unit I stayed in. You'll enjoy the view of the boats and see the James River and perhaps see the moon rising over the river after a glorious sunset. But it will be a different sunset, a different moon and probably there won’t be a girl singing country songs on the balcony as the birds go to sleep for the night.

 

And that is the joy of travel.

 

AIRLINES TAKE THE INITIATIVE

 

Good item in the Report on Business this morning, talking about how Canada's biggest airlines are getting ready to show off their own "passenger bill of rights," likely today.

 

With New Democratic Party MP Jim Maloway still brandishing a private member's bill that would slap hefty fines on airlines for mistreating passengers, it seems that Canada's four largest airlines want to launch some kind of pre-emptive strike. Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, West Jet and Air Transat in January formed a lobby group called the National Airlines Council of Canada and are said to be preparing some sort of announcement for today, so stay tuned.