Where's Teddy Now?

Stereotypes…

Stereotypes abound. I’m not even in Edinburgh yet (board in about 90 minute, the old — and the new — Gods permitting), and already I can tell by the seven day weather report why the Scots have a rep for being “dour”. Life really, five days of motly rain, cloud, and 14-18C in July?

Can we be serious here for a moment? Like, REALLY?!?!

So this is me, about 90 minutes before bording my Westjet flight to Edinburgh. I am surrounded by Brits (and Welsh, and even the odd Scot) who have been on the ground here for one or two days, waiting to be redirected back home.SOme are waiting fpr WJ flights to Rome, others to Paris and even Iceland (because I cannot remember how to spell Rejkiavik). Some will visit two, or even three different ports before getting back home to London. I’ve been talking to some of them.

This is Westjet customer service for you.

I’ve got to admit, I’m feeling kinda sheepish here. I booked my own flight about six weeks ago, and all I had to put up with was a couple of days of worry. These folks have been stuck for two days.

But back to sterotypes… how about this one: the stoic, chin up Brit?

Behind is a groups of Londoners who have fallen in with eachother, sharing the misery of the situation. Three grouups of two who most likely didnt know each other before yesterday, when they boarded a flight to London, sat in the plane for an hour, and then were deboarded together because Westjet couldn’t muster a crew foe their flight.

That’s right, the flight was cancelled not due to the strike, but because of crew issues. That would piss me off royally.

But here they are. FOr hte past two hours, they’ve been playing cards, taking turns buying the best Canadian snacks we can offer (I told them the story of Hickory Sticks, for example), and their mood can best be desrcibed as pleasant.

Are they annoyed? Quite possibly. Are they showing it? Nope. Instead they are playing together, all laughing, chit-chatting, and passing the time together, and making the bbest of a… situation.

I told htem I hoped that this unpleasantness hadn’t soured their experience in Canada, and to a person, they gushed about our country. The beauty, the cleanliness and order, and yes, even the hospitality (Wesjet aside, understandably).

The stoic Brit. Chin up, let’s gather around and get through this together. It’s quite endearing to me. And I think it even offers a lesson to us Canadians on Canada Day: we’ve got it good.

Happy Canada Day to all my peeps, and chin up. We’ve got a great country, a country of promise and industry and hope. We’re likely headed through a tough patch politically, the next few years, but we got this.

Let’s not lose sight of who we are and where we come from. And don’t let the knuckle dragging, naysayer, “Canada’a broke” crowd bring you down. We got this.

 

 

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