We All Knew It Was Coming

Just when you think that everything is going according to plan and that everything will work out, then something comes along and kicks you back. Nothing can ever be easy.

I woke up this morning and turned on the computer. The Weather Netowork's Weather Eye program on this computer's taskbar opened up with Iqaluit's weather conditions. The dreaded red bar appeared at the top of the screen: "Winter Storm Watch."

I clicked through and discovered that there are blizzard conditions in Pond Inlet and that they are heading to Iqaluit tomorrow. That means that it is very likely that my flight will be cancelled and I won't be able to make it home for the bachelor party that I'm hosting.

I called Canadian North to see if I could fly with them this evening, but because of the blizzard yesterday the flight is not available. They said that they will fly tomorrow, but then that doesn't help me because the flight will be cancelled as well.

I called First Air and they do have a flight for today. It will cost an unnatural amount of money to switch the ticket as they will not honour the discounted fare and simply switch it. It will cost $651 to switch to today's flight. Nevertheless, I booked it. I'm leaving at 1:45 today and flying into Ottawa. I still have to check the Ottawa/Toronto flights, but will investigate a little later.

The problem too is that I now have to tell the people at the elementary school that I won't be able to teach this afternoon. It might be very difficult to find another supply teacher, but there isn't very much that I can do. I feel horrible about short-changing them, but I will see if they want me for the morning and then head off at 11:45. It is especially painful since I am not only spending all that money, but I'm losing money in lost wages. It doesn't really matter. Money isn't what's important in life and as much as I would like to conserve what little I have, I'm not going to let it overwhelm my life.

Addendum: I discovered that my flight from Toronto was non-refundable, and non-transferable. That means that if I don't take my flight tomorrow, I lose the $90 and have to purchase a ticket for today. The cheapest flight today was $176.67. I decided after the thorough gouging that I'd already endured that I would just spend the night at my father's house. I'll be in Toronto tomorrow evening.