Regina, Saskatoon,Bambi & other frozen things: Feb 1 2006

Hi Again,


More exciting business adventures of Toronto Pip in

the Canadian wilderness.



Anyway after the wonderful flight and sporting a graze

to the side of my nose, I ventured out into the

thriving metropolis that is Regina {it rhymes with}, a

wonderful town of 180,000 people. There was the most

amazing haw frost and the tree's looked well, amazing.

That was about the best of Regina.



Meetings all morning then off to a couple of site

visits, all rather boring really. Well so I thought,

after a 30 min drive we pull up to the gates of SasGeo

Energy, cool I thought a geothermal power plant. OH NO

it was only a front for a NUCLEAR power plant with the

geo part coming from else where? [I offered my

services as I had had re-fried beans at breakfast].

If you have never been to a nuclear plant do, they are

great, I think NZ needs a few, it would solve all our

energy problems, and of course some poor country is

always willing to take the waste and hide it.



I have to admit to being slightly cautious, well as

cautious as I can be. [You know a bit like a kid in a

candy store]. They got sick of my questions, whats

this, whats that, why, when, can I push that big red

button, why are sirens sounding, [I didn't do it]?

Then we got to the reactor part, cool being that close

to all that uranium. I decided to joke and asked the

lab technician if he was interested in space, [when he

answered yes I asked if anyone had probed Uranus].



They do take it seriously, no cell phones, [probably

so if it Chernobyl's when you are in there you can't

call anyone], and after you leave the reactor room you

pass through a giegercounter thingimyjig, to see if

you have gathered any radio active material while in

there. I tried to impersonate the noise those machines

make but no one was fooled.



I got back to my hotel, and when it was time to sleep

turned of the lights, and couldn't work out why it

wasn't dark. Then I realised I was glowing green,

[must have been something I ate].



Up in the morning and off to Saskatoon [which rhymes

with baboon] couldn't think of anything rude. A 3 hour

drive, so relatively short by North American

standards. The weather was gale force with the snowing

either going sideways or up, black ice everywhere, and

the road disappearing from time to time [makes for an

exciting drive and christ do you get tired

concentrating though]. Then I realsised it was 10am

and still dark, [must be further north that I

anticipated, arctic circle region].

Travel tip, don't put Regina [rhymes with va...] or

Saskatoon [rhymes with baboon] on your Canadian travel

plans. Although I can get you into the nuclear power

plant no problems.



But wait that's not all, the drive back to Regina

[rhymes with ...] was not without fun and games. Black

ice and no visibility aside it is still a requirement

to drive at 120kph, this is great until Bambi decides

to do the proverbial lets cross the road trick, now

all experience tells you to slam on the picks, swerve,

panic and all that, however I choose to floor it. Here

I ask the question, [you know all is well as I am

writing this down after the fact], but my question is,

why do animals get half way across then stop and stare

at you, Bambi move you fool, SMACK, BANG to late, [oh

look there is where I was going, and there is where I

have been, there is where is was going again, and

there is have been again, WEEEEEEE you can spin a car

in these conditions approx 8 times.

I hope Bambi is alright, whoops no I don't think Bambi

is moving. Man can a 40lb animal make a dent or what,

[car driveable check], will send photo soon, don't

show the kids, [seeing a damaged car like that is so

traumatic]. Pip 1 Deer 0. Car rental company not at

all upset happens all the time. Insurance Co 1 Pip 0.





Great, another airport, "when do we board", 6.35pm "Ok

thanks". 6.40pm oh look surprise surprise there's no

plane at our gate, attention all passengers on flight

blar blar blar to Toronto there is a slight delay,

[you think]? As there is no plane at our gate and we

are the only f....ing people in the airport that we

need to have 10 messages attention all passengers on

flight blar blar blar to Toronto there is a further

delay. Oh goodie lets have a drink, what do you mean

the bar closes at 7.30pm, what the hell

kind of place is this. Anyway get back to Toronto with

a very smooth flight, albeit 1am. Oh well that's

business life for you.



Well there you have it, a small insight into Toronto

Pips excellent business adventure to Saskatchewan

region, to its capital Regina and Saskatoon. What a

great name.



Bye for now.

Toronto Pip