Back from the airport

well.... today was kind of a strange day..... It was foggy ... way foggy, for starters.... I left this morning around 9:30 for Toronto.... had two stops to inspect, in Scarberia ( thanks to my buddy Brian ) .... and then went to the airport to pick up Ganesh.....

Now he doesn't go by Ganesh anymore..... I wasn't sure why.... a few years ago, he changed his name to Joshua .... today, I found out why: in the hindu religion, there are many many gods.. one of which is called ganesh....it is an elephant god.....

Though he has been a Christian for many years, his name held pagan significance.... people who have converted from hindu to Christianity sometimes found his name somewhat concerning.... so in order to not offend new believers, he changed his name.... Ironically, though he did change his name several years ago, it did not get changed on his passport until only a year ago..... this caused him some grief today...

I arrived at the airport at 12:30 ..... and was at the arrivals gate by 12:45 ... his plane, according to the board, had landed...... so I waited.... and watched.....
I'd not seen Ganesh ( joshua ) since April of 1985 .... as most of you know, those 21 years have not been kind to me, so I wasn't sure what they'd done to him! HE LOST WEIGHT.... stinker!
anyway.... I waited.... no ganesh..... waited some more... no ganesh....
By 2:15, i was starting to wonder if I'd come to the wrong terminal and was starting to worry....

My phone rang... and it was Canadian Immigration service... they had taken Ganesh to their impound bunker, and were grilling him *( I'm paraphrasing of course ) ..... I guess they must have thought he looked like a terrorist.... anyway.... they told me to come to their office....

so ... I had to go to the very North end of the terminal building.. and go upstairs..... I did so, and when I stopped and asked directions, they sent me to the very south end of the terminal.... and down a dead end hallway..... I was then told to ring the doorbell... Jeepers... I'm an avon lady.

so I did... and waited.... finally after two or three rings, they answered... and let me in...
I walked through the door.... into a tiny room that was no larger than 8 x 8 .... with only one other door.... that was onto an elevator... with only one button : DOWN ....

So I got on the elevator and went down..... according to the floor counter light thingy ( jeepers ) ... I went from 3rd floor down to the 2nd.... but the trip down took several seconds...
I realized after a few minutes..... that what they had done was to direct me all through the terminal , upstairs....and then back again, and then down again..... either it is a case of serious layout challenged or they wanted their location to be very confusing... either way, it was very strange... I came out in what felt like a deep dark basement.... concrete walls, no cellular service, and a waiting room for the unacceptables!!!

Finally after almost another hour, Ganesh came out... looking a little haggard and plenty glad to see me..... For whatever reason, probably some of the reason because of the recent name change, they grilled him something fierce for 2 1/2 hours..... and then finally let him go..... and all of this, after a 22 hour flight from Delhi .... the poor guy had been up almost 30 hours without a bed by the time he got out of the airport!

anyway... he's safe and sound in Bloomfield tonight... resting, and likely glad to be free from atilla the hun at the customs Office.

anyway, regardless of your tough welcoming committee in Toronto, welcome to Canada my friend!!