I’m out at Victoria International Airport in the fog.  Thick fog.  So thick that I can’t see the light posts 100 ft away.  Flights are being canceled, but it looks like the fog is rolling out.  It’s kinda neat to see actually.  I’ve watched it slowly move down the airfield revealing one building, tree and light post at a time.  I’m pretty sure that the cancellations are over and that the day is going to be fantastically beautiful.  It’s a shame that I’m not getting to spend it in this city.  Instead I get to go back to Edmonton where the online weather is showing a forecast for blowing snow.

I was out last night at the Sticky Wicket with JP, JK, NZ, JG and a couple of Victoria locals (if you two read this, ping me with your blog addresses).  At one point the conversation centered around the differences between Victoria and Edmonton/Calgary.  The Alberta cities can’t compete with Victoria in the downtown area, the restaurants or the pubs.  Victoria has a large and vibrant downtown core that consists of a great street side shopping selection and an amazing number of eateries.  On top of that Victoria has an architectural appeal that goes on block after block.  Heck we were sitting in a pub and I leaned back and looked up at the 30+ foot high ceilings adorned with turn of the century decor.  In Edmonton if you do that you’ll see a suspended panel ceiling that hasn’t been painted since it was hung in 1972.

I can almost see the end of the runway now and I have another 30 minutes until they’re supposed to start boarding, so it looks like I might not meet my first canceled flight today.

I’m not going to be posting this until I get back to Edmonton.  I’m too cheap to pay the $9 for a days use of the wireless here at the airport.  I understand that there are infrastructure and maintenance costs associated with providing wireless internet access, but after seeing what was available at the UVic facilites used by the Victoria Code Camp, I don’t understand why airports need to charge for access.  I suppose it boils down to the fact that people will try to make a buck wherever they can.

Update: I see that a plane has landed, but it’s starting to look like the fog might be rolling back in.

Update: We made it off the ground, but it as we started to rotate (leave the ground) the fog at that end of the runway was getting thicker and thicker.  Sunny and blissful at the other end though.