Nurse Michael's Journey at Fort Albany: Day 1: Flying Up

October 18^th 2010

Waking up at 0430 to check in at 0630 for an 0830 provincial flight is nothing out of the ordinary for the good’ol Michael Li. He has a bad sense of time, and often finds himself late, even though he thinks he has given himself ample time to do things. But this time, its different. He CANNOT be late for this flight because he is going to Moosonee!! .. Why am I talking in third person? Geez Louise.

Anyhow, the itinerary was to fly from Pearson to Timmins, then transfer to another to Moosonee. Stay at Moosonee for a couple of days to get paper work and orientation. So here I am with Michelle (my partner in crime/work), on the plane flying to Timmins, and all I could think about is, “what the heck are we going to do in Moosonee?” We were not given anyone’s name, or what we were going to do in that town, or where we would be staying for the night. We reach Timmins, and the supposedly 40 minute layover became 2 hours. But no matter, being the social butterfly, we made fast friends with a couple of graduate students from University of Waterloo. They happen to also do their graduate work at Fort Albany, so it worked out perfectly. They were not all stuck up as I thought all graduate students would be. The one girl runs marathon’s (Skoko, if you’re reading this, she ran the same one that you did too) and was on the varsity figure skating team. The other girl rides horses professionally and can cook. (She was in my good books right when she said that).

So finally, we get to Moosonee and was told that our checked baggage didn’t come on the plane with us. Perfect. Air Creebec, I give you thumbs down. We meet the director of patient care for the James Bay General Hospital and he made sure we were acquainted with the staff at the Admin. Office. After a briefing from the Occupational nurse, we got chauffeured to eat! Finally some food! All I have had was a bowl of cereal at 0500 and random tidbits that the air stewardess graced us with. We settled for the Sky Ranch Restaurant for food. There was only 3 in town to choose from and we were told it was best one. Was it ranchy? No. I don’t even know what Ranchy is. We were shortly joined with the Director of care, and for the ease of my typing, we will nickname him JM. This guy is a 40-ish Frenchman originally from Quebec, who speaks English with a heavy accent, but is effing hilarious with a contagious laugh.

The company for dinner was nothing but fantastic. JM and his wife; an NP at the local clinic told us about the tips and who’s who at Fort Albany etc. It is always nice to have such energetic and welcoming people when you are at an unfamiliar place. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated down to earth people that much, until now. So, for all the down to earth friends I have, I appreciate you.

Onto this B&B at Moosonee. Holy Mother of Ginger Bread House! One would not expect much from a B&B when the roads are dirt roads with pot holes, and mud puddles everywhere. What did I expect? An equivalent of a downtown hamilton motel with a half-functioning light sign advertising its cheap room rates. What is this lodge like? An extremely cozy and modern house with really welcoming hosts. I don’t know what the nightly rates are like, but since I’m not paying for it, let me be blissful about this. This B&B boasts 5 rooms, excluding the room that the owners live in. Each room has paintings, nice wall painting, clean wooden floors, equipped with homely comfortable furniture and up to date technology. When I am referring to technology, I’m not talking about outlets at the walls… I am talking about cable flat screen TVs, high speed router etc. Most importantly, everything is clean. If you know me, and maybe it comes with the profession, a clean living space goes a long way for me. I don’t have to inspect areas before using it, which is a great change from student housing. OH, and there is a live fireplace in the living room, where the logs crackle and warms up the room like it should. It is such a relaxing and quiet atmosphere, that anyone who stays here, wouldn’t want to leave. I am just hoping that our living accommodations will not disappoint us in Fort Albany. Damn this B&B for setting such a high standard!